Tuesday, June 12, 2012

INDUSTRIES REVISED AGAIN

After operating the railroad with the way it was revised it just working out by having Box Corp. Of America in Hanover. To many cars needed to be switched into the right order and its on a grade which caused a lot of derailments pushing cars up grade into BCA or Hanover siding. I moved BCA back to Pulaski and moved Roll Form to Hanover. This should be the last of moving industries around on the layout. HOPEFULLY!!

BOX CORPORATION OF AMERICA

ROLL FORM, INC.

I once again change the track plan in what I'm gonna call Track Plan 5.0 to show the revisions I've made. I also made changes to the East Yard in Moscow and the holding tracks for Imperial Canin in Homer. You can get a up close detailed version of Track Plan 5.0 by clicking on the the MSCR Track Plan in the right hand column. 

TRACK PLAN 5.0



















Sunday, June 3, 2012

LOCOMOTIVE ROSTER


I'M BACK!!!!! Never thought that it was gonna be long droughts between postings. So let me give you something new, my All Time Locomotive Roster for the MSCR. I been collecting info on how the real shortline railroads that started around 1976 purchase their locomotives. Take the Hillisdale County Railroad now Indiana Northeastern Railroad started with GP7s and GP9s and acquired the same size locomotives along the way with the GP30s being its largest power acquired. Now the Michigan Northern was all over the place when it came to purchasing locomotives. It started with a couple of Alcos, then went with Baldwins, operating the last two RF16 "Sharks". Finally settling on GP7s.

I wanted to incorporate the locomotives that I've purchased through out the years into my MSCR roster. I had a couple of GP9s, a GP20, a GP30, two GP35s, and two GP40s. I was gonna sell the GP20 and GP40s on Ebay so I could purchase a couple more GP35s and a GP35 shell to replace the GP30. I was picturing the MSCR looking like the Housatonic Railroad, a favorite of mine. After looking at the prices of new locomotives I knew that it was no way I was buying anything else unless it was dirt cheap off Ebay. 

After looking at the Georgia Northeastern's roster of ten units, I decided that I wanted the MSCR to resemble theirs. A number of old high hood units and rebuilt low nose units running together. I ended up getting a GP7 and a GP20 off Ebay bringing my roster up to ten.

I put together an all time locomotive roster for the MSCR as if it had really existed in the real world. The roster is based on the current models I have and if I wanted to back date the layout to an earlier period the models I would want on the layout.

ALL-TIME MSCR LOCOMOTIVE ROSTER 
1976-2012
ALL TIME UNITS  - 21
CURRENT UNITS  - 10





















Saturday, February 25, 2012

MSCR HISTORY

THE MICHIGAN SOUTH CENTRAL HISTORY

The one thing about modeling a freelance railroad is that you have to write the railroad's history to the point that it could have existed. In my case with the Michigan South Central it was easy because of some key factors in history.

The Central Factor.
DT&M was controlled by predecessors of the New York Central Railroad. Instead of being abandoned in the early 1930s it could have easily been merged and operated by the NYC (later Penn Central) as the DT&M Branch.

The Conrail Factor.
New York Central merged with the Pennsylvania Railroad on February 1, 1968 to form the Penn Central Railroad. This was done with the intention of strengthening both railroads but had the reverse effect. By 1970, Penn Central was in bankruptcy and track conditions and service deteriorated. Conrail was formed to keep up rail service on parts of Penn Central and several other bankrupt eastern railroads.The creation of Conrail in 1976 was a milestone year for railroading in Michigan. Thousands of miles of branch lines owned by Conrail's predecessor roads were to be cast off and abandoned. The DT&M branch could have been one of those branches.

The State of Michigan Factor.
Unwilling to see many communities left without rail service, the State of Michigan stepped in to maintain this service. Initially, the state acquired several segments of track (which became the Hillsdale County Railroad and the Michigan Northern), and on others supplied a subsidy for Conrail to keep operating them. This factor would have kept the DT&M Branch alive as a new railroad.

The Michigan South Central Railroad.
The Michigan South Central Railroad (MSCR) was formed in December 1975 to take over operation of the DT&M Branch of the former New York Central Railroad between Battle Creek and Dundee, Michigan. The line was not slated for inclusion in Conrail and it was purchased by the Michigan State Highway Commission to maintain rail service in the area. The MSCR began operation on April 1, 1976, which was also start-up day for Conrail.

The MSCR was given a 10 year lease from the State of Michigan and the money to rebuild the entire 96 mile rail line. Four F7As acquired from Penn Central provided the motive power for the line.

Operations were straight-forward. Train MB-1, Moscow to Battle Creek, operated  Monday-Saturday to interchange cars with Grand Trunk Western in Battle Creek, while switching industries along the way, then returning immediately as train BM-2. After any necessary switching in the Moscow yard, a new crew boards train MD-2, Moscow to Dundee, where cars was interchanged with the Michigan Interstate. Train DM-1 would then head back to Moscow, switching a few industries on the way.

In 1982, Conrail filed to abandon most of what remained of the Michigan Air Line Branch, between OD Tower near Jackson and Three Rivers. Seeing an opportunity for expansion and to gain new traffic, the MSCR was able to convince the state to purchase the line from Homer to Three Rivers Jct. Trackage rights was granted from Three Rivers Jct., over Conrail's Kalamazoo Branch to get into Conrail's Elkhart Yard, to interchange cars. 

The MSCR operated the Three Rivers line with train ME-1, from Moscow to Elkhart, on Mondays and Thursday nights with the crew tying up for a rest. They return east as EM-2, from Elkhart to Moscow on Tuesdays and Fridays. 

In 1986, MSCR renewed its contract with the State of Michigan by signing two 10-year extension to continue to operate the lines for the state. When this contract became effective in 2006, another two 10-year contracts was signed calling for the MSCR to be the designated operator of the lines through the year 2026.



Monday, February 20, 2012

INDUSTRIES REVISED

I finally made up my mind on what industries will be on  my Michigan South Central layout. I moved a few of them around to take advantage of space and the numerous of siding I have on the track plan. This caused a revision in Track Plan 3.0 which I thought was my last.

MSCR TRACK PLAN 4.0

You can view an up close and detailed version by clicking on the MSCR Track Plan in the right column.

HOMER TEAM TRACK

I still wasn't happy with the short siding that was still at the edge of the layout in Homer on Track Plan 3.0 so I turn it inward and moved the team track  from Moscow to here.

IMPERIAL CANIN
I chosed  the dog food plant over the brewery because of the volume of inbound traffic into it.

GREAT LAKES PLYWOOD
I went in a completely different direction and away from a steel processor to a plywood distributor base on Inland Plywood's facility in Pontiac, Mi. It would make Pikestuff proud because the type of buildings being used. I got the idea from a posting under Industries Along The Rails in my favorite forum now, Big Blue.

U.S. AMMONIA
At Pulaski, I kept the ammonia distributor but changed the name to U.S. Ammonia.

ROLL FORM, INC
The big change was the replacement of Temple Inland with an automotive parts supplier called Roll Form. This industry is base on a company called Shape Corporation in Grand Haven, Mi., that makes bumper beams. Shape doesn't have direct rail service but ships its product by rail in 60' Hi Cube Boxcars through a warehouse company in Grand Haven call Bay Logistics, which in its own right would be a nice industry to model because it also receives a lot of boxcars of newsprint. I found this tread on another forum, Railroad Fan, that gave me the idea to model this industry. My version of this industry is rail served and will be receiving coil cars of steel on the first track and shipping bumpers in 60' Hi Cube Boxcars on the second track.

BOX CORP. OF AMERICA
I moved Temple Inland to Hanover and gave it a new name, Box Corporation Of America. By moving it here I will be able to use the short double ended siding to hold cars until needed by the plant, just like the prototype does in Biglerville, Pa.

NULINE PACKAGING
The bleach packaging plant that was in Hanover is now in Moscow with a new name, NuLine Packaging. I went away from the one track arrangement of the prototype and added a second track for shipping boxcars of bleach.

I'm basically happy with the choices I've made for the industries and the track arrangement on the layout, now it's time to get rid of the cardboard mock ups and build them in plastic.