Chicago & Northwestern
K-D Line
The K-D Line is the C&NW route from Kenosha, Wisconsin to Rockford, Illinois. The modeled portion depicts the locale from east of Harvard, IL to Rockford. All of the intermediate towns of Chemung, Capron, Poplar Grove, Caledonia, Argyle, and Harlem are represented in the modeled portion. There is local switching at each town site.
The east end of the railroad is the double-ended yards at Harvard. C&NW traffic departing Harvard heads northeast to Kenosha, southeast to Chicago, northwest to Janesville, south to Belvidere, and southwest to Rockford. The K-D Line interchanges with another C&NW line at Caledonia, which is a little more than midway on the modeled railroad. The west end of the railroad is Rockford. At Rockford, the K-D interchanges with the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy; Chicago, Milwaukee & Gary [later, Milwaukee Road]; and Illinois Central.
The K-D Line is housed in a 20’ x 50’ room in one of the buildings at the Paulson Agricultural Museum in Argyle, IL. The room is climate controlled and was built by club members specifically to house the railroad. A large, sectional HO scale railroad with no usable scenery was donated to the club. It was highly modified to depict the K-D Line. Scenery is about 75% complete. Main line length is about 250′ on a single level, with some hidden trackage. Most rail is code 83, with selected sections of code 100 in Rockford. The operating system is Digitrax DCC. Time period is the 1930s.
The K-D Line is being modeled because it is the railroad that actually did serve Argyle, IL. Its heritage is the Racine, Rockford & Rock Island of the 1870s. C&NW took over the RR&RI and operated it until the K-D’s demise in the 1930s.
Work sessions are held on Saturday mornings from 8:00 AM ‘til about noon. Operating sessions, the second Monday of each month at 6:30 PM.