The big change!

[CIOR]

Some of you have followed the end of the CIOR's Dunreith district and understood that the new layout would be based on the C&O of Indiana and would be a modern version of the CIOR.

Well, I guess I will finally just say that the dream is probably gone, just not dead. I've decided to leave the ProtoFreelance world and move on to the PROTO world.

I will be modeling the C&O/Chessie from 1976-1983 roughly, but figured I would stick close to 1978 if I can.
The interesting thing is finding the ability to pull freight cars I still have and use them on the new layout. I figure about 1/3 of the fleet stands a chance to jump over. We shall see.

However, the modern bug isn't done. I will no doubt sell off much of my modern engines (no need for them now), but I will keep some just to say I can still do some modern stuff.

I have been asked what made me change? I just want to model the C&O of Indiana, its always been the railroad I really wanted to model and I am going to go for it. Even if before this I wasn't a true PROTO man, I have slowly become one!

So everyone, no fear the CIOR isn't dead and won't be, just will be pushed to the back burner. You will still see it though, and I will keep this screen name....

[Randy Earle]

Wow, that's big news. I'm still all over the place, NKP/N&W/Southern, and of course the River Run. I've always felt that I could be prototypical in the area where I'm modeling with units from the three railroads using the same trackage as my River Run.

[CIOR]

I've always had that love of the C&O/Chessie. My biggest issue was knowing I couldn't model the C&O over the entire sub-division and do it realistic enough for my liking. It wasn't until I finally bought into the town modeling idea that I felt I could do it justice.
I still feel that I am doing it a disservice because I can't model all the mainline traffic, but I'm not interested in trains that just run either. I like OPS and this is perfect for that.
The CIOR was a mix of both, but had too many quirks and that just didn't make it fun for me anymore. A HUGE layout like that takes so much time.

This version will be a nice sized run and plenty of action to keep a smaller crowd busy. 6-10 guys versus the 14-16 that I needed to run the Dunreith District!

[CIOR]

Feb 9, 2009 18:33:51 GMT -5 @gtwhogger said:

Hey Matt,

Neat change, I was thinking about your ops concept and that is cool, is there a certain period of the day where the C&O on the particular sub you will model has the least amount of road through freights but has way freight operation to work towns or locals. maybe you could use that to reduce the through traffic and concentrate on the meat and potatoes operation of the Sub.

Stan, well the railroad was a night beast through Muncie, or so it seemed as a kid to me. I would lay awake listening to them smash the cars on the M&W and Belt interchanges and the lumber yard.
I won't much worry about real bones ops in the terms of how the railroad did it. I've found that trying/pressing to fit that just doesn't work. I will do my best, but won't hold myself to it.

I figure it this way. 1 freight each way at least will stop and pickup/set off at the yard to provide fresh cars in and pickup their particular cars to head north or south. Then I will have atleast 3 jobs that switch in their direction (north or south) and the M&W job, plus the yard job.
Everything else will just be ran as needed.

I will probably bring in my friends and fellow railroaders and we will play around to figure it all out. Shall see....

[CIOR]

I've put the latest track plan up online now.
go to the site
www.candoindiana.com/model.html

To give an idea of space, the room is 30'x40' and and radius is 32" min.
Turnouts are #5's in industry and #6 and #8's on the mainline.

[Jack Napier]

I sure hope that the CIOR units remain untouched, but I respect your decision to go proto.