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FEBRUARY 17, 2007 MEETING
with PHOTOS
The meeting began with a visit to the Valdese museum and
the Piedmont and Western club layout located at the Museum.
The Museum and layout are in the Old Rock School House in
the downtown area of Valdese, NC. The hallway leading to the layout room at the
rear is lined with historic railroad photos and memorabilia related to the local
area. There is a reconstruction of a station ticket office along the hallway
with a working telegraph that communicates with another key down the hallway.
A small side room houses a track speeder (12"=1' scale).
The HO scale layout is in a large room with tracks along
both walls and a center peninsula. It was initially built using
RailCommand analog command control, but has been converted to
EasyDCC. It is fully scenicked with rugged mountains, a large city, and
several small towns and industries. It generally models the Southern S-line
through Western North Carolina. Division members were kept busy finding the
many small detailed scenes everywhere on the layout. There were several highly
detailed and weathered structures. In some places, building flats against the
wall were given more life-like 3D by adding external details to the flat surface
such as fire escapes and air conditioners. Some N-scale details were used in
scenes toward the back of the scenery to give the effect of greater distance
through forced perspective. Two trains operated continuously and flawlessly
during the visit. Track is all handlaid with commercial turnouts.
The Museum and layout are open to the public "whenever the
club members are there" which is usually Thursday nights.
The Division held a brief meeting during which Dave Chance
presented Jack Parker with his AP Certificate for Association Volunteer.
We stopped at the Transportation Museum in Granite Falls,
but it wasn't open, so we continued on to Hudson.
Lunch was followed by a visit to the Hudson Depot Museum.
This is housed in the original railroad depot that has been moved to a small
park behind the town hall. It has local railroad and historic materials. The
two local people who operate it guided us through providing a lot of historical
information about the building, local railroad operation, and the individual
items on display. The original depot clock is there, stopped at the time the
depot was closed to business. Two highly detailed G-scale models of a steam
locomotive and covered hopper, custom made for the museum, are on display.
There are also vintage maps of the area showing the railroads as they existed
early in the twentieth century. Exiting the depot through one of the freight
doors, we crossed a wood deck and entered a restored caboose. It is from the D&H(udson)
and is a double sheathed wood caboose with a low cupola at one end. It has been
beautifully restored. Inside, one side is kept as it would have been during
service with the bunks, conductor's desk, and stove. The other side is set up
with displays of railroad lamps, photos, and tools.
On the way back toward Charlotte, we took a short side trip
in Hickory to see the small yard at the end of the Caldwell County Railroad,
which is a short line between Hickory and Lenoir that also serves Hudson
and Granite Falls. Two locomotives (former L&N Paducah Geeps) were parked
there. We spent some time looking them over and surveying some interesting
trackwork that squeezed a wye into a tight space.
We thank our hosts from the P&W club and Hudson Depot
Museum for their hospitality and very interesting and informative tours.
Here are some photos of our day.
Click on the thumbnails to view larger photos.
Railroad Museum in Valdese, NC
Piedmont & Western Model Railroad Club Layout
in Valdese
Hudson Depot Museum
D&H Caboose, Hudson, NC
Caldwell County Railroad Yard, Hickory, NC
Photos contributed by Jack Haynes | 
