Hi everyone!
I have decided or think I have decided on a NEW modeling location...I know this might be somewhat surprising to some of you but let me explain:
What I had been trying to model before was nothing more than a series of EXTREME compromises and artistic interpretation of what I thought would make a cool model railroad, but really it was causing frustration. I could not find any of the information that I needed to fully model CCF because it no longer exists. I hadnt even the slightest clue as to what it might have looked like or what they shipped in/out. The information was just not there. The double track main that runs through the 2AIL is mostly laden with massive trains, that I would never have the space to model in my present situation. Also, I would have never been able to model Clark Grave Vault to any sort of realistic representation. The factory is over a 1000 feet long in real life...All of this was leading to the eventual downfall of my plan.
Enter Ohio Central and OC's Port Siding!
I happened to stumble upon this while at work the other day and I had no idea what I had been missing out on. Before this, I had never heard of this small Class II branch that is literally 10 minutes from my house and, for the most part, it all still exists today! This may be one of the most diverse 2.5 mile stretches of track that I have found in Columbus:
Starting just N of I-670 W of Port Siding we have the dismantled Pennsylvania Railroad St. Clair Ave. enginehouse and 20th St. Shops, which is the NS/CSX/OC interchange that will be serving Port Siding industrial district.
Heading E from there we encounter Alum Creek and OC Alum Creek bridge and the abandoned Nelson road water treatment plant:
Continuing down the line we encounter Columbus Window Co. and Midwest Express Co. both of which are railserved!
Going even further we come to some even more interesting stuff! First is some sort of gravel/cement company. Unfortunately, this is gone today but according to aerial imagery it was there in 2010, so I think I will model it. It seemed to have some rail service!
Continuing E we come upon Magnum drywall products, which is definetely rail served and has some very neat structures for unloading hoppers.
And finally rounding out the industries is Heartland Petroleum! A very very cool industry with amazing potential for modeling. This will be the last industry on my layout and the last that I will build because it is going to require a lot of skill that I have not developed yet. I will definetely have to pick the brains of some of the modelers that I have seen do refinery type structures.
So that's it... I am very excited about this new breakthrough I have had and even more excited that I have found it so close to my home! Visiting and snapping photos wont be too hard. Let me know what you all think and if you have any information about this location please feel free to share it. More updates to come as I narrow down what I will model and how!
In other news...track work continues into the yard: