C&NW Southern Illinois Line By Mike McBride
“The Midwest at Mid-Century” models the south end of the C&NW SI (Southern Illinois) Line from Benld, Il. to it’s junction at Decamp with the Litchfield and Madison RR. The L&M is also modeled between it’s namesake cities. In addition, there is a proto-freelanced extension of the C&NW SI Line from Decamp to Evansville, In., ala Milwaukee Road’s Southeastern line. The railroads described form a big “X” in central Illinois (and on the layout). In real life, most railroad lines had a slang name, and this one’s non-derogatory name is the “Iron Cross”. These are secondary lines, with somewhat lighter traffic.
The layout measures 28 feet by 75 feet, double deck, with CVP DCC control. This is a work in-progress, with track-laying about 70 percent complete. All track laid so far is in service. The longest mainline run is 860 feet, on 2 legs of the “X”. There is little scenery. Eventually we will model 8 mainline railroads plus 4 live interchanges on this layout, some of which is in service now. The L&N and C&EI are the major interchange partners at the south end of the C&NW at Evans-ville, and about 100 feet of double track L&N mainline is in service with the L&N and C&EI operations modeled as well.
Two of the live interchanges are in service, the B&O St.Louis line and ICRR Edgewood cutoff, each with short sections (less than a hundred feet) of their mainlines modeled.
The era is late summer 1955. Power is largely first-generation Diesel. Some steam is still in service, but roundhouse and shop jobs have been cut, and the scrap lines are increasing at the engine terminals. The C&NW traffic is mostly freight, with a couple of secondary passenger trains. Waybill/ car card system is in use. Although we will use TT&TO eventually, train operations now are by verbal authority from the dispatcher. There are 4 yard jobs, and various road and interchange jobs, some of which require 2-man crews. And don’t forget- the C&NW is a left-hand operation, and all the other railroads run on the wrong side!
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