i was going though my granddadys old model railroad mag and came apond a track plan of the chicago and illinois midland rr in the oct of 1986. i was just wondering if anyone has built it before thanks chris
Chris,
I don’t know if anyone has modeled it, but it a quite nice shortline railroad.
http://www.american-rails.com/chicago-and-illinois-midland-railway.html
Rich
I made that for Trainz Railroad Simulator 2004 and uploaded it to their server in August of 2010. It’s based on that exact trackplan that Model Railroader published in the October 1986 issue.
It needs some modifications to be operated well - switching Havana coal dumper is a pain, and Pekin is mostly a staging yard as is with no sign of P&PU or any local industry to employ a switcher. I improved the “backside” of the trackplan a bit and made Manito a little more interesting. I’ve been updating it more recently.
The idea behind this plan is that C&IM pulls the BN coal traffic from Pekin and forwards it to Havana, IL. Not the best of arrangements for C&IM. Almost any other time period, before 1967, between 1972 and 1983, or after 1994, was a better time for them.
If you want to look it up, it’s KUID:45588:100339. I’ve also made lots of C&IM equipment, from 4-4-0’s and 2-10-2’s to SW1200’s and SD38-2’s, plus gons, hoppers, cabooses, etc.
A