W. Allen McClelland

W. Allen McClelland is a famous American model railroader. In the 1960s, he built the Virginian & Ohio Railroad, a 1950s-era system.

McClelland was an early proponent of staging or layover yards and simulated interchanges. He called this concept "beyond the basement". The V&O embodies this concept very well; it even interchanges with the fictional railroads of his friends, such as Tony Koester 's Allegheny Midland. The V&O has been moved forward in time to the 1970s, but the Midland Road is still set in the 1950s. Other railroads set in the same imagined universe include Steve King's Virginia Midland (the only one in N scale), Jim Hediger 's Ohio Southern, Jim Paine's Durham & Southern and even David Barrow 's Cat Mountain & Santa Fe.

The V&O is also the only fictional railroad to have its own historical society.