Old N&W Station - Suffolk, VA

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Scotts-dale Division Site

The City of Suffolk was founded in 1892. Suffolk is most famous for the concentration of Peanut Farms in the area and its proximity to the Great Dismal Swamp to the south and east of downtown Suffolk.

In recent years, the downtown area has fallen on hard times. A number of the peanut processing plants have closed. Also, many small businesses have disappeared, particularly on the south-east side of the tracks. Further east, many public housing buildings are located between the railroad tracks and Washington Street.

There are numerous junctions east of the N&W Suffolk station The Franklin district (old Atlantic and Danville to the West)* merges with the NS mainline on the south side of the tracks. At the same location, CSX (old ACL) used to cross the NS Mainline. The line to the south has been abandon. The line to the north acts as an interchange track between CSX (old Seaboard) and NS; it also service a petroleum or chemical facility. Another junction connects to the Commonwealth Railway (old Atlantic and Danville to the east ) which continues north to service the BASF plant and Marsek Container Terminal in the West Norfolk neighborhood of Portsmouth, VA. Finally, there is a short siding for locomotives that service the Franklin District. To the West of the station is the Suffolk Yard for the NS.

* - Bold and italics denotes updates.

Layout Design Element.

The area around the N&W Station makes an interesting layout design element because of the numerous junctions. My design focus on taking advantage of these junctions for operational interest. Ideally hidden staging would be provided to make the junctions operational. Scenic interest is provided by the urban landscape.

My Suffolk LDE, captures all the turnouts and tracks of the Suffolk station area, as well as the overall look of the area. It is a large LDE, because only limited compression was used. The distance between the diamond and the station is compressed about 50%. However all of the structures are actual scale size. Critical distances between structures, such as within the public storage complex are scale size; however, distances between groups of structures, such as from the public storage to the station, have been compressed as needed to fit the scene.

Suffolk, VA LDE

Prototype: NS (Old N&W Mainline)

Dimensions: 9.5 feet x 3 feet, 12" Grid

Scale: N

Track work: Atlas Code 55 Flex track & Fast Tracks #6 turnouts & Fast Tracks 30 degree crossings

Click here to download LDE as 3rd Plan It file.

Click here to view as large JPG

The key elements which capture the scene are the station, diamond and trackage, old main street buildings, public storage complex, and cell phone tower. The station is the visual focal point for the LDE. The diamond provides operational interest. The old Washington Street buildings (lower RH corner) serve to place the station near downtown and highlight that the area has fallen on hard times. The public storage because of its new buildings and their bright paint, is a key visual element to the look of the area. The cell phone tower is a key element to capturing the feel of the area around the station.

Also, three elements are used as visual dividers to hide the compression between the station and the diamond. First, the repetitive buildings of the public storage service as a divider. Second the street between the station and the public storage helps separate the area. Third the houses and buildings in the foreground and along the street provide details and mini-scenes making the space feel larger.

Pictures


This overview of the area from Microsoft's Virtual Earth (maps.live.com) shows the area of the LDE.		This is the old Suffolk Train Station.

This picture is an old box car that has been converted to storage. It is these details that make a model railroad look more realistic.	This is the parking lot between old building groups on Washington Street. Note the outline of the old adjacent building and the faded advertisements.	Abandon Loading Area between building on Washington Street

Side of old building once stood west end of Washington Street.	The back of this building is partially modeled in the foreground. The add on make good detail area.	Debris outside the same old building. In the model these details can make the effect.

These pictures are of the buildings across Washington Street and are not included in the LDE.

One Section of Downtown Suffolk	Old building with metal sheathing on the side. It looks like the sheathing was added when the adjacent structure was torn down.