Allen McClelland and His Virginian & Ohio

by Tony Koester

Overview

The late Allen McClelland made a profound impact on model railroading, and his Virginian & Ohio is one of the hobby's best-known layouts of all time. Get this historical book on how it pioneered many concepts that later became standards in layout design and how his infuence helped bring model railroading to where it is today.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781627009232
Publisher:	Kalmbach Publishing Co.
Publication date:	02/02/2023
Series:	Layout Design and Planning
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Sales rank:	1,016,846
File size:	259 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Tony Koester has written books focusing on his lifelong hobby of model railroading. He has been the editor of Model Railroad Planning, a special annual issue of Model Railroader magazine, since its inception in 1995. He is a contributing editor to Model Railroader and served as the editor of Railroad Model Craftsman. Tony is hard at work on a multi-deck HO railroad that accurately depicts the Nickel Plate Road’s St. Louis Division as it appeared in 1954.

Table of Contents

Introduction

The revolution began here 4

The Virginian & Ohio led to dramatic changes in the hobby

Chapter 1 Beyond the basement 8

Allen taught us to think of our railroads as part of the continental rail network

Chapter 2 Linear layout design 20

Allen McClelland didn't invent it, but he made it practical

Chapter 3 Walkaround command control 26

In one stroke, Allen created the way we'd control our railroads in the future

Chapter 4 The development of Centralized Traffic Control 30

Running the V&O realistically meant wiring decks of rotary switches

Chapter 5 The debut of plastic models 40

Allen saw them as timesavers to better enable building a large, operating railroad

Chapter 6 Plausibility over showmanship 56

Modeling the ordinary made it easier to achieve a believable model railroad

Chapter 7 What's in a name? 64

The era of punny and whimsical names ebbed when the V&O debuted

Chapter 8 The "Good Enough" Principle 68

Set the bar reasonably high, and bring, everything up to that level

Chapter 9 The Appalachian Lines and subsequent V&O railroads 74

Tales of a model railroad merger and two relocations

Chapter 10 The McClelland legacy 84

Testimonials from modelers who were influenced by Allen

Chapter 11 Photo gallery 104

More V&O photos worthy of review