NMRA James River Meet in Schuyler Virginia yesterday

Yesterday, I traveled down to Schuyler Virginia for our local NMRA meet.  Not a long ride but through some of the better parts of Virginia. Most people do not recognize Schuyler, but it's where the old TV show "The Waltons" was set.  They even have a museum.  Schuyler is about 30 minutes south of Charlottesville.  The area is also famous for it Soapstone deposits and is still mined to this day.  The meet was located at a private quarry garden that is opened to the public by appointment.
Schuyler Quarry Gardens

The reason we were here is that an O scale model railroad is also being built at the gardens visitor center.  The track is laid and represents the area in the mid 1900's, to represent the Nelson and Albermarle RR that ran in the area.  It's probably a year from being totally complete but has a great start.  The layout is being built by a good friend and a great modeler, Mark Chase from Richmond.  Check out his great website below.
http://eastblueridge.com/

No I didn't stop.

If your a fan of the Walton's you will definitely recognize this house!

Soapstone info

Soapstone info

This O scale Saddlebag log represents one of ten the N&A had.

The building were made out of soapstone in real life so a foam core was used to simulate it.

More of the mill facility.  

Mark Chase giving his presentation on the Soapstone industry.  Yes that is a 44 tonner for the N&A!

View from the garden overlook

On the way home, I stopped and took some pics of a fertilizer unloader.  Very simple and definitely could be used on my layout.

The auger to the top of the structure

The actual storage building

Could not pass up this picture in Gordonsville!  That's a '37 Packard