Representing N Scale model railroaders in the Central Virginia, this club channel under the NRail umbrella includes NTRAK, T-TRAK, and the BReWRR.
Headquartered in Ashland, Virginia since 1998, RANTRAK formed in the 1980’s as a special interest group of the Richmond Freelance & Prototype Model Railroaders, a non-profit 501(c). RANTRAK hosted nationally and internationally acclaimed “uNcoNveNtioN” Train Show in 1999, 2003 and 2010.
The club has between 10-30 members whose diverse skilled backgrounds have yielded exceptional results in benchwork, track design, electronics, DCC enablement, and social media contributions.
In 2017 RANTRAK voted to build a semi-permanent, DCC layout named the Blue Ridge $ Western Railroad. A plausibly prototypical fictional line located in Southwest Virginia, Northeast North Carolina, Eastern Tennessee and Southern West Virginia, the line represented direct competition with the Clinchfield Railroad.
Hi BR&W Crew, Below you will find a link to a video chapter entitled “Let’s Plan the Excursion - Blue Ridge & Western Railroad Meets its Birthplace?” I just recently returned from an excursion that yielded such a chapter headline. As we all well know, our BR&W railroad descends into North Carolina toward the peninsula we call “Crowder” with its “Buzzard’s Roost Coal Tipple”. What you may not recall is when I was researching our BR&W narrative, Google Earth maps revealed to me the village of “Meat Camp” NC, just north of Boone, NC and east of Mountain City TN. Our “Crockett Brothers Steak Company” we located to “Meat Camp”. What this video makes abundantly clear - our BR&W RR short line could easily have become “The Virginia Creeper Train”, originally the Abingdon Iron & Ore Company, merged with the Virginia Carolina Railway, and ultimately acquired by the Norfolk & Western Railroad. Of particular note to me, is how the Ashe County Historical Society’s museum modeled a working Ore Mine. Imagine how we could replicate this treatment in the space below our Crowder Buzzard’s Roost Coal Tipple! Now, I have long pondered how we could “connect” the Crowder peninsula to our Milton & Monterey Branch analog layout. And the answer I propose (for the distant future) is that our M&M Branch convert into the Virginia Creeper Branch (abandoned by N&S in 1977). The Virginia connection at White Top Mountain descends (as it already does to Damascus) also to the town of West Jefferson NC. Now in humility, I confess that I am now more fully convinced that our own Stephen Corlew petitioned correctly. That “the narrative of the BR&WRR” should have been that in the 1980’s the BR&WRR was absorbed into the Norfolk Southern. Underscoring that point, our Hamil Hill Yard in Abingdon, VA indeed overlaps the Abingdon Iron & Ore Company Railroad that was absorbed into N&W in 1915. Final point here. While our fascination with competing with the Clinchfield and labeling the BR&WRR as a coal hauler, the truth is that the Blue Ridge Mountains from Roanoke to Carolina identify a sub-range known as the “Iron Mountain Range”. Given its proximity to Boone, NC, our “Buzzard’s Roost Tipple” really ought to be mining Iron, Copper, Steel and Manganese. So with all those fun facts delivered, it’s my pleasure to share this Video Tour of the Virginia Creeper Train, permanently on exhibit in Jefferson NC at the Ashe County Historical Society. Who wants to take a road trip?!?
Those Chessie hoppers were part of the George Hughes estate that he donated to South Hampton Roads NTRAK before his passing. They were not mine. I see coal loads have been added. I was able to get a few running. These were older Con-Cor hoppers.
Thank you for supporting our efforts by your visit! Glad you enjoyed the show. That Star Wars-themed T-TRAK scene on the N Scale Richmond Area T-TRAK was a show stopper by the huge audience all weekend long!
We missed you. We tried to setup the layout, but it was too damp. Took the layout back to the clubhouse before coming back to get video. Glad you were there to see it!
Thank you Jake. We are eager to please! Deserving credit for the background music goes to LumaFusion. We use that iOS product for video editing and production. They have lots of music styles licensed for inclusion and enhancement for a reasonable subscription.
We have missed seeing so many of our members this past year, but I am excited for the day everyone is back. The prep work has continued to build the greatest variety of high quality model railroading experiences available anywhere in the USA. Modular layouts to the BR&WRR, with more ways for everyone to build their own scenes and operate prototypical train movements, we are entering a “golden age” of the hobby
Thanks William. RANRail/RANTRAK is part of the RF&P Model Railroaders located in the Ashland Hanover Shopping Center. We will be gathering formally on March 13. For more info, send us a private email to rantrak1@gmail.com
Hi Erik, sorry for the delay in reply... it easy to join us and club dues all total are less than $15/month. We meet for business and to run trains on the 2nd Saturday every month. Check out our Facebook page www.Facebook.com/RANTRAK
Eastern N Lines will be gathering at RANTRAK's Blue Ridge & Western Railroad club layout in September 2020. The Danville Rail Days (DRD18) was cancelled due to Covid-19. Invitations were sent the 2nd week of August 2020 to the Eastern N Lines distribution list and Facebook Page. We look forward to getting back to "normal" and doing what ENL does best... NO BULL...Runnin' Trains!!!
Railfan611 I believe you are correct! I don’t follow the scanner so I can’t say for sure, but it was the often seen juice, followed by mixed, followed by trash train.
Thank you Railfan611! And just a reminder, club members are free to check in any time. Just send the club president an email to let him know your plans. Hope to see you all soon!
