Richard Van Laar's Clinchfield
Rich had most of the benchwork built before coming to me for a design. He had very specific ideas about where towns and – most important – full-scale replicas of iconic bridges along the Clinchfield's main line from Erwin, TN to Elkhorn City, KY. He was a little stuck on staging, concerned about the dozens of turns that would be required to put staging for both decks down below. I suggested staging on the helix, which also allows continuous running on both decks for open houses via some easily added cutoffs.
