Anderson/Muncie
Mont Switzer's Monon
Mont specializes in modeling 40 miles of the Monon Railroad in Indiana from the Lafayette Shops to Monon, Indiana. The era of the railroad is 1958. The highway seen here is Indiana State Route 43 that parallels the Monon on this 40-mile secton on the Monon Railroad. Mont states that he has traveled this highway many times as he researched the Monon Railroad. Much of the layout shows this perspective of highway and railroad.
Richard Seymour's CNO&TP
This layout depicts the “Rathole Division” of Norfolk Southern, running from Cincinnati, Ohio to Chattanooga, TN. The true name for the railroad is the Cincinnati Southern Railway, but it is commonly known as the Cincinnati, New Orleans, & Texas Pacific (CNO&TP) line. Scenery on the pike largely illustrates the rough terrain and forests of central Kentucky & Tennessee.
This line is famous for the 1963 day-lighting of tunnels in the region, resulting in deep cuts; one of the signature scenes on the pike is of the massive cut through Kings Mountain, KY. The "walls" of rock are actually plaster, poured in place and then weathered to give the formations a realistic appearance.
Matt Hewitt's
Shadowtown Ridge Northern
Matt's layout is one of the most detailed HO scale layouts in the Central Indiana Division and has frequently been on layout tours. It was featured in the October 2010 issue of Model Railroader
magazine.
The roughly 30' x 45' foot, double-deck layout depicts the Appalachian countryside of West Virgina in the mid-1950s. The mainline extends over 300 feet; a helix helps traffic move between levels. A Digitrax Digital Command Control system is used for operating the pike.
This impressive bridge crosses Elk Lake at Piney Grove, WV. Long coal trains rumble across the bridge day and night.
The East Central Indiana
(HO Railroad)
The ECI is a 1970s short line operating out of Anderson in North Central Indiana southward over the ex-New York Central (CCC&StL) Michigan Division /PC North Vernon Secondary purchased from Penn Central. The ECI runs through Emporia, Rushville, Greensburg and terminates in the Southern Indiana town of Westport.
Connections are made with the CIW (Central Indiana & Western) at Anderson, and the N&W at Rushville, with a secondary connection with PC Greensburg. The ECI has rights between Anderson and Westport under control of the ECI Dispatcher working out of the South Anderson Yards.
The majority of customers are small industrial companies (pipes, plastics, autoparts, etc.) as well as several heavy grain operations and one small stone quarry sending occasional shipments off line to dealers nationwide from their quarry near Westport.
The line is not truly prosperous, but it does make money and has an outstanding Service Facilities with a maintenance crew devoted to rebuild and maintenance with tender loving care. This is attested to by the Ex-NYC E7 that has been placed into service pulling an Excursion Train consisting of four refurbished passenger cars from Anderson to Westport monthly during summer months and the NYC GP7, and RS3 that have been put into service on the railroad.