Owner Inspiration & Techniques on the B&O L&S Division

The Baltimore and Ohio L&S Division model railroad of Ed Lorence runs from East Grafton in West Virginia to Fairport, Ohio in 1954. Allen Keller wonders why Ed modeled this part of the railroad versus a more known section such as Cumberland, Maryland. Ed was reading books on the finale of steam looking for pictures of a yard, and the yard he found happened to be in Grafton, West Virginia.

This solidified his decision to model this area from that point on. The L&S Division stands for Lorence, his last name, Sandusky, his mentor. The division has a fictitious names with real meaning for Ed. He started modeling the B&O because his father-in-law used to take him down to the Riverdale Yards in Riverdale, Illinois to see what he did for a living. He worked on the freight cars, removing wheels, which really inspired Ed.

One year he was working outside on the yards and two trains came in at the same time and hit each other head on, derailing the engines in several cars. His father-in-law actually saw it coming and ran towards the tower, but no one was paying attention to him.

Allen Keller asks how important is coal mining to the layout. In the 1950’s coal was starting to be phased out by railroads and businesses, as oil was replacing everything. Oil was used for heat in homes, and oil fired engines to diesel electrics had become very practical and cheap with the cost of fuel half. Maintenance also dropped due to the diesel electric. For more Allen Keller videos, or tips from other model railroad builders, visit the Model Railroad Academy archives.