Remington Civil War Project

In early January 2011, the Piedmont Railroaders began a new adventure - to create a Civil War display for the celebration of the Civil War Sesquicentennial. 150 years ago the Civil War was fought literally in what is now our backyards. We worked with the Fauquier Sesquicentennial Comittee and the Remington Community Partnership to bring to life a model railroad display depicting events that took place in and around Fauquier County. In less than seven months time we were able to build a display that includes the towns of Remington and Warrenton and has over 500 hand painted Civil War figures. The display is located in the town of Remington and will be open to the public for viewing periodically.

The temporary home of our display is at 204 Main Street, which is in the left half of the building now occupied by The Farmer's Wife Bakery

The final permanant home of the display will be in the Remington Museum that will be housed in the old Remington Depot building. The building will be moved from its existing location next to the RR tracks to another location in Remington as soon as all of the permits are obtained.

Hundreds of Civil War soldiers, both blue and gray, were needed to depict scenes of what in reality was thousands of men in a struggle that would change the course of history. The following pictures will give you an idea of how it all came together.

A lot of planning was done to ensure that the display would be functional as well as interesting and somewhat realistic in content. It was built using the same type of construction as our other modular display, so it can be relocated easily when necessary.

As of January 23rd we had the basic module frames built were trying to lay down a track plan.

By February 23rd we had most of the track down and wired.

March was spent mostly on wireing and the cutting of foam for hills and other terrain.

Small sections of scenery began popping up in different areas.

A battle scene in Bealton began to take shape.

The cavalry warmed up for a battle at Brandy Station

Soon we began to see complete scenes including trains.

This scene is looking over the Cedar Run bridge toward Catlett

This is the Remington Depot scene complete with the backdrop beautifully painted by one of our members, Debbi B.

This is the overview of the finished project on opening day, July 16, 2011.

Warrenton is depicted with the station and several other buildings, including the courthouse.

The Remington bridge over the Rappahannock is awesome.

It was great to see the trains running between the battle scenes.

This page was updated as we progressed through the different phases of the project. The Grand opening was July 16th, 2011, from 9:30 to 4:00 and was enjoyed by all that attended. Thanks to all that helped and supported this amazing project. We hope to be able to have a regular schedule for public viewing soon.

Photos were taken by D. Droppa, Jimmy Baird, and Debbi B.