Original Concept

The DD&DM was originally conceived as an eastern connecting road, much along the lines of the RF&P. It would run from the industrial piedmont region to the ridge of the Appalachians carrying traffic between the Southern and the Norfolk and Western. Occasional AMTRAK through service would be provided, and both Southern and Norfolk and Western would have trackage rights over the DD&DM. Motive power was to be an eclectic mix of transition and modern diesel and most of the rolling stock "foreign", with a few home road cars of various types thrown in to service local industry. The Railroad owns one passenger piece, a "kitbashed" Doodlebug, which provides sporadic local service.

The layout benchwork called for a two-level shelf railroad with a helix connecting the levels. It was sectional and designed to run along two walls (14 feet by 9 feet), with the helix in the corner. The shelf is one foot wide with two-foot turning loops at each end of both levels. The benchwork is built in 4-foot sections and is attached to 2x4 rails at top and bottom, which are - in turn - bolted into the walls studs. This allowed for disassembly for moving when the CEO relocated and also provides for unobstructed storage below the entire layout when assembled and mounted.

The track plan originally called for continuous running loops - representing the connected roads (SOU and N&W) - on each level, with the DD&DM main line connecting the loops via the helix and some private trackage.

Revised Concept and Track Plan

As with most plans, almost all of the original plan went out the window when the CEO relocated to a larger train room. In the meantime, he had also discovered NTRAK and built a number of modules which could now be incorporated into his home layout. The sectional benchwork has been reconfigured to 12 feet x 12 feet and the width of the entire bottom shelf has been expanded to two feet to allow for more scenery.

The current plan has a 6 foot x 14 foot island consisting of NTRAK modules which is connected to one end of the bottom shelf of the shelf layout by means of an NTRAK-compatible junction module. In addition to this junction, the island contains two 4 foot straight modules, two 3 foot corner modules, and a custom designed 4 foot corner/4 foot straight module pair that were the original NTRAK modules built by the CEO.

Instead of linking the top and bottom shelves with a helix, the revised track plan has a division point yard on the far end of the bottom shelf, which serves as both end points of an out-and-back design. Trains leave the yard, travel around the bottom shelf and through the junction onto the NTRAK modules. There they "make laps" to put miles on the run. There is a small transfer yard on the modules which serves as the connecting point for the NTRAK Mountain Division branch line (now one of two surviving segments of the original DD&DM). After running the NTRAK mains, trains return to through the junction module to the bottom shelf, where they travel back around the bottom shelf to the destination yard. The bottom shelf also contains several industries which are served out of both the destination yard and the transfer yard.

The DD&DM Railroad itself now begins in the transfer yard and runs up to the Mountain Division, with it's twin reversing loops. The primary rationale for the DD&DM RR is to service the mines of the DD&D Mining Company. The Upper Branch of the DD&DM RR serves Mine #1 on the Mountain Division. The Lower Branch of the DD&DM RR is the independent loop under the NTRAK mains and serves Mine #3. Mine #2 is "off the pike".