Tony Koester's Allegheny Midland

Tony Koester's famous Allegheny Midland Railroad was a freelanced railroad that drew much inspiration from the C&O. In the photos below Tony describes how he used elements from the C&O to add an air of authenticity to his layout. These photos assume even more importance now that the Allegheny Midland is a "fallen Flag." Tony dismantled the AM in the fall of 1999 and is now heavily engaged in building a double deck railroad based strictly on the Nickel Plate Clover Leaf Division. Click on the photos for a larger view. All photos and captions by Tony Koester.
  The C&O yard master's office at Quinnimont, W. Va., served as the prototype for BJ Cabin on Tony Koester's HO scale Allegheny Midland. The model was scratch built using Northeastern board-and-batten siding, and modified Grandt Line windows and door moldings.
  AS Cabin at the south end of Altapass, Va., on the Midland Road was kit bashed from a larger B&O tower kit originally offered by AHM. Side and end walls were cut roughly in half, and the top story above the shingle trim band was scratch built using Evergreen styrene strips. The roof was scratch built from wood.

   The Tichy coal dock, shown here at Sunrise, Va., on the AM, is very close to the C&O coal dock at Peach Creek, W.Va. The main differences are an enclosed elevator hoist framework and overhanging roofs added to the "shoulders" of the coal bunker.
   The depot at Sproul, W.Va. was gone shortly before Tony visited the area, so he used several Gene Huddleston photos to scale the structure, assuming the battens were a foot apart and the door inside dimension was 30 inches. He then constructed a card stock mock-up as a test to be sure all of the features lined up and were in proportion, then scratch build a model using Northeastern board-and-batten siding, and modified Grandt Line window and door moldings.

 The Republic coal tipple at Republic, Ky., owned by- you guessed it- Republic Steel served as the basis for this kit bashed model located at Low Gap on the AM. No effort was made to build it to scale, rather, wall from the Walthers Island Creek Coal Kit were cut to fit or joined together to create a structure that has the basic overall appearance of the prototype. A more accurate N or HO model could be built using pats from a second or third kit to allow the larger wall sizes to be replicated.