The original HO scale Virginian & Ohio was built in 1962 and was set in the 1950s. The fictional railroad operated from Afton to Elm Grove, Va. In the mid-1970s, Allen McClelland began a second phase of construction that expanded the railroad from Elm Grove to Kingswood Junction. In 1980, Allen moved the timeframe of the railroad to 1968. In the late 1990s, the railroad was expanded one final time and was updated to 1975. In 2001, McClelland moved into a new home, forcing him to dismantle the original layout. The Clintwood section of the layout is currently preserved in the National Model Railroad Museum in Chattanooga, Tenn.

This classic book reprints a series of classic articles from the pages of Railroad Model Craftsman wherein Allen McClelland describes all aspects of the railroad's concept, construction, benchwork, track, scenery, operation, and equipment.