Modelling the Peoria local

As my collection of locomotives and rolling stock continues to grow, I've been planning to build a home layout.

With that in mind, I've been hunting for a suitable prototype railroad to use as inspiration, and I had considered modelling the Detroit Connecting Railroad as a switching layout, but the lack of large engines was a drawback (the DCR only uses GE 44 Ton centercab engines).

I recently picked up a job lot of old modelling magazines, including several issues of Prototype Modeler Magazine.  One of these featured an in-depth article on the Gibson - Peoria local line through Goodfield and Bloomington in the late eighties.

I was intrigued by the cover photograph which shows a high nose GP9 leading a train across the Mackinaw river.

The line is still in use today and some views have not changed much as this recent photograph by Flickr user McKayak shows:

Photograph by McKayak on Flickr - http://www.flickr.com/photos/22800108@N06/

The line served several different industries, including the Caterpillar plant at Morton and various lumber mills, grain elevators and also the Nissan car plant at Diamond Star motors.



This recent shot of the Midwest Paper plant shows the opportunities for small industrial switching, the plant hasn't changed much if at all since the eighties.

Passing through Bloomington the line has a great 'downtown' feel, and I will definitely be aiming to capture the feel of the above photograph.

The line also featured a diverse range of motive power during the late eighties, including Delaware & Hudson engines, Southern GE engines and the regular Norfolk & Western and Norfolk Southern power.

So this line is a really great source of inspiration for a layout, and the time period of the late eighties is of interest not only for the variety of motive power, but also the fact that it fits my own personal modelling history as it was the same time that I first became interested in modelling US railroads.

You can read the article I was inspired by on this link, its from the July/August 1988 issue of Prototype Modeler magazine which covered the route in detail.  Read the article here.