I’m modeling 1968 in Illinois. Where can I find information on interchange traffic at locations like Streator,IL (ATSF, CB&Q, WAB, GM&O, PC); Wenona, IL (IC, GM&O); or Beardstown, IL (B&O, CB&Q). Quantity of cars would be a start, types of traffic and/or loads emptys would be even better. Thanks
Jim,
I’m modeling 1969 in Illinois!
Off the top of my head I would suggest you look into the various historical societies of the roads you have mentioned above . . . and don’t forget many/most/all may have email groups on Yahoogroups.com where you can ask questions and usually get answers.
One such group is run by the Burlington Route Historical Society. You do not have to be a historical society member to join the list and ask questions. The other lists may be similar. lThe group homepage is at:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CBQ/
Just had the thought if you join the group, don’t forget to look through the message archives there as a lot of the info you are seeking dribbles in over time…years!
Another Illinois location which had a lot of interchange was at Ladd. I believe there were five railroads there at one time. Also Mendota, IL …Burlington (CB&Q) had a small yard there at one time and the Milwaukee Road and IC were in town, too.
I’m curious what railroad you’re modeling and how much room you have for the layout, your ops plan, scale, locale, etc. Is there a site for the layout or pics or a trackplan I could look at out of curiousity?
I am modeling a small section of the CB&Q Burlington double track mainline (HO) between Chicago and Galesburg, IL “somewhere” out in a rural area. Since I basically live in that type of area, (Peru, IL along the Illinois River), I figured it would be easy to just go out and look at scenery, farms, elevators, etc. when needing scenic or other related area info for my modeling. I have
Hi Jim,
Quick answer: Good luck! I’m modeling central Illinois circa 1950 (Peoria to Bloomington on the NKP), and have been trying to answer the same question you’ve asked for the past three years.
The Nickel Plate irregularly issued a Physical Characteristics booklet for the entire system, and I have a copy of the 1953 edition. Along with other tasty tidbits like where every water penstock was online, it noted interchange traffic for every interchange, by road and by delivered/received. This gave me a pretty good, if VERY basic, idea of interchange between roads (117,766 cars in Illinois in 1952, or 323 cars a day).
Railroad interchange reports are a better source of “real” data for interchange traffic, since they list each individual car and loading. You still have to figure out what KIND of car it is (by looking up the car number in the ORER), but car number and loading is actually more precise. Unfortunately, most of these interchange reports have been lost to time. The ICHS has some at their Paxton museum, but the collection has yet to be cataloged. I believe the NKP lists are at the Cleveland State University archives, but they’re virtually inaccessable. Most surviving RR paperwork is like this: either in private hands that no one knows about, or in a “public” collection that’s realistically inaccessable, unless you volunteer to catalog, sort and preserve the material (NOT just dig through it looking for stuff).
Most of the colleges in central Illinois have good collections of RR data (Bradley in Peoria has most of the old P&PU paperwork, for example, in addition to lots of other road’s info). The larger public libraries down there (Bloomington, Decatur, Champaign) have extensive collections in their local resource collections. However, most of these facilities do NOT know what they have. It’s up to you to dig through each location’s collections, which can take years of time (just ask me!).
Don’t be afraid to join online discussion
Paul, thanks for your info and interest. Send me an e-mail with your address and I’ll be happy to fill you in on the requested data.
Jim,
I cant get the send email feature to work correctly so I’ll just give my address to you here:
Later…