MONON track drawings LaCrosse to Michigan City & Saint John to Hammond

[John Ochab]

Thanks for establishing this Forum.

As a child I was raised in Chicago Heights,IL. in the mid-1950's, started grade school in 1955, the Catholic Grade School I attended was on 21st and Wentworth. Approximately one block North of this school, across a cut field, was the EJ&E East and West main line, the "J' at this time operated orange and green Baldwin center cabs. On the North side of the "J" West bound main track the NYC ran a single track for Gary to Joliet. A block West of Wentworth, the Milwaukee Road ran a North-South track and four blocks West of the this track the C&EI ran the North and South double main line. Approximately 7 miles East of Chicago Heights, the MONON crossed US30 in Dyer, I remember the trackage from St. John into the South Hammond Yard. Currently I reside in Laporte County between Michigan City and LaPorte, and I an employed as the Chief Mechanical Officer for NICTD(South Shore Commuter Railroad) in Michigan City. I am an "O" Scale modeler, the time frame for my layout in the early 1950's thru mid 1960's, with emphasis in the Calumet Region of Illinois and Indiana.   

The MONON, C&EI and many fallen flags are included in the modeling of the Region. For my general interest I am requesting if any 1950's track plans exist for these two Subdivisions and I also am requesting C&WI track plans from Hammond to Dearborn Station. The second problem I have is the availabliity of photographs of the East,West and South Sides of Dearborn Station and the train shed.

Any assistance/recommendations is appreciated.

Regards,

John     

[Mike Aufderheide]

John,

The first thing you need is a copy of the Society Tour Book from Dearborn to Roselawn that includes the areas your talking about.  Especially cool is that they include all of the interlocking plans on the CWI....crazy-busy with tracks.  See: http://www.mononstores.com/page/page/1829764.htm

Another helpful item would be the profile CD. It has from State Line south only, but includes much more detail including the type of ballast, rail, crossing protection, and bridges.  With this information in hand you can find detailed drawings in the archives that will help your modeling quite a bit.
See:  http://www.mononstores.com/catalog/item/1829757/1678308.htm

I've used both of these resources a lot!

Regards,

Mike Aufderheide

[John Ochab]

Thanks, Mike, found the items at the MONON Company Store, I will be contacting Tom in South Bend.

[Bob Lalich]

Hi John,

I have quite a bit of referenece material for the C&WI, including detailed scale drawings of the entire line. Please feel free to contact me and I'll be happy to share. I like O gauge too. How far along is your layout?

Bob Lalich

[Kevin A. Heggi]

Hi John, good to see you here.

[John Ochab]

Bob & Kevin,

Thanks for the welcome to this Forum, I have  a small portion of the layout complete, switches are Gargrave with Ross Wyes, track is phantom rail Gargrave. Although this will be a 3-Rail layout, the vast majority of cars and locomotive are "O" Scale size. When I returned to modeling in the 1990's I was strongly considering 2-rail "O" Scale, we lived in Lake County,IN., at this time and the only hobby shops in 2-rail "O" Scale were on the North/Northwest sides of Chicago. Although 2-Rail "O" scale is prototypical, 3-Rail is much easier to wire in general.

John

[George Coles]

Hello John.
I hope you won't mind me butting in here, but it seems to me that, if you are putting as much effort as it seems into getting the details right, it would be worth the small extra effort of changing to 2 rail before you get too far down the road. It will look a whole lot better, and the wiring is straightforward (maybe, like so many things, it needs practice.) But, as they say, it's your railway, so why not do it your way
Best wishes
George

[Don Kuhlman]

Hi John. Welcome aboard. This is a little late, but sending it anyway.  Sounds like we may be modelling some of the same areas too. I'm in N scale but trying to represent the Monon North end from downtown Hammond to Lowell including the downtown area crossings with NYC, the South Hammond yards, Dyer, St John, Cedar Lake, and possibly Lowell depending on space.

This is a great resource!

Don K