Another landmark location on the C&O is Prince, WV. Its starkly modern station stands in contrast to the remote landscape of the New River gorge. It may seem odd to have a station of such significance in such a locale, but it also served as the connection to the outside world for several sizeable towns up the Piney Creek branch including Beckley.
In modeling the location, I wanted to include the east portal of Stretcher's Neck Tunnel (which provides a convenient way to make the mainlines disappear), the junction with the branch at NI Cabin, and the station as it would have appeared in the 1950s. Little has changed around Prince since then. In the 1970s the mainline west of the Piney Creek branch junction was single-tracked, and now Amtrak's Cardinal stops at the station a few times a week instead of early streamliners in blue and yellow several times a day. Coal is still king here. Below, see my diagram of the track plan.
There is actually an error in my diagram - the crossover closest to the station is actually east (right) of the station.
With my newfound space in the basement, I built a 16 foot by 3 foot segment to represent everything from Stretcher's Neck to the west yard ladder near Quinnimont. The photo below shows the benchwork. The near end is Prince, the far end is where the Quinnimont yard ladder will be.
Below is a view from the west end of this segment. The track in the immediate foreground is the Piney Creek branch, the mainlines curve off to the left and will enter Stretcher's Neck tunnel at the edge of this LDE. A bit further up, you see the junction at NI Cabin between the mainlines and branch (currently represented by a photocopy of a drawing). Just past that on the left side of the mainlines is where Prince station will be.
Moving east just past the station, you can see the end of the second crossover in this construction pic below. The branch becomes the yard lead, then it and the mainlines snake through an S-curve before rounding the bend at the yard ladder as it curves towards Quinnimont. On the fascia you can see the control panel I made for the yard ladder.
Below is the yard ladder. It's wired up, operational, and as you see I've been "playing". :)
Last, a quick diagram of this segment. Red is the Prince station, blue is NI Cabin.
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