Battery power, laser-cutting, 3-D printing,

and more help bring the Civil War-era

Aquia Line to life

By Bernard Kempinski • Photos by the author

Highball

to

HIGH

TECH

HIGH

TECH

October 2019 37

in military history and modeling, espe-
cially armor and dioramas.
In the 1980s, I moved to northern
Virginia after serving in the U.S. Army.
The proximity to so many local battle-
fields, national archives, and other his-
torical sites kindled my interest, and
I became involved in Civil War-focused
historical research, war gaming, and
figure modeling.

In the early 1990s I began model rail-

roading due to my young son’s influence.

Together we built several railroad proj-

ects, but he lost interest eventually. At

that time my focus changed to modeling

the railroads during the Civil War.

I found these railroads offered a com-

pelling combination of military and rail-

road modeling subjects. The Civil War

was the first “railroad war,” as railroads

began to dominate military planning

and operations. Nearly every major bat-

tle in the Civil War occurred within 20

miles of a rail line or navigable river.

Furthermore, in true Victorian style,

locomotives in the era sported colorful

and ornate paint schemes and were usu-

ally named instead of numbered.

Though railroads of the era employed

many track gauges, most were standard

The photo above is this month’s wallpaper. Download it at http://www.ModelRailroader.com

Locomotive Whiton blasts out of Clozet Tunnel on Bernard Kempinski’s O scale

United States Military RR Aquia Line layout. The locomotive is equipped with a

Stanton on-board battery radio Digital Command Control system, while the

freight cars and tunnel portal are examples of models made with laser-cut parts.