Chicago Milwaukee & Gary
Owner: Charles Wickhorst
Charlie named his railroad the CM&G for historical reasons. The Chicago Milwaukee & Gary Railway was a real railroad created in 1904 as the Illinois Iowa & Minnesota Railway as an outer belt line to eliminate traffic through Chicago. The II&M, or Rockford Route, built a line north from a connection with the Milwaukee Road at Delmar that ended at East Joliet and a second line was built from Aurora to Rockford. In 1908, the II&M was renamed the Chicago Milwaukee & Gary Railway (which is a misnomer, since the railroad never actually visited any of its namesake towns). The CM&G was leased to the Milwaukee Road in 1922, who purchased the entire railroad outright in 1930. Charlie chose to ignore that Milwaukee Road history and model the CM&G as if it continued to exist in the 1960s, but he considers his era the 1950s-1980s. Charlie also includes two of his favorite railroads, the Santa Fe and the Rock Island, on his layout.
The layout is HO scale, standard gauge. Size is a 16’ x 20’ L shape. It is about 90% complete, with several excellent scratch-built or kitbashed structures in realistic scenes. Detailed areas abound, so keep looking for all of those mini scenes. The control system is DC with Aristo-Craft walk around throttles.
