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gauge (4'-8^1 ⁄ 2 ") or wider. However, the
equipment was relatively small. For
example, a typical boxcar was 28 feet
long compared to the 36-foot and
40-foot boxcars of the 20th century
steam era. For a model railroad, the
small equipment allows for sharper
curves and a more compact design.
I was able to get a satisfying track plan
in O scale in a medium-size space.
Civil War-era railroads were busy,
running frequent but shorter trains. The
railroads employed early versions of
timetable-and-train-order operation to
control the trains. Both those factors
provided interesting operations on a
model railroad.
To learn more about modeling Civil
War railroads, including my own Aquia
Line and military railroading past and
present, read my book Model Railroads
Go To War (Kalmbach Media, 2015). My
layout was also featured in Model
Railroad Planning 2012. Both are avail-
able at http://www.KalmbachHobbyStore.com.The USMRR Aquia Line
I model the Aquia Line during late
winter-early spring 1863. In January
1863, Gen. Joseph Hooker took com-
mand of the Union Army of the
Potomac, which he rebuilt after the
disastrous Union defeat at the Battle
of Fredericksburg. He relied on the
USMRR, run by Col. Herman Haupt,
to provide logistics support.
The line started at the Aquia Landing
wharves, where ships and railroad carferries brought in supplies. The USMRR
car ferry was the first ever deployed. The
railroad distributed supplies and pro-
vided transportation over 13 miles of
track to the 120,000 men and 60,000
animals of the Union Army of the
Potomac dispersed around four stations
near Fredericksburg, Va. The railroad
employed five locomotives and 60 to 80
cars and provided regular scheduled ser-
vice until the spring campaigns began.
My 31 x 32-foot O scale layout is a
point-to-point design that includes the
four stations that were south of Aquia
Landing: Brooke, Potomac Creek,
Stoneman’s Station, and Falmouth. All of
these stations are modeled to varying
degrees of historical accuracy.
This layout is designed for realistic
operation, following historical sources.
The National Archives has records of the
trains that ran on the railroad during
the modeled time period, including train
orders, conductor logs, equipment ros-
ters, timetables, letters, and maps.
During operating sessions train
length is relatively short – about six to
eight cars – but the large scale of the
models lend themselves to additional
operating possibilities. The link-and-pin
coupler system uses track nails and mag-
nets, and some cars have working hand
brakes. This makes a two-man crew ideal
as two hands are needed to couple and
uncouple. Because the link and pin isn’t
as simple to operate as a knuckle coupler,
the layout design ensures that tracks
where switching takes place are close to
the front fascia for easier access.The challenges
By the start of the Civil War in 1861,
steam-powered railroads had existed for
about 35 years, but railroading was still a
young and evolving industry. A modern
observer would recognize a Civil War-
era railroad as such, although every
other feature would be different. These
differences include: steam versus diesel-
electric motive power, iron versus steel
rails, stub versus bladed turnouts, hand
versus air brakes, and link-and-pin ver-
sus knuckle couplers. There was also no
standard track gauge and almost no
interchange between railroads.
Therein lies the challenge – most
products available today wouldn’t be era-
appropriate. I had to scratchbuild much
of the rolling stock and infrastructure.❶ Stanton Battery System. The battery and its power supply sit atop the motor
on the tender of the locomotive Whiton. The wood pile conceals the battery, and
the man sitting on the box hides the off switch. The system automatically turns on
when it senses track power, but it must be manually turned off.❷ Stay-alive circuits. A SoundTraxx
Tsunami decoder equipped with the
firm’s CurrentKeeper capacitive power
supply mounted on the tender of
locomotive Haupt. The speaker, which
in this photo is hanging on the black
wires alongside the tender, also fits in
this space, all covered by the wood pile.