The layout at a glance
Name: Gauley & Shavers Fork
Layout designer: Bob Ferguson
Scale: N (1:160)
Size: 16′-4″ x 33′-6″
Prototype: Baltimore & Ohio, Chesapeake & Ohio, Norfolk & Western, and Western Maryland
Locale: Appalachia
Era: mid- to late-1960s
Style: shelf
Mainline run: 75 feet
Minimum radius: 9.75″
Minimum turnout: Peco medium radius
Maximum grade: 3 percent to coal mine (the rest of the layout has no grades)
Benchwork: open-grid on shelf brackets
Height: 54″ (Bemis No. 2 mine is 57″)
Roadbed: cork and some foam
Track: codes 55 and 80 flextrack
Scenery: Sculptamold and plaster over screen wire
Backdrop: painted vinyl flooring with photos
Control: Digitrax Digital Command Control
This layout originally appeared in the January 2020 issue of Model Railroader magazine. See a PDF version of this by clicking here.