The current layout….

 The current layout consists of two modules from the Hitop Branch, the only two I could use with my space limitations, as the lay is in our den which is now basically my man cave/office/workshop/layout room! The two modules were moved over in our move in May of 2022, and since then had been worked on as basically a display layout for my weathering projects. See my website The Weathering Depot for more on my commission weathering work.

With the gracious help of Tom C. who wired up my original Hitop layout, the modules were rewired about two weeks ago now, with everything running well. Since then more little details have been added which I’ll touch on in another post. Now, the next decision was what to name this new layout, and what geographic area I’m I now representing?

I currently only have two locomotives and several more cabooses, one locomotive is a Proto 2000 SW8 lettered for B&O, while my other is my favorite locomotive, an older Atlas GP7 with a Kato drive lettered for Penn Central. My caboose fleet consists of one Tangent B&O bay window caboose, one Bowser PRR N8 cabin, one Bowser and one Walther’s caboose, both in PC colors. 

So the thought was, do I keep a West Virginia theme in the Kanawha valley where B&O and PC both ran and interchanged, or do I freelance model one of several areas in my hometown of Cincinnati where both roads ran in close proximity? Several areas in Cincinnati looked promising. One area was in the Cincinnati suburb of St. Bernard where ivorydale yard is, located to serve the huge Proctor and Gamble plant there, plus other close by industries where both B&O and PC switched and interchanged , or an area west of downtown Cincinnati along the Ohio River where both roads paralleled each other? With the chemical plant I could represent Proctor and Gamble. The other industries on the layout I’d have to freelance, as I didn’t want to model the Ivorydale area exactly as it was forty years ago.

Another decision was believe it or not, choice of backdrops. There are several vendors who make acceptable industrial and suburban city backdrops, but only one makes a specific Cincinnati area backdrop. An appropriate backdrop will be the last major addition to the back of the modules. Lighting on the layout comes first, but more on that as well later. Now, I still didn’t have a name for the layout. 

I recently picked up some timetables (one of my other hobbies), and one I wanted was a NYC Southern District one from November 1967 which mentions and lists the Cincinnati terminal subdivision. See the photo below:

So, with all these factors in mind of freelancing an area of Cincinnati, I decided to go with the Cincinnati Terminal Subdivision as the name for the layout. I have been operating on the layout since it’s rewiring, but also am still intending to use the layout to display my weathering projects.