How Many “Scenery Trains” Does It Take To... Bill sez…
I recently spent an enjoyable Thanks- giving weekend Sat- urday, last Novem-
by Mike Schafer & Bill Navigato
ber 28, avoiding the Black Friday shopping crowds, at my usual op- erating position on Mike’s Illinois & Southern Railroad. Or is it the St. Louis & Southern? No matter, my usual position is working in the Chicago & Western Indiana’s Burnham Yard and as State Line Tower operator. The tower op- erator routes trains through the dozens of routes and over 23 or so diamonds, very much like the actual location in Hammond, In- diana, back in 1965–66, the pe- riod Mike models. In addition, I run the half-dozen or so transfer trains from Chicago area connect- ing railroads to Burnham Yard from one of the two stacked-stag- ing yards and return. In effect, I work for seven different railroads in a given operating session, not one of which is Mike’s modeled Illinois & St. Louis. Yes, it can be busy, but very enjoyable. The variety of all the transfers taking
different routes through the mas- sive interlocking plant does make it unique and challenging. I think adding foreign-road trains in the form of interchang- ing, trackage rights, pool trains, and the like add interest to a model railroad. However, they should generally have some pur- pose to the overall scheme we are trying to convey. My Chicago, Peo- ria & Southern model railroad hosts about a dozen foreign-road trains in the form of transfers, in- terchanges, and trackage-rights runs. These include transfer from the Peoria & Pekin Union Rail- way, Chicago & Illinois Midland, Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis, Missouri Pacific, and even that pesky I&StL — if they can find a locomotive that works long enough to get into Peoria and back out again. (Mike, how reli- able can an ancient Baldwin VO- 1000 be?) It so happens that ev- ery train does some sort of work along the way between its origi- nating and terminating points. Well, Mike, at your Black Sat- urday Thanksgiving session, as
Bill’s world Having several railroads represented on a model railroad can place the location and allow for a variety of operations if the trains do more than just run around the basement. Gulf, Mobile & Ohio F3s are a nice ad- dition to the layout, but the GM&O trains also serve a purpose in the overall operation besides just looking good by working along the way, not just running around the basement walls on mostly hidden track. — Bill Navigato photo
78 RAILROAD MODEL CRAFTSMAN
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