The Richmond Terminal Railroad, Version 2 Once More, with feeling... The second Richmond Terminal will be bigger and more prototypically focused than the first version. This version is going to focus on the RF&P side of the railroad. CSX now calls this the CFP district of the Rocky Mount Division, but in this modeled world, the RF&P stayed operationally independent due to political and economic wrangling so prepare to see blue and gray diesels along the line.
This site will be used to document and share the construction and operation of the railroad. A blogspot hosted blog, richmond-terminal.blogspot.com, has been used until this point for this, but it is my intention that eventually the host blog will be used for short updates only and the majority of the content will reside here.
For more information, please use the tabs above for navigation. The Blog tab has the most information currently as the transition to this site is ongoing at this time. Additional content will be created and migrated as time permits. The blog is easily updated, so quick updates are posted as progress is made on the layout.
The Richmond Terminal Railroad Version 2 is going to be much larger than version 1 was. Version 2 is inside the full basement of a ranch style house, so overall space availale in the basement is over 2000 square feet. Of course, not all that space is usable, as you have to factor in a stairwell, a bathroom and the mechanical infrastructure such as a furnace and the like. For a representational floorplan of the space that this version will call home, please take a look at the following PDF: here.
The Richmond Terminal Railroad V1 was a HO scale representation of the major rail lines in and around the city of Richmond, VA. The layout took up a good portion of a 33' by 24' basement and had multiple decks connected by both helix and nolix. The railroad used JMRI to drive a CTC system with dispatcher control of the mainline turnouts and signals. All the V1 content can be found on the "V1" tab above.
June 2021 - Website is significantly behind. Blog is a bit more up to date, but still behind. Track is currently being installed into North Acca. Track is complete on the upper level and 2 operation sessions have been held, with multiple work sessions being held. COVID caused a big slow up in progress in the 2nd half of 2020.
December 2019 - First operating session held.
September 2019 - Updating the website and blog has taken a back seat to actually working on the layout for the limited hobby time I've had. I am pleased to announce that the upper level benchwork is fully complete. The 3 removable bridges that are necessary as in place. Now, the next steps are to get the final pieces of roadbed laid and then track down. The upper level staging yard is track complete, and just needs feeders. Other electrical work is also proceeding. Check the blog for more information.
May 2019 - Significant changes have taken place since the last main site update. Track has reached Doswell and Hamilton Control Point. Benchwork is 90% complete for the upper level. Some benchwork for the lower level has been completed to hold backdrops in place Lower level backdrops are completely installed, and now can be painted.
Cork roadbed is complete over 95% of the upper level; where benchwork is completed. Track is laid in Milford and extends in both directions. Bus wires have been placed on the peninsulas and track feeders are in place on over 50% of the laid track.
April 2019: Work Session
December 2018 Work Session
February 2018: Work Session Five Laid track north of Doswell around Milford.
November 2017: Construction is proceeding as time, materials and funding is available. Additional updates to the site and blog as also in progress as pictures are found.
Fourth Work Session - October 14, 2017. Two intrepid model railroaders made the trek to the east side of town to help construction along. Backdrops were hung around the layout for the upper level, staging sections for the staging yard were hung and other "fix-me" issues were resolved. I've started to hang work notes at places around the railroad to let anybody quickly tell status and what should be done next.
Third Work Session - April 8th 2017. Titled the "Hello New Gig Edition" More benchwork tasks were worked on this session.
Second work session - March 4th 2017. Titled the "Good Bye Old Job Edition" Edition
First work session - December 10th 2017. Titled the "Here we go again" Edition. The spine walls were build and erected.