Note: this layout is NOT participating in the CIRROPS 2012 Operations Weekend.
The C&O of Indiana’s Miami Sub-division models a 15 mile segment from the City of Muncie northwest to the small community of Gaston. The railroad is CTC and operates as a Point to Point as trains move from the two principle staging points of Cincinnati and Peru (Chicago gateway). The layout is small in model distance to avoid compression and focus on the industries. Most of the layout is centered around the City of Muncie, active interchange with 3 railroads (NKP/N&W, Conrail, MWR), plus a laundry list of industries located along the route.
The model railroad has 3 railroads to actually run, as the NYC Belt is operated by Conrail and the MWR “Muncie & Western Railroad” operates to service the large Ball Brothers glass jar facility in Muncie. The NKP is served via active interchange.
The layout uses the CMRI system and dispatcher/local control similar to the old CIOR layout. The use of Car Cards for car routing is in place with active switch lists. Freight cars and engines are all equipped with Sergent couplers (if you don’t know what these are please research them online) they are the most accurate knuckle coupler available today. These add a new element to model railroad operations and slow the pace down.
The C&O of Indiana is a 225 foot mainline CTC railroad with a switch yard located at Muncie to host the locals and through freights, the line is home to many coal trains enroute to Chicago and empties returning to the West Virginia coal fields. Mixed freight is also a large player on this route and add in grain traffic to balance it out. Amtrak put on the James Whitcomb Riley and later renamed it the Cardinal during the time we model. Current ops are centered around the 1976-1982 time frame.
The layout takes 2 men crews on each job except the dispatcher and through freights, usual crew size is 6 to 10 people.
