Two Instances of O Scale in DC

      B&O Railroad Pass from 1933       ORW Pass for 1913          



Welcome to the virtual home for my O scale 2-rail (OS2R) model railroads: the B&O Shepherd Branch and the Ohio River & Western Brookland Edition. On the pages of this website, you will find descriptions, tracks plans, rosters, photos, and a history of their, and their predecessors, development.

To help you get oriented, here are short descriptions of each railroad.

The B&O Shepherd Branch is based on the former Baltimore & Ohio (B&O) Railroad trackage in southeast Washington, DC. To improve operational interest, the number of businesses served along the branch were substantially increased. The layout features hand-laid code 125 and 100 rail to depict the lighter weight rail used on branches and sidings. The rebuilt Old Pullman turnouts are powered by Circuitron Tortoise switch machines. The urban scenery is about 75% complete. The all-diesel operations are set in early 1958. Car forwarding is managed by switch lists and the first-generation yard and road switchers are controlled by Digitrax. B&O operational practices are generally followed.

The Ohio River & Western (OR&W) seeks to replicate narrow gauge operations in southeast Ohio, circa 1912. The focus is on the representational county seat Westfield, loosely based on Woodsfield OH. The On30 locomotives and rolling stock are from Bachmann. Soundtraxx decoders and keep alives were added in the tenders of the steam locomotives. Micro-Engineering code 83 flextrack and number 5 turnouts were used exclusively. Turnouts are powered by Circuitron Tortoise switch machines. Passenger operations reflect OR&W practices. Industries and structures are representative, but largely fictional. Car forwarding is managed by switch lists generated by JMRI Operations Pro and locomotives are controlled by Digitrax. The level of scenic development increased dramatically in 2020/2021 with the addition of nearly a dozen structures.