Operations on Bill Henderson’s Coal Belt Railroad

Operations on Bill Henderson’s Coal Belt model railroad start with a storm. Camelback locomotive number 3 pulls out of Tresckova with a daily local. The crew rides on the engine as most locals on the coal belt don’t use cabooses. A huge coal breaker structure separates coal and slate near the track.

Ducking under the tramway of the coal breaker, the 282 camelback runs by Lindsey Creek. The scenery is spectacular. Number 3 has a lot of work to do at Autumn Park where the empty hopper and gandola are hauled away. The 282 shoves the empties to the passing track to pick up later while the number 3 couples to the end of its train. A loaded sand gondola and a coal hopper get dropped, then move onto the grocery site. The last move is a pickup of ice from the ice storage house.

After leaving Autumn Park, number 3 will pick up the two empties on the passing track. At Frank Ellison the locomotive has one pickup and two setouts. Central of New Jersey number 3580 is pulled from the freighthouse and cuts back to the main. Coal belt number 3054 is set out at the freighthouse. Union tank car number 12528 is dropped at the Standard Oil team track and passes over Rich Mountain Creek.