Dismantling the Virginian
The final operating session on this layout was held on Saturday, July 12, 2008. Then on July 30, the layout was dismantled in preparation for building and moving into a new house. Click here to see the planned new railroad space.
Here is a photo of Virginian employees at the "Rusty Spike" ceremony commemorating eight years of operations (the actual rusty spike is in the tie at the feet of the man in the yellow shirt).
These photos show how I prepared for the July 30 dismantling day. Here are photos of Tim Anderson, Jerry Ritter, Steve Robbins, and Keith Stillman separating the layout into sections and loading them into Tim's rental truck.
(July 20, 2008) The turntable, coal tower, water tank, and diesel fuel tank are gone from the Glen Lyn engine terminal. The unloading dock is next on the list.
(July 20, 2008) A cart holds the turntable, the YMCA boarding house, and coal and limestone loads from hopper cars, plus a box of Tortoise switch machines, prior to packing everything in cartons. The engines and freight cars are already packed in the white cartons near the wall.
(July 20, 2008) The pulpwood facility at Eggleston is gone, and the property is being used to store engine terminal structures and the massive concrete smokestack from the Virginian Limestone quarry at Klotz.
(July 23, 2008) Radford, like all towns, had its hardboard fascia panels temporarily unscrewed so the fabric skirting and fast clocks could be removed.
(July 23, 2008) All the time in the world.... Fast clock assemblies rest on the floor beneath Klotz, awaiting packing in cartons.
(July 23, 2008) Roanoke revealed. The final piece of "Wire Mountain" lies collapsed on the tracks of the Roanoke staging yard, which it formerly surrounded. In the foreground, the Radford station and train order board are gone.
(July 27, 2008) Packing up. Lots of stuff is packed up, ready to be put into storage.
(July 29, 2008) Ready for the crew. Structures, switch machines, and wiring have been removed, and the layout is ready to be disassembled and loaded into Tim Anderson's truck. Here are the photos.
