The Cashaway Valley Railroad

I started my first railroad in January 1980. Since then, the purpose of the layout has undergone 4 metamorphoses. From a 4 X 8 plywood central on which my 4 year old daughter and I built our first plaster mountains; then on to the first cut at a railroad with a purpose; to a railroad with a purpose and a beginning in automation and Centralized Traffic Control, and finally, to where I am at today. A railroad with a real world purpose, haulin' coal, that is designed for operation.

The CVRR is an Operating Railroad. That is, at least twice a month friends gather for the sole purpose of moving coal and other goods over the railroad. It is a lot of fun, just think "very large board game". If you have plans to be in the Houston, Texas area, send me an e-mail and we will run trains on the CVRR.

About this Web site

Its only purpose is to, hopefully, provide information that will be useful to others in the Model Railroading Hobby. A lot of the pages are how to pages, with lessons learned as I have developed my hobby skills. Very few of us are born with the ability to build a tree or a mountain, much less lay track, wire it up, develop a train schedule or an operating concept. These are all, fortunately I think, acquired skills. I hope you find something here worthwhile and if you have a comment or question click my e-mail address and send me a note.

Hope to see you on, or at least along, the CVRR main.

Jim Thompson

Chief Operating Officer, Cashaway Valley Railroad

Click Here to HEAR the 611

Yes, that was the whistle from the 611, on its last run.
Thanks to Kipp Teague's Web Site;
http://www.retroweb.com/611.html

Home of the Orginal E-Pass!

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