The Midland Road, with Yellow Lettering on red diesels. Reversed on front and Back.
The Virginian & Ohio, White On Blu.
The Virginia Midland.
I think that this is one of the coolest Model Railroads in history, However, I read somewhere that Allen was giving up on the V&O, and moving to a retirement home. Since Tony got rid of the AM, there is only the VM left.
First of all, does anyone know if Tony ever operated the AM with Allen as part of the Appalachian Lines.
2, does anyone know if allen painted any diesels for the AM, even after tony abandoned the AM, or were all the models you see in stories about the V&O originals.
3, can anyone prove me true/false on weather the V&O is dying, and
4., does anyone know if the VM is still in operation.
I’m just curious, about it. It seems like a major modeling project and it would be a shame to see it go to waste.
The VM is still very much in operation, or at least it was last November when I had the good fortune to be able to participate in an operating session on it.
The V&O as a model railroad owned and operated by Allen McClelland is dismantled and gone. The last public open house was March 16, 2008. At that open house, much of the rolling stock was sold off. The actual V&O-lettered equipment went very quickly. Allen provided certificates of authenticity with each car sold (whether lettered V&O, or not), indicating that it had been used on the V&O.
Some rolling stock remains unsold, and is scheduled to be offered for sale at a Dayton-area train show in November.
The Virginia Midland is N scale, isn’t it? I seem to remember reading that somewhere. I’ve never seen anything published on that one… anybody got some photos squirreled away?
Freelanced model railroad "Mergers’ seldom last long…
My freelanced railroad, the White River Southern Railroad was in a fictional merger, every railroad operated under their own name but in the same operating plan. It was called NEAT (New England & Atlantic Transportation co.) and consisted of four freelanced railroads in the New Hampshire and Vermont area. (Yes, when one of our members picked NEAT it was supposed to spell something. He picked it partly because of one forum member’s railroad MESS which I can’t remember what it stands for…)
Unfortunetely, two of our modelers changed what railroad they were modeling, so now there’s only two origanal members of NEAT left (me and one other), with one owner of a shortline thinking of joining. I still use the train symbols we all adopted in NEAT though…
NEAT didn’t really progress as far as the Appalachian Lines; only about a year, if that. No locomotives were painted into the NEAT scheme before it lost two if it’s members back in spring/early summer. Of course, only one railroad had a unit painted in it’s scheme beforehand, and the other three are now painted and awaiting delivery; one is for a non-NEAT railroad but looks to me to be in the NEAT scheme save for color and lettering (NEAT locos were to have the same striping and layout no matter what railroad, but with their owners number, lettering, and color.), one is in it’s NEAT scheme, and one is in a post-NEAT scheme.
Any comglomerate of railroads, freelanced or not, is liable to change, as many modelers like many different railroads and keep changing it.
I’m sure they wernt sold for a couple bucks on ebay, I’m even more sure those who bought them specificly because of their origin. Like having an original G&D car by John Allen, there are a couple, it ends up as a “fallen flag” car on the buyers layout, something to be kept intact as a rememberence of the lost line.
I seem to recall “back in the day”, both Allen and Tony would have operating session on the same night at their own respective layouts and communicate via actual telephone link as to the interchange between the two roads !
While AM did appear on the V&O, they were not painted by Allen, but rather handed over from the AM as Tony proceeded to back-date his layout, and Allen progressed forward. There was one or two HO units done in the VM livery that were used in an old RMC article on the AM, but I’m not sure if they were done by Tony or not.
I’m so sorry to read that Allen is moving to a retirement home and likely can’t take the layout with him.
Anyone know why did Tony give up or retire the Allegheny Midland? [%-)] I still have the MRR issues from the 80s and 90s. Tony’s track and ballast work was 2nd to none. Scenery was jaw impressive.
Even at my 40+ something age, I find it hard to fathom that in my retirement years I’d give up model railroading unless I was in extremely poor physical conditon.
But as long as my hand can operate a powerpack or DCC throttle…I want to operate trains![:P]
I tell ya … I give these guys a lot of credit to make such a decision at the age they did. Tony’s new layout not only takes up almost twice the foot-print of the AM, but it’s double decked to boot !!!
I’m pushing 50 and find it hard to believe I’ll finish all the projects I have before I die, let alone tear it all down and start another twice the size !!! Granted they have had a lot of help reaching their goals and have accomplished a LOT in a rather short time frame, but even so, it’s a pretty bold step to take.
Aside from the full blown article that included the trackplan in MR a couple years ago, the only updates I’ve seen are within his Trains of Thought articles in MR. Tony is a regular contributor on Jim Six’s Yahoo forum and once in a while some tidbits are shared there … aside from that, I haven’t seen or heard any big coverage news.
I had the pleasure of visiting V&O II during the Cincinnati national convention in '05. A friend of mine had gone to the national convention held in Dayton in '75(?) and had toured V&O I at that time; it was, he assured me, the most impressive (home) layout he had ever seen and he encouraged me to visit it should the opportunity ever arise. It didn’t but V&O II was measuring up to becoming as impressive as the photo coverage of V&O I indicated. I am indeed sorry that my visit to V&O II will be a solitary one.
If I recall correctly, Allen was forced to abandon V&O I - which occupied the basement of a two story structure - because his wife had medical problems which the staircase between floors aggrivated; V&O II was built in a house with the master suite on the first floor but his wife’s medical problems were becoming more intense and it became more and more imperative that she have closer medical care. Consequently V&O II had to be abandoned as Allen moved his wife of more than half-a-century into a retirement/assisted living facility.
We would all, I am sure, wish peace for Mrs McClelland’s physical needs and at the same time we would, I am equally sure, wish peace for Allen’s emotional condition which can be very stressful in these situations.
Allen’s modeling has been significant for the hobby and we need to be mindful of his contributions.
Tony has given over considerable space to his Nickel Plate Road rendition within his Trains of Thought byline in Model Railroader magazine; although he has not said so directly his Allegheny Midland had reached the end of the line as far as its cre
At least as of last November, the VM was almost entirely bare benchwork, with enough track in place to begin operations, but not as much as owner Steve King has planned. It was not in the sort of photogenically sceniced state that most magazines love. And yes, it is N scale.
I am a very proud freelance modeler, modeling a fictional regional in the Oregon high desert. Reading about the AM here is partially what gives me my inspiration to expand my fleet of yellow and blue Locomotives, and freight cars, which can, so farr be counted on my fingers and toes.
Seeing a man give up a railroad, with an awesom paint scheme, that he CREATED HIMSELF from his own head, only to build something twice it’s size following a prototype, gives me the same feeling I get thinking about how the WC Maroon and Yellow are almost gone. And now Allen sold off the remaining Yellow and Red units.It’s a shame
If you scroll down to the bottom of the page I linked to, it has a V&O roster, including C44-8s, SD70s, AC440CWs. Do you think any of these were on the modeled roster?