As a professional locomotive engineer since April 2000, I have had the opportunity to study the prototype for endless hours. I often say my day job is research for my model railroad. From the very beginning I wanted my freelanced railroad to have the look and feel of the real thing. Introducing the Seaboard Central, a freelanced railroad set during the summer of 2015 in the southeastern United States.

I first came up with the idea behind the Seaboard Central back in the late 1980s after being inspired by layouts such as Allen McClelland’s Virginia and Ohio along with Tony Koester’s Allegheny Midland, but probably the most influential was Eric Brooman’s Utah Belt. All of these layouts had one thing in common; they were freelanced and completely believable. From that point on, my goal was to do the most conceivable freelanced railroad I could create.

In the United States, all freight railroads are privately owned. I have actually worked for one of the largest Class One railroads since 1996. Class One railroads cover multiple states and include thousands of miles, locomotives and employees. Prior to this I actually worked for a very small carrier known as a short line Class Three railroad, consisting of only 18 miles, two locomotives and five employees. 

In between the behemoth Class Ones and the small Class Threes are regional Class Two railroads. Often, these midsize carriers offer the best of both worlds. They will use more modern locomotives but still have all the charm and tailored customer service of the smaller short line.

I knew from the very beginning that the Seaboard Central would fall into the Class Two regional category. In the US, the Seaboard Central, if it actually existed, would be roughly the same size as the Florida East Coast or the Denver and Rio Grande before it was merged with the Southern Pacific.

SEABOARD CENTRAL HISTORY

The Seaboard Central became an official carrier on January 01, 1990 by taking over a branch line from CSX that operated trackage between Cartersville and Cedartown, Georgia. Later that year CSX put their Macon to Savannah, Georgia line up for sale and the SC became the winning bidder. With this line sale, the railroad was well on its way to transition from a Class Three short line to a Class Two regional.

During 1994 the SC took over the Port of Savannah trackage upon the sale of the Savannah State Docks railway from the Georgia Port Authority. Part of the sale included a group of blue and white boxcars that inspired SC management to change the corporate colors of red and gray to blue and white. In 1995 new boxcars started showing up on property showcasing the new SC image.

The Seaboard Central went on to secure more lines, eventually connecting Birmingham, Alabama to the port in Savannah, Georgia by 2012. The railroad lines that make up the Seaboard Central are all former CSX or Norfolk Southern secondary routes whose history traces back to the Seaboard Coast Line and Central of Georgia. With the completion, a new blue paint scheme started appearing on locomotives.

LAYOUT HISTORY

The original Seaboard Central Layout occupied a space 11 feet, 9 inches by 22 feet, 9 inches with an additional one-foot-by-12-foot staging yard located in an adjacent room. This layout provided many years of enjoyment and was an absolute great way to develop skills to grow in the hobby. Lessons learned from the original layout have been an invaluable resource to construct the new layout. Some things have been incorporated while others have been completely changed or avoided.

The new layout, which began construction January 2022, is being built in phases due to the planned final arrangement. Phase One which is almost finished, occupies a space 13 feet 4 inches by 22 feet, 4 inches. Two more phases are planned which will almost triple the size of the layout, which will end up taking up approximately two thirds of our basement level in our home.

LAYOUT METHODS

The new layout is being built in sections or modules. As each new section is constructed, work on prior sections is bringing them to full completion with scenery and structures. These methods of construction allowed for two elements that I find are a great way to keep the enthusiasm flowing; quick operations and admiring the scenery.

The most important part of the hobby for myself is creating realistic operations, so getting a train up and running fast was essential. From the plan, a logical point is the large ADM ethanol plant. It is compact and offers plenty of switching opportunities. Once it was completed, I had a place to run a switcher while building the adjoining sections.

As the layout continues to expand, so do operations. This has allowed formal operating sessions to take place like I had on the original layout. Having a group of three to four people over to operate trains is a great way to share the fruits of your labor.

LAYOUT OPERATIONS

Operations on the current phase one of the layout includes five trains plus the ADM plant switcher. There are two yard assignments, (Y81/Y86) at Gadsden Yard which represents the main yard terminal for the Westend of the railroad. Norfolk Southern interchanges cars at Gadsden with the SC bringing in traffic from their western operations. This includes a number of cars originating on the Texas & Great Northern, another freelanced railroad that interchanges with NS in Meridian, MS.

Another popular train that originates in Gadsden is the L83 Ragland Turn. This train handles the two industries located on the upper level in Ragland; National Cement and ADM. It is normally the train I have my guest operators run while I handle the yard operations in Gadsden. If they have time, they can also operate the ADM plant switcher. All trains are operated with a ProtoThrottle from Iowa Scaled Engineering.

The last train is T84 which handles BNSF and CSXT interchange traffic. It is based out of Ragland, AL and makes a nightly turn to Gadsden. At Gadsden, it will change power before heading back to Ragland. Train T85 which is not modeled will take the cars from Ragland to the interchanges in Birmingham, AL and return with cars for the T84 to move to Gadsden. These interchanges allow for cars from other freelanced railroads to make it to the SC and for my SC cars make it to their lines. Just like actual railroads do.

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