East Bend

Historical/Thematic Context

Although very much a freelanced model, East Bend very loosely represents a major port city on the Ohio River, like East Bend or Tell City, and serves as the NWR's southwestern terminus. Much of East Bend and its larger functionality is implied through backdrops and story, such as the Naptown's Bend Yard and engine Facilites. What is modeled, as you'll see below, is a large and busy Intermodal Container port and Passenger Terminal. a Modern NWR has likely contracted with major Class 1's like the CN or NS to move containers bound for local Customers from coastal US ports to East Bend, bypassing much of the terminal lag seen in Cincinnati's Queensgate Yard or in Chicago. Autoracks, including from LaSalle Motors, come to East Bend to be unloaded.

2019-2020 rebuild

Beginning in December 2019 and spurred by the Restoration effort, the old East Bend was stripped and removed from the layout. Everything from the yard throat to the end of the Terminal was removed and an all new set of goals was outlined. Point 1 was to completely get away from the underground loop. It was simply too troublesome for its worth, and was moved to the surface of the benchwork. The Passenger Terminal, while certainly an eye catching landmark to the area, was largely unusable thanks to some poorly placed Kadee Magnets and switches, and most of our members were running their trains through, not terminating, making the stub end setup unviable.

At the same time, members were pushing for new and more modern industries such as an Intermodal yard. With East Bend rapidly shaping up to be a blank canvas, it was a prime place for NWR to dive into container operations. The Terminal was replaced with a new 4 track run through station with an over-the-track headhouse. East Bend Yard is gone now, the setting moved "down the track" to an unmodelled portion of the mainline. A company opened an Autorack unloading ramp near the Intermodal Yard and adjacent to the Drive-In Theater, and East Bend now has an independent Passenger Car restoration company, as well as a few other smaller industries.

To help with the flow of foot traffic in the aisleways, West Marmon was cut from its wye and moved to the curve end of East Bend. We'll cover more of the changes to West Marmon on that page.

For more information on the old East Bend, Click Here

East End Davis

For a Northbound crew, this is a welcome sight. There's still plenty of railroad to go, but the curve through Miller Mine is at least banked. For a Southbound, it either means 20 minutes to arrival, or two hours waiting for a spot in the yard.

Southbound and down

The crew of one of NWR's few Alco PAs are counting the ties until they dock. Naptown was a valued Alco customer for steam, and tried to stay true, but would ultimately begin to favor EMD products

Athearn Excursion Davis Siding

A prominent builder of railroad equipment, this Athearn business train, under Amtrak's watchful eye, was a rare case of a Northbound being able to hold the siding offgrade. Engineer has the signal, and shortly, the headlights will flick on and the train will crawl north.

East End Davis

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Davis Siding

Named for a beloved late member, friend, and father, As the first and last long siding outside of East Bend, Davis Siding can be a welcome sign and a sigh of relief. Northbound, Davis Siding is the ruling grade, plunging into the Ohio River Valley, beginning with a gentle slope within the yard limits and rapidly getting steeper as it climbs a sweeping cliff bank. With no room to take a running charge from the yard, the grade becomes much worse. Southbound, its not much easier, testing the brakes of trains long on the road and crews ready to get off. Because of the grade, Dispatchers usually hold Southbounds as far back as Hunter's Ridge, where the double track mainline ends; using Davis Siding more as a

place to hold traffic the yard is not yet ready for. Northbounds, regardless of classification, tend to have right of way to prevent risk of trains stopping and being unable to restart midgrade.

Bend Junction.

Chessie

Photo shot for a EBAY sale, this beast is juat taking the points for Bend Junction, in the extreme foreground is the lead that would ultimately become the new yard entry.

Chessie

Photo shot for a EBAY sale, this beast is juat taking the points for Bend Junction, in the extreme foreground is the lead that would ultimately become the new yard entry.

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