Name: Stevensville, Eastport, & Central Valley (SE&C)

Layout: Free-Lance design – Feeder Line with connection to Class 1 RR’s (staging)

Time Period – summer 1952

Overview:

The SE&CV runs east from the city of Stevensville in south central Pennsylvania through the mountains to Central Valley and Mineville. The line continues eastward from Mineville through Proctor and No Name to Eastport, the northern most deepwater port on the Susquehanna River. West from Stevensville the SE&CV passes through Joshua Junction to connect with the Pennsylvania RR Bedford Branch in Bedford, Pennsylvania. Freight traffic is exchanged and there is daily special run passenger service from the Pennsylvania mainline to Stevensville by various Class 1 Railroads to reach the 1952 World’s Fair in Stevensville.

How I started: (1996)

My original layout had two major industries, a coal mine and a power plant. There are three other industries in the same industrial area (Central Valley) as the power plant (flour mill, freight forwarder, generic factory). The two major industries gave me good operating flow for the initial layout. The other industries were not major traffic flows until the expansions.

How it grew over time:

The first expansion was to add a large staging/classification yard off the righthand end (2003). This increased operability tremendously. I had room for 2' by 8.5' and was able to include a city and industrial area called Stevensville and create a Wye in the corner where it joins the original section so that trains leaving the staging can go either direction and in effect created a point to point operating scheme. I use a specialty billboard boxcar as a divider in the middle of the trains and treat each end of the yard as a different location. That way once you put a car into the train it has to go out and back twice before you get it back.

The second expansion was to add an additional 4' x 2' extension off the far and of the staging/classification yard for a port area (Jamesport)(2004). A port area is the biggest bang for the space in my book as a traffic generator. Now each end of the yard actually represented a different location, Stevensville and Jamesport. When a train arrives cars are pulled off each end for spotting at industries in those locations. Cars are also blocked by location at opposite ends into outgoing trains. A single train run out and back now provided new traffic at each location.

The original mine to power plant run is now considered a branchline with mainline point to point operations between Stevenville and Jamesport. Cars are transferred from Stevensville end of the yard to the original small yard for transfer to industries in Central Valley by the branch line.

Relocation from Arkansas to Arizona: (2005)

The space for the layout in the new home required the removal of Jamesport from the end of the Stevensville module. I have added nine inches to the width of the Stevensville module and now have a classification yard with the staging yard now functioning as an arrival/departure yard in addition to staging until the expansion (see below) takes place.

Mainline Expansion (2006-2007)

Construction started in Jan 2006 to extend the mainline east from Mineville to Eastport and west from Joshua Junction to Bedford (represented by a three siding staging loop). Mainline track work was complete and operational in April 2007. Cannery and B&O interchange were then added in Eastport followed by construction of sidings and switchback in No Name.

Regular Operating Sessions commenced on May 2, 2007. Session are held the first and third Wednesday of each month.