Orange decisions

The town of Orange on the end of the lower level is a tough nut to crack.  The area is in a T shape and that is not ideal for a whole lot.  I believe I have the track plan down and have finally started to figure out what I want to do with the left side.  The town has a tie loading spur, and the two tracks on the left that was going to be the interchange tracks with Norfolk Southern.  Instead of the interchange I have decided to add another industry to the tracks.  I decided to go with a small grain elevator.  Here is the small elevator.    This will be a perfect add to the rural town of Orange.  The interchange will then be moved to a hinged cassette or a removable cassette.

Here is the town of Orange.  The trains come from the center part of completed part.

On the right were the interchange tracks with this mocked up scene, now they will become a storage and grain elevator track

Now ready for a new industry.

The other side with have the tie loading spur with the town in the back ground.  The background building here will be be there.  The straight track will be the interchange track with some type of cassette for the rest of the track.

VMID #299 GP40 leads a train into Orange.

 

Orange tie loading: The Prototype

I traveled through the town of Orange, VA today and I always travel by the station and through the tie loading area that I am trying to model on the Midland.  It's seems to always have a few interesting gons there and since the sun was out, I grapped some shots to hope help me complete this area.
This area is also the prototypical end of the actual Virginia Central Railroad line that started in Fredericksburg, VA and ends in Orange.  My Virginia Midland model railroad is based on this line that was ripped up in the 1930's (except the 1 mile line in Fredericksburg).  Yes, the Virginia Central still lives on my layout, but just a branch line.  If I could start it all over, I would have just had the Virginia Central.   This post will start off with tie loading spur.  The second installment will show the line as it appears now.

Typical untreated tie bundle.  They are unbundled when they are loaded in the gons.

Not your typical setup.  The spur of loaded ties, with the Town of Orange public works dept. on the the right.  The Buckingham Branch Railroad switches this on Ex- C&O tracks from Gordonsville.

A string of loaded gons.

This is looking the other way from the above pic.  This the last of the old VC trackage.  Some rails from the 1930's have been photographed here.

Old SCL gon

SCL herald

Typical CSXT gon.

This actually might be original VC trackage interchange with the C&O railroad.

An old railroad building by the gons.

No ties left here.

The ties are literally dumped right in.

Another view

The tie "loader"

Impressive tie stack.  Public Works dept in the back.

Another view of the loader.

Office of the tie loading facility