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There was talk on this board about a 22k? numbered train taking the Marion District, a double-stack i believe, on a detour. But there are high-car detecters between New Paris and Milford, wonder if NS would de-activate them. The only clearance problem would be the big trees along Hickory St. in down...

:) The 8th annual Nappanee Train Show is coming up on Saturday, March 17, 2012. Presented by the Elkhart Model Railroad Club. 10:00 A.M. to 3:00 P.M. Borkholder Dutch Village, Nappanee, IN. 1/2 mile North of U.S. 6 on Tomahawk Trail (C.R. 101). Featuring: operating layouts, door prizes, rows and row...

Yeah, i'll be at Ft. Wayne on the 25th and at New Haven on the 3rd of March. Then it's the Nappanee show on March 17th and the South Bend show on the 18th of March. Yep, i'll be a busybody for the next several weeks. See you soon Chris! Berk

As someone who not only loves the Essenhaus(I've only been going there for 20+ years to eat), but also did the trainshow the last two years as a vendor, I STRONGLY encourage you folks to attend this show! Not only can you buy a lot of trains, you can fill your belly with some great tasting food as ...

The show is from 9:30 A.M. to 3:00 P.M., Saturday, Febuary 18, 2012. Nice you mentioned the show GAP! I'll have a table there with mostly N-Scale and some HO-Scale goodies. Essenhaus opened a third building on campus to house an increasing number of vendors this year.This new venue will be called Th...

This street, ( Cottage Ave.) has seen many fatalities and injuries over the past 30 years or so. Same with the nearby East Lincoln Ave. ( State Road 4 ). The same old story of drivers going around the gates. This crossing has had lights and gates for as long as i can remember and i'm almost 57. Peop...

The section of line from North Judson to Malden was the old Chesapeake and Ohio Chicago Division, via Lacrosse. At Lacrosse, the former Pere Marquette Lacrosse Sub-Division, later C&O, begins its route to originally New Buffalo, MI., now truncated down to Wellsboro. A comment about that SD-18: looks...

Isn't this the facility that received a very large stamping press recently off the INER? I would like to think with all that steel coil coming in, it would be cheaper to bring in that steel on coil cars. I'm sure INER will try to solicit new business from Martinrea if at all possible. I consider the...

:!: Really!!!! This rail was considered heavy duty rail when the larger steamers came into play (2-8-2 Mikados and larger) in the early to mid 1920's. The Wabash and NYC knew the rail had to be more sturdy and strong to hold up the heavier steam engines coming on line. Not to mention these engines w...

Notch 8, thanks for what you told me about the age of the Wabash rail on the INER. But you didn't mention the pounds per yard of this rail. Can you find out or find someone that knows? Thanks, berkmeister.

GAP, i'll be there with a table of HO and N locos and freight cars. I'll be with Elkhart club President Paul Ewing who'll have three tables of a variety of accessories and HO and N locos and cars. Look forward to seeing you there!!!! Berkmeister

I have ate at the Shovel several times in the early 2000's when i last railfanned Marion. Their breakfasts are good-tasting and filling. Their lunch is good enough (although typical bar food) I've ate supper there, it's OK, nothing to write home about but it's tasty and relatively cheap. But best of...

Well GAP, how about some of those famous Pennsy style position-light signals? Even if you model the GR&I as it really was as "dark" territory, you would need these signals at both distant and home locations at all interlockings on your mainline. Berk

That is the Marion Branch, it goes south to Marion and is historically a NYC line. Physically, the line goes all the way south to Anderson, IN. For many years in the late 1800's to around 1900 it was the Big Four railroad (Chicago, Cleveland, Cincinatti and St. Louis Railway). Around 1900, maybe a ...

Conrail had way to much capacity, and not enough money to keep it all. Have to rationalize the physical plant. The six railroads that formed ConRail had petitioned the ??? Board for years to eliminate lines and reduce costs. But the ??? board would not let them do it. Yet, when CR was formed and al...

CSX_CO; if you noted my post, it was NYC, not PC, who upgraded this line. I will add this was during the era of NYC President Al Perlman who started rationalizing NYC mains and branches whereever he could considering how much harder it was to abandon rail lines during the regulated era (read ICC). T...

:?: It has always intrigued me that the New York Central spent lots of scarse money on re-habbing the former MAL from Three Rivers to Jackson to create a short cut from Jackson to Elkhart Yard in Indiana. Yet what was good for NYC and Penn Central was not good for Conrail after 1980. Did this line s...

Looks like the former Wabash 4th District track is as good in shape as the newly laid track in Angola!!!! Tell me, are the rails on the Wabash newly laid or is that old rail from the Wabash/N&W era? And what poundage is that Wabash rail? Thanks, berkmeister.

Yes, i remember the steam excursions in the summer of 1980. The Lakeshore Railroad Historical Society owned or leased that Consolidation steam locomotive (2-8-0). Me and a friend drove up to Middlebury to ride the excursion. We got there, tried to get tickets, bummer, sold out! I got pictures of the...

Here in my hometown of Goshen, IN., i fondly remember the New York Central branch that diverted from the NYC Water Level Route and proceeded northeast towards Middlebury and Shipsewana, IN. Locally, this line was called the Pumpkinvine, because of the numerous curves on the route towards Michigan. T...