A Fictional (but Plausible) Railroad

I take a "representational" approach to modeling, which means that I rarely model an exact railroad, building, or even landscape, but rather seek to represent an area or railroad or landscape in my railroad modeling. The Chicago & South Forest Terminal Railroad (C&SFT RR) is an industrial railroad, somewhat similar in concept to Progressive Rail, of Lakeville, Minnesota (See Model Railroader, June 2002 issue), except that it also has some run-through traffic, a variety of connecting railroads, and an interchange yard which receives and sends out transfer runs to / from various railroads. It uses predominately leased motive power, mainly from the EJ&E, BN, and C&NW, and is located in the area between the EJ&E and the IHB, somewhere between Blue Island, Chicago Heights, Griffith, and Hammond, in Illinois on the south edge of Chicago and the fictional township of South Forest (which is south of Chicago). The railroad is jointly owned by a number of the businesses serviced by the railroad, and by the MWSL RR (see MWSL info below). The C&SFT RR has regular runs from MWSL RR, Chessie, EJ&E, and IHB picking up and dropping off cars for the C&SFT RR to switch into the different industries or to deliver or pick up along the short industrial branch lines. The period modeled is the mid 1970's to mid 1980's.

The non-fictional histories of railroad companies outlined below, and information about other railroad companies around Chicago from the various places on the Internet including Wikipedia, shows that a large variety of railroad companies / company color schemes could be seen around the area the C&SFT serves, in the period modeled. I have not necessarily adhered strictly to the different railroad color schemes for the era I model, but rather have opted for railroads to be represented by any color scheme that was in use AT or not too long BEFORE the era modeled. The railroads than can be represented as transfer runs or locals on my layout include:

• Santa Fe
• Chessie System (in either B&O, C&O, WM, or Chessie color schemes) (*)
• Norfolk & Western, and it's subsidiaries (*)
• Illinois Central Gulf (incl. Illinois Central & GM&O schemes)
• Burlington Northern (including un-repainted units from CB&Q, Frisco, NP, GN RR's) (*).
• CP Rail (*)
• Milwaukee Road
• The Rock
• Union Pacific
• Chicago & North Western (*)
• SOO Line
• Belt Railway of Chicago
• Indiana Harbor Belt (*)
• Elgin, Joliet & Eastern (*)
• Conrail (for list of railroads see: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_railroads_transferred_to_Conrail)
• Canadian National

The companies with a (*) are ones I currently have motive power for.

I chose to include some smaller class II or terminal railroads (namely the IHB and EJ&E) on my layout, as this helps to set the time and place of the C&SFT. I would like to include a Belt Railway of Chicago (BRC) loco on the layout, but I don't want to try painting an existing loco in BRC colors, as I feel it is beyond my current painting abilities. If I could just find a HO scale BRC loco somewhere ... !

There is also the possibility of the following railroads being represented by run-through or pool power or other arrangements from the railroads outlined in the list above. These include:

• Southern Pacific
• Western Pacific
• MoPac
• Denver & Rio Grande
• MKT
• Southern
• Loiusville & Nashville
• Kansas City Southern

Top | Back to C&SFT Index

MWSL Info

The MWSL RR is a fictional regional carrier that runs from South Bend, Indiana, to Galesburg, Ill.

The MWSL mainline follows this route, starting at South Bend, Ind:

• South Bend heading roughly south west to Valparaiso, Ind, then ...
• Roughly west through Merillville to Griffith Jcn, Ind, then ...
• roughly north west to C&SFT / MWSL Midwest Jcn, then ...
• Roughly south west travelling through East Chicago Heights to Dwight, Ill, then ...
• Follows ex-GM&O, ICG mainline to Bloomington, Ill, then ...
• Turns roughly north west through Peoria to Galesburg, Ill.

The MWSL also has trackage rights on the following trackage:

• Bloomington, Ill - Springfield, Ill - Alton, Ill on ICG's ex-GM&O line.
• Alton, Ill - East St Louis, Ill
• South Bend, Ind - Michigan City, Ind - Kirk Yard, Ind
• Kirk Yard, Ind - Van Loon, Ind on EJ&E
• Van Loon, Ind - Dolton Jcn, Ill on C&SFT
• Midwest Jcn, Ill - Dolton Jcn, Ill on C&SFT
• Dolton Jcn, Ill - Barr yard, Ill on Chessie / B&OCT

The following locations offer interchanging of cars between the following railroads (fictional and non-fictional) and MWSL trackage:

• South Bend, Ind - Conrail
• Griffith Jcn - Conrail, CN
• East Chicago Heights Jcn - EJ&E
• Dwight, Ill - ICG
• Bloomington, Ill - ICG, N&W (ex NKP)
• Peoria, Ill - The Rock / PASS, PPU, M&SE, WPG
• Galesburg, Ill - AT&SF, BN

Top | Back to C&SFT Index

IHB Info

The Indiana Harbor Belt (IHB) starts at Franklin Park Jcn, and heads around in an arc through Blue Island, one of it's major yards, entering Indiana between Calumet and Griffith Jcn, then on to East Chicago.

The color scheme of the IHB during the era I model was a grayish blue and white scheme quite similar to the NYC, which during the mid 1980's was changed to an attractive orange and black scheme.

Top | Back to C&SFT Index

BN / Frisco Info

The Burlington Northern (BN) came into being when the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy (CB&Q), the Northern Pacific (NP), and the Great Northern (GN), and the Spokane, Portland and Seattle (SP&S) RRs merged in 1970. After the 1970 merger, the BN system stretched all the way from Seattle to Illinois, with a large variety of motive power color schemes possible throughout the whole BN system.

In 1980, the BN acquired the St Louis & San Francisco RR (the Frisco). This led to Frisco locos and rollingstock being dispersed throughout the BN system too, to as far north as Idaho, and quite possibly into the area I model.

I have seen photos of BN locos at B&OCT's Barr Yard, near Blue Island, and at Galesburg and Joliet, in Illinois. This means that the BN could access the C&SFT from either Midwest Jcn or from Barr Yard, making it an interesting RR to include in my operating scheme. The BN also had pool power arrangements with SP, D&RGW, MKT, Conrail, Southern, WP, and UP. It also had run-through arrangements with MoPac, KCS, L&N, and Milwaulkee Road. This means that a BN train via MWSL tracks could have any combination of motive power from any of these other railroads.

As far as I can tell, the standard Frisco color scheme just before the merger was a red and white scheme.

Top | Back to C&SFT Index

C&NW Info

The Chicago & North Western RR (C&NW) was headquartered in Chicago, Ill, and had a network that stretched through Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, the Dakotas, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

In the era I model, the C&NW's color scheme was a green and yellow scheme, although there were quite a few different yellows used, which created many different shades of yellow over the C&NW system.

In 1968, the C&NW merged the Chicago Great Western into it's system. After the Rock Island stopped operating in 1980, the C&NW won a bidding war with the Soo Line to purchase the roughly 800-mile "Spine Line" from the Twin Cities to Kansas City, Missouri. In 1995 the Chicago and North Western was merged into the Union Pacific Railroad.

One of the C&NW's major yards, Proviso yard, was located in Bellwood, Illinois - a suburb of Chicago.

Top | Back to C&SFT Index

SOO Line / CP Rail Info

According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soo_Line , the Canadian Pacific acquired control of the Soo in the late 1880's. The Canadian Pacific RR was a transcontinental Canadian railroad, with some US railroad interests.

According to Wikipedia , during the 1980s, the Soo Line, in which CP Rail still owned a controlling interest, underwent several changes. It acquired the Minneapolis, Northfield and Southern Railway and a controlling interest in the Milwaukee Road, merging it into its system on January 1, 1986. Also in 1980 Canadian Pacific bought out the controlling interests of the Toronto, Hamilton and Buffalo Railway (TH&B) from Conrail and molded it into the Canadian Pacific System, dissolving the TH&B's name from the books in 1985.

Top | Back to C&SFT Index

Chessie System / CSX

According to Wikipedia, the Chessie System was a holding company that owned four American railroads, the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O), the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O), the Baltimore and Ohio Chicago Terminal Railroad (B&OCT) and the Western Maryland Railway (WM), from 1972 until 1987. The B&OCT was owned by the B&O, but was operated as an independent railroad. In 1980, Chessie System merged with Seaboard Coast Line Industries to form Jacksonville, FL based CSX Corporation.

A chief source of revenue for the Chessie System was transportation of coal mined in West Virginia. The Chessie System itself did not own any locomotives or other rolling stock; rather, equipment would be placed on the roster of one of the three component railroads. While all three companies shared a common paint scheme of yellow, vermillion, and blue, actual ownership of the equipment was denoted by the reporting marks: C&O, B&O, or WM.

In Illinois, and in relation to the C&SFT, Chessie System trains travel to the C&SFT Interchange from Barr Yard in Riverdale, Ill, between the suburbs of Blue Island and Calumet. In Indiana, and in relation to the C&SFT RR, trains travel to the Interchange via Gary / Kirk Yards (EJ&E), from Pine
Junction and points east.

Chessie System motive power during the mid 70's to mid 80's could be seen as far west as SP trackage, as SP and Chessie had a sun-through or pool power arrangement, meaning the SP motive power could be seen on a Chessie train. The Chessie System's trains could also have locos from the Southern and N&W.

The Chessie System has a few divisions relevant to operations on the C&SFT. They are:

• Akron- Chicago Division - Covered the territory between New Castle Jct.,PA, Pine Junction,IN, Cleveland and Lorain, OH. Later renamed the Akron Division. This was the speedway of the Baltimore and Ohio.
• Chicago Terminal Division - This was the designation for the Baltimore and Ohio Chicago Terminal Railroad and was the Chicago Terminal for both C&O and B&O.
• Western Division - A combination of B&O's Toledo-Indianapolis and St. Louis Divisions and C&O's Cincinnati and Chicago divisions. Covered the territory between Cincinnati, St. Louis, Toledo, Indianapolis, Springfield, and Chicago.

By 1983, the former Western Maryland Railway was merged into the Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Monongah Divisions of the Chessie and was directly operated by the B&O, though many locomotives retained WM initials at the least.

Top | Back to C&SFT Index

Rock Island RR Info

The Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific, or The Rock as it was often called, had a history that went back as far an the mid-1800's.

The Rock Island stretched across Arkansas, Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas.

Major lines included

• Minneapolis to Kansas City, Missouri, via Des Moines, Iowa
• St. Louis, Missouri, to Santa Rosa New Mexicao via Kansas City
• Herington, Kansas, to Galveston, Texas, via Fort Worth and Dallas, Texas
• Santa Rosa New Mexico to Memphis, Tennesee

The heaviest traffic was on the Chicago-to-Rock Island and Rock Island-to-Muscatine lines.

The system got its start in Chicago and was a major player in the Iowa railroad industry.

In 1975, Rock Island entered receivership for its third and final bankruptcy. In mid-January 1980, the bankruptcy court ruled that the Rock Island could not be successfully reorganized and ordered its liquidation. Rock Island common carrier railroad operations ceased by March 31, 1980. Segments of the Rock Island continued to be operated by other railroads, under ICC directed service orders, while Rock Island trustee William Gibbons began the process of selling or dismantling the railroad in what was the largest such liquidations in U.S. railroad history.

A member of the virtual interchange group I am a member of has a model railroad which includes ex-Rock trackage, and so in a fictional sense, my railroad can interchange with the ROCK, via MWSL and EJ&E trackage, or IHB trackage.

Top | Back to C&SFT Index

BRC Info

The Belt Railway of Chicago (BRC) has a network of tracks and yards in the Chicago area. It was and is owned by a number or other railroad companies, and ownership of the RR changed over the years through mergers making it's ownership history somewhat complex. Below is a list of some owning RR's that existed during the era I model.

• Conrail
• Norfolk & Western
• Burlington Northern
• Santa Fe
• Chessie System / CSX
• Grand Trunk Western
• Illinois Central Gulf
• Soo Line

The BRC connected with each of it's owner RR's and also could interchange with the EJ&E (at 95th Street / South Chicago), and IHB (via trackage rights at Blue Island). This means that BRC motive power could gain access to C&SFT trackage through Dolton Junction or via Van Loon, using trackage rights. There is also the possibility of a pooled power / run-through type arrangement - apparently in Feb 2008, a train with both BRC and EJ&E power was seen at Harlem Ave on the EJ&E, making this a possibility too.

Top | Back to C&SFT Index

Railroad Terminology Relevant to C&SFT Operations

• CORA – Chicago Operating Rules Association
• Chicago Switching District - As it is used in the industry, "Chicago Terminal District", or “Chicago Switching District” means rail lines inside the arc of the EJ&E main line. Although the J loop very roughly and generically defines the district, it is not the official border as there are industries several miles inside of the J loop that actually lie outside of the district. Within the district operating crews can carry the CORA book rather than the employee timetables for each railroad they operate over. Within the district boundaries, railroads can declare on-line industries open to reciprocal switching and likewise can reach industries on other roads via a reciprocal switching arrangement if those industries are open to switching.
• Reciprocal Switching Arrangement - An example: if an industry on Norfolk & Western (N&W) lies within the district and is open to switching and a car comes into the Chicago area on the Burlington Northern (BN) which is destined to this industry, then N&W will haul the car from the BN interchange to the industry on BN's behalf for a set, per car switch charge. The N&W will not appear in the routing of the car and will not get a negotiated division of revenue like they would if this industry was out of the terminal district in some place like Porter, IN.. Switch roads like BRC, and IHB, which are within the switching district, are paid on a reciprocal switch basis and they act as the agents of the respective trunk lines to pull/spot cars to/from their on-line industries.
• Linehaul - a linehaul switch move is one that is outside of the Chicago Switching District and, using the example under Reciprocal Switching Arrangement (above), N&W would price their portion of the move, get a linehaul division, pay full car hire and appear in the routing on the waybill. All railroads serving Chicago will list in their tariffs which of their Chicago area industries are open to switching and what the charge is to access that particular industry. IHB's service to Burns Harbor, IN (which lies outside of the district boundaries), is a possible example of a Linehaul move by a switching RR. They may actually function as a linehaul on these moves despite normally just being a switch road, and may publish a special tariff with different rates / terms and conditions than a normal IHB switch move. The EJ&E is set up as a linehaul RR and is mostly outside the switching district, the Chicago Switching District boundary being inside the EJ&E main.

Top | Back to C&SFT Index

Non-Fictional Natural and Industrial History

Limestone

The area which we might call the Chicago Region is itself part of a larger geologic region, regionally known as the Niagaran Escarpment, marked by outcrops of Silurian dolomites and limestones. Niagara Falls cuts through this rock which is exposed in a giant ring around the middle three Great Lakes and centered on the state of Michigan. The Thornton Quarry, an old Limestone quarry in North Eastern Illinois, is part of vast deposits collectively known as the Niagaran formation or Niagara limestone. It outcrops from northeastern Illinois around the great lakes and is exposed in Niagara Falls. Also in this area of Illinois is clay which bears pyrite and the occasional shark's tooth!

Timber

Saw Logs has been a valuable industry for many years in Illinois. There were 178 active sawmills in Illinois in 1983. Illinois loggers cut 161 million board feet of saw logs in that year, up from 30 million board feet in 1961. The vast majority of these were hardwoods (99%), and included Red and White Oak, cottonwood, Soft Maple, Hickory and Ash.

Pulpwood was also important - Since 1961, Illinois' annual pulpwood production has ranged from 146 thousand cords in 1973 to 76 thousand cords in 1982. All eight Illinois pulpmills active in 1961 have closed; the last mill closed in 1981.

Links.
Treesearch
NCRS

Top | Back to C&SFT Index