I've been collecting Locomotives and Rolling stock for an eventual layout. The intended modeling area will be the Madison Sub. Primarily for the freedom of operation, with this sub containing Milton Jct the layout will see all inter division traffic.
As there is no current room for such a layout in my home, I'm designing the layout for a future home and spending time building my equipment roster. I realize most people design layouts around basements not basements around layouts but most people probably don't plan to build their next home themselves. The entire plan is pretty vague ATM but with David Barrow's linear concept I hope be able to build a few Dominos along the way. Mostly for photos but progress is progress.
As a non native to the state, I'm at a loss to Design elements not actually seeing the line. I know a trip would be nice but my job doesn't allow travel that far to often.
So Im looking for a bit 'o' inspiration as to what should be included. Aside form Janesville and Milton Jct. i'm really at a loss as to what local work is done along the line. Also IMO design elements should include key features or landmarks. The river crossing to the North of Janesville comes to mind, as does Lake Monona.
Anything I'm missing? Do McFarland, Stoughton, and Edgerton offer decent industry worth modeling. I have no problem taking a little modeler lisence but I also like to be in touch with reality. That being said I grew up with ATSF and love the BNSF and Intermodal traffic, so it won't be surprising if I figure out how to throw those into the mix, LOL. Probably easier just to model Prairie Du Chien.
I digress, what I'm looking for really are links to photo's of key landmarks, info on the local industries and any tips on its operation. I'm finding it difficult finding specific info but I suppose there isn't a big book of answers in this habby either.
Thanks for your interest, and Happy New Year!
At least one of my resolutions is to build something...
Hi, Bighurt! Nice to see another WSOR modeler. Sadly, I can't give you information outside of Janesville, because that's my area of focus! However, you can probably use an aerial photo map site, such as http://maps.live.com. It will at the very least let you see the track layout.
Alternatively, a forum member here, WSOR 3801, is very knowledgeable about the Wisconsin and Southern and could certainly help you out. You could PM him or see if he wanders into this thread on his own.
I have most of the line's track arrangements on paper, for the live feature. I also have some birds eye shots of the industries surrounding the line. Again I'm flying in a satellite with no controls at this point. There is quite a bit of line to cover and not everything has the birds eye feature.
Another problem I'm having is some industries look dead. A big industry in Edgerton has no activity car truck or rail, and the others its difficult to tell. Of course these being a snap shot usually mid day on a sunday it would be difficult to tell.
Stoughton also looks and I can't tell what the Industry in McFarland does, and the one at Milton looks like a Ethenal plant.
Of course Janesville has a Quarry, Lumber and A Recycling plant....
We'll see who chimes in.
I'll probably just build a diarama of the now single track bridge norht of Janesville, just got to find me some pictures.
Of course any modelers willing to share pics of their WSOR layouts, are more than welcome.
Cheers
In Janesville, the quarry is WSOR serviced. The lumberyard and recycling place are UP served. WSOR runs on the UP between the spring switch and Anderson, up by the quarry.
Milton Jct has the grain elevator, and Air Products, which gets tank cars. Milton has the ethanol plant, Cargill and NEX, plastic place. From time to time the south pass at Milton is used to unload pipe.
The line crosses the Rock River on a fairly large bridge east of Edgerton.
Edgerton has a bunch of old tobacco warehouses near the tracks in the downtown area, along with a restored depot. A lumberyard is downtown. A shingle place is outside of town, tracks run into the building.
Stoughton has a depot, little museum there as well. Grain loadout close by, can't run engines under the chute. Industry lead west of downtown has 2-3 customers on it, Ortega and a fabrication outfit, which gets steel shapes and stock in flats and gons. Sharp turns and gates through there.
McFarland has a lumberyard downtown, and the "tank farm" a bit west of town. Used to be a grain loadout in there, not sure if it is still there. Was orginally a petroluem distributor, tracks going all over the place. A newer outfit in there unloads reefers of butter.
Here are a few shots around MX tower, the crossing in the middle of the lake.
Can't forget the flamingos.
Mike WSOR engineer | HO scale since 1988 | Visit our club www.WCGandyDancers.com
Well that is very helpful, Thank You.
So the place to the west of Edgerton is still in business. They look dead, big building be ashame to waste such real estate.
Another thing I forgot to mention was that since the WSOR uses a track warrent on the UP line north of Janesville. It would make for an interesting mix of operations and traffic, IMO. Of curse this all may change when GM shuts the plant down in 2010.
Thank you very much but I have to ask. Where are the flamingo's? In reality...
The track warrant on the UP is to deliver bulletins. We get verbal permission from the UP Janesville yardmaster to use the line. From the spring switch to the Evansville switch is part of their main, the rest is the Janesville Industrial Lead. Sometimes we have to wait for the Evansville job, or the 76 job that runs up to Anderson and switches the lumberyard and co-op.
Just south of the GM plant there is a diamond, where a headroom track crosses the WSOR main. This diamond is protected by gates. It is supposed to be kept lined for WSOR movements, but sometimes it isn't, so trains have to stop.
The flamingos are on Paterson Street in Madison, near MG+E.
Thanks again and I suppose that makes sense since the track between the switches is barely 200 yards.
I'm not seeing the diamond ....:?
I have another question where do trains servicing the Waukesha Sub originate and terminate? The web site lists it as being serviced by the Horicon to Janesville and vice versa as "work as needed.". Is this indeed a true statement. Helps in layout design.
Do you know how hard it is to effectively model all three legs of a wye?
Thanks you have been very helpful so far.
The JH and HJ trains are crewed by Horicon crews. J is the symbol for Janesville, H for Horicon. The ethanol plant in Milton is usually serviced by a job out of Janesville. Corn from the north is dropped off by the HJ, trailing point move.
There is an elevator west of Whitewater. The empty cars usually come out of Janesville, either spotted by the JH, or a Janesville crew. Loads are often picked up by the HJ on the way through. A lumber place in downtown Whitewater gets a car once in a while.
Palmyra has a co-op that gets fertilizer, trailing point move for the JH. Usually have to cut off from the train outside of town, to avoid blocking crossings.
West of Waukesha there is a double-ended siding called Portz. Holds about 40 cars, cutting for the crossing in the middle. A little bit east is a siding for a drywall distributor.
In Milton, the line from Whitewater to Edgerton runs straight through. At the East Wye and Milton Jct the lines toward Janesville split off, and meet up at South Wye. Lots of trees around, so modeling could be done effectively. Wyes take up a good amount of room, and this one isn't all that sharp.
At Milton Jct. the CNW line from Janesville to Fond du Lac crossed the MILW. Can still see some of the line in the tree line by the co-op over there. The Liberty Station restaurant there is the old CNW-MILW station, and the rolling stock displayed is on the old CNW right-of-way.
Guess what. Eight years ago I had my home custom built. The basement design was dictated by the layout requirements and the house design was dictated by the basement requirements. You have to have your priorties straight before you begin such an endeavor.