Leonard White's Sewell NTAK Module
by Bernard Kempinski
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 Painting by Andy Harmantas on the cover of Tom Dixon's book C&O Standard Structures
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At the Greenberg Show in Upper Marlboro, MD in November 1995 Leonard White asked me to provide him with some ideas for a home layout for his recently purchased house. He owned two four foot NTrak modules but expressed frustration with being unable to incorporate them into a workable home layout. He also expressed an interest in continuing to develop the New River scenery and optional standards. |
The following are some of the elements that Leonard wished to incorporate into his home layout and NTrak module(s).
- Heavy Mainline Action with continuous run loops
- Narrow gauge interchange
- Appalachian Mountain scenery
- Integral NTrak modules
- Room area available approximately 8' x 11'
Prototype Information
Fortunately there was an ideal prototype that met all of Leonard's design requirements. At Sewell, West Virginia the C&O interchanged with the Mann's Creek Railroad, a narrow gauge line.
Mann's Creek Railroad
The Mann's Creek RR was interesting for several reasons. First it ran steam powered Shay's until 1955. Secondly, the railroad climbed steep 4 percent grades to reach coal mines and lumber mills high on the plateau, but had only three station stops. At the interchange with the C&O at Sewell, deep in the New River Gorge, the Mann's Creek maintained an engine shed, coaling tower and presumably other minor structures.
C&O at Sewell, WV
At Sewell the C&O had some interesting structures such as the classic octagonal cabin and water tower. Once the coal mines at Clifftop ran out, the C&O added a dual track up to the coke oven loading level. Then they shipped in coal from other mines to fuel the Sewell ovens. All of these present interesting model opportunities.
Design Features
The layout plan incorporates Leonard's requirements and the prototype features in the space available. It features the C&O mainline as it passes Sewell, WV. Above the C&O is the Mann's Creek Narrow Gauge RR. The C&O main lines form a rather simple continuous loop while the narrow gauge is a point-to-point scheme. Trains can orbit the mainline with meets and passes while short cuts of cars are shuttled and switched up and down the narrow gauge. Once or twice a day a shifter from Thurmond will arrive on the C&O to place empties at the coke ovens and to take away loads of coal, coke and lumber.
The NTrak module contains the primary scenic elements at Sewell. Its gentle S curves will fit on a single eight feet long board although building it in to small sections is easily done.
The back side of the layout contains a small staging yard and town which can be used as visible staging or hidden under the Clifftop area as shown in the track plan. Above are a coal mine and lumber facility. This area can be sceniced later as time is available.
As one enters the room the immediate view is of the coke ovens at Sewell with the New River at the bottom and the cliffs towering above. If possible the layout should be mounted high enough so that the tops of the ridges are above the viewer's eye level. This will be require about a one foot addition to the normal NTrak layout height which can be achieved by either a second set of legs or placing the NTrak legs on cinder blocks or paint cans.
The area around coke ovens was an environmental disaster which actually makes modeling easier. Most of this area would be devoid of trees and covered in back soot. Higher up the mountain foliage clusters can be used to represent effectively the forest in the distance. Several scratch built structures would represent the buildings in the area.
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