validated. So think about this now. From
Joliet to Pequot (PEA-koh) inter- locking at Coal City, I&StL shares trackage with the GM&O and the Santa Fe. At Pequot, the AT&SF main line heads off to Kansas City staging while the I&StL contin- ues to Dwight, Illinois, on GM&O trackage rights. So why would we just see I&StL trains on this stretch? To emphasize to opera- tors the trackage rights arrange- ment along here, the trains of all three roads should be repre- sented. The intermixing of these trains adds to the overall oper- ating interest and provides addi- tional challenge to the dispatcher. Besides, delays and congestion are what Chicagoland railroading is all about! There are two major locations
on the I&StL that I model express- ly for both realistic and fascinat- ing operating value and senti- mental reasons: State Line Tower and Joliet Union Station. I spent many an hour at both of these lo- cations in the 1960s and 1970s because they were my favorite railfanning hotspots of that era. Modeling those two locations has been a dream of mine for years, and now I have the opportunity on I&StL—The Sequel. And for these
two locations, I want to be as re- alistic as feasible. If a person is at the modeled Joliet on my layout at 7:20 PM during a Second Trick operating session, he or she will see First and Second AT&SF train 17, the El Capitan and the Super Chief, arrive and depart Union Station. (Okay, I haven’t built my model of Joliet Union Station yet, but UD Tower and the 16 dia- monds it controlled in 1965–66 are there.) Hang around a little longer and at 7:30PM, I&StL’s St. Louis–Chicago Chicagoan makes its Joliet stop, and then at 8:35PM, GM&O’s Limited ar- rives, also en route from St. Louis to Chicago. Meanwhile, you might also see a late-running GM&O freight No. 33 out of Chicago and a couple of Santa Fe merchandise trains and perhaps I&StL train 254, St. Louis–State Line Yard symbol freight SC-4, making a setout at the I&StL’s compact but busy Joliet yard. Joliet was and is always about great railroading action. On the Chicago, Peoria & Southern, basically all you see are CP&S trains on the trip between the Peoria Gateway and Venice Yard near St. Louis. Gee, Bill, you know that between Peoria and St. Louis in real life in the 1950s and
1960s, there are scads of differ- ent railroads with which CP&S trains could interact. South of Springfield, for example, CP&S could share trackage with Illinois Central’s Springfield–St. Louis line, route of the Green Diamond, the Daylight, and the Night Dia- mond. These colorful brown-and- orange passenger trains along with IC freights would help break the “CP&S fatigue” syndrome that one gets plodding along be- tween Peoria and St. Louis with a stock train on the Crotchety Pigs & Sows. There’s another reason I run
these scenery trains. They tend to be short runs, and they pro- vide my operators with some- thing exciting to do during what may otherwise be an extended wait between two major I&StL job assignments such as a local or time freight. Operators like ac- tion and like to be doing some- thing. As it is now, Bill, your crew lounge needs bunk beds consid- ering the length of time between job assignments. Come to think of it, your whole
layout needs a makeover. In fact, I recommend you dismantle the whole thing and start over.
Mike’s world We’re at UD Tower at Joliet Union Station where the Rock Island crosses the Santa Fe and Gulf, Mobile & Ohio mains and also where the I&StL main line out of Chicago enters joint trackage with Santa Fe and “Gee-Mo” from here to Coal City; that’s I&StL’s Jo- liet Yard in the foreground. It’s just after midnight as GM&O No. 5, the Midnight Special out of Chicago, does its work at Joliet Union Station (pretend you see it behind the train). Meanwhile, a late-running Santa Fe Kansas City Chief out of Chicago’s Dearborn Station and en route to Dallas is pulling in for its station stop. Both passen- ger trains are among sev- eral “scenery trains” that roll through the layout. They don’t get switched nor do they set out cars; they just run through the layout. Mike’s intention is that trains like these enhance realistic opera- tions and, since these were actual trains from real railroads, their presence enhances the believability of the fictitious I&StL. — Mike Schafer photo
FEBRUARY 2016 81
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100