Model Railroading > A visit to the I&STL

A few weeks ago I was invited to attend the November 1st operating session on Mike Schafer's Illinois & St Louis railroad. Here's a few photos I took that day

Photo 1: State Line Jct.

Photo 2: East Peoria, IL

Photo 3: An A-B-A set of F7's at State Line Yard.

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That's a heckuva junction in that first shot. Basketweaving in nickel silver...

Baldwin VO-1000 # 14

GE #200 and EMD # 310

GE #200

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A rebuilt RS-3 (My Favorite engine on his roster)

A set of stock Alco RS-3's

SW-1500 #70

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A PRR transfer from Colehour Yard heads to State Line yard.

IHB power parked at State Line yard.

One of the State Line yard goats, Fairbanks Morse # 51.

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The NKP swingbridge over the Calumet River. (The Model Railroad Plans book in the river has the plans for this RR in it)


I&STL Mail Storage car #1423


I&STL Dome #2802

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I&STL Coach #5601

I&STL E-8 #520

I&STL E-7 #508

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CIT&T Fairbanks Morse # 19, I believe this unit will be the Peoria depot switcher at some point.


Fairbanks Morse # 50

A Rock Island Fantrip heads through East Peoria.

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I&STL RPO #1600

I&STL Express Boxcar #1408

I&STL Diner "Lake Senachwine"


Fans will note the similarities between the "Steak N Shake" logo and the IS&TL one.



Ryan

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I love that model of State Line interlocking. How far east does he
go on the Erie/NKP lines? Does it also include Hohman Ave (where
they cross the IHB)

Impressive, esp that first photo. Here is a link with a map of the real junction:

http://www.monon.monon.org/bygone/stateline.html

Glad you had a great time on the I&StL, the 508 & 520 was not painted the way Mike wanted them, Mike's Layout is set in the 1960's. During this time frame a lot of railroads changed their paint schemes to make them less expensive to paint, a lot of the paint jobs came to be called Dip Jobs. The locos and passenger cars were painted this way, I installed the DCC Decoders in the two locomotives and a friend painted them. the goal was to get under Mike's skin, but he surprised us all by liking the paint jobs.

Looks like I need to pay the I&StL a visit again.

Mike Slater
Sturtevant WI

Thanks for sharing! Knowing Mike there will be plenty of passenger trains from various railroads.

IIRC the trackplan and some photos were featured in one of Kalmbach's annual layout/design/planning magazines or was it Model Railroader?

Maybe someone here can post the particulars?

It is a pleasant surprise to see someone modeling bridges just like the prototype including the skewed bridges. Very nice touch! I assume he has an army of modelers helping out including someone that knows bridges?

Stateline was the largest mechanical interlocker in the world with over 100 levers! I hope he models the Wabash on the Chicago & Western Indiana there.

csxt4617 Wrote:
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> I love that model of State Line interlocking. How
> far east does he
> go on the Erie/NKP lines? Does it also include
> Hohman Ave (where
> they cross the IHB)

The Erie Mainline heads behind the backdrop at the right side of the photo and heads into staging. The NKP crosses the swingbridge and does the same. At some point in the future the Monon lift bridge will be modeled as well.

Mike's commentary:
"I have to admit that I was sorely tempted to model Hohman Street interlocking, which is yet another place I hung out frequently in my youth. But with State Line interlocking modeled in nearly its entire form (the real State Line had 27 diamonds; mine has 25), as well as the Joliet Union Station area (16 diamonds), and the need to get my railroad to Peoria and then some (because of my deep interesting also in central Illinois railroading), I had to draw the line somewhere!

But with my strong interest in the EL (and NKP), that interest is reflected in the I&StL in that most of the I&StL's interchange traffic to/from the East is with EL at Hammond. That's also why you will see EL power on run-throughs to and from Peoria and St. Louis. As for the NKP, that is also represented at East Peoria, where a portion of the Frankfort, Ind.-Peoria line is modeled along with the TP&W."

Ryan

Thanks for the info :) I can understand him skipping Hohman, depending
on the timeframe he's modeling (sounds like it's EL era), he would have
needed 15 more diamonds. I can't believe he did 25 of the 27 at State
Line...that's crazy! :)

While the two E's were not painted as Mike wanted, they are a good representation of how they would have looked in the mid 1960's. BTW, the one who did paint those two E's (and the passenger equipment) and I came up the "new" I&StL herald. The passenger car decals came off my Alps printer.

Wictl