A New Project (Layout) Begins

Since I finished the Clairemont Industrial Park Switching Route, I decided to tackle another small, one board plan.

Having grown up in Chicago, I have memories of the dense industrial neighborhoods. Probably a mile square, of nothing put factories, warehouses, and railroad tracks. One area which used to have such an area was on the southeast side, close to the Indiana boarder; where Chicago Rail Link, Belt Line of Chicago, and the Indiana Harbor Belt roamed around. Most of these areas have buildings occupying every available space. There's compact and complicated trackage. I skipped the some of the complexity that make up these areas. The unconnected track on the lower left is abandoned track leading to an abandoned building.

So, here is the track layout as it stands now.


This is taken from the south, and you can see the 4 block square area of the plan.



And more more shot from the Northeast. As you can see, the track and buildings are pretty much in their final positions. What's left are all the details that bring things to life.

Nice Jeff!

That baseboard packed the way it is would make a nice single-board module or layout as is. I visited Chicago back in 1985 while doing field service work for a company that made the old Intercom terminals for Walgreens. I'm not sure if you remember those brown terminals located throughout the store but mostly in the pharmacy. The company I worked for bought the original manufacturer and I got to take a trip to Chicago on a lengthy service call to help with the setup of new products at Walgreens' Mt. Prospect service center, which was located in an old K-Mart building.

While out there, I did some exploring and rail fanning. I stayed in Arlington Heights at the Best Western right across the street from the Chicago and Northwestern Fox River line. The constant parade of freights and commuter trains meant I stayed up every night train watching instead of getting my beauty rest. On the weekends, I explored around and made to to South Bend one day and watched some action on the South Shore. I only wish I had pictures, but I never thought of taking my camera with me at that time.

I belong to the Trolley Dodger blog and there is nice collection of transit operations out there. I see a lot of the old North Shore and CA&E and keep saying to myself that it was a foolish waste to let those two companies fail. Today they could be useful with the transit needs in Chicagoland.