OperatingSessions.com | Chicago, Peoria & Southern

Layout Description

The CP&S is a proto-freelanced model of a typical Midwest class 1 railroad. It runs from Chicago to St. Louis and Memphis. It represents a railroad that is controlled by the Soo Line in 1958. There are also 15 other railroads represented on the layout as trackage rights and live interchanges at various locations. The layout has 1,000 feet of main line from Peoria, Ill., to St. Louis. Four working yards handle the switching requirements. Anthony Yard in Peoria, Springfield, and Venice handle the merchandise. Litchifield is a coal marshalling yard which dispatches mine runs and assembles coal trains. Six staging yards feed the railroad.

The railroad features steam and first-generation diesel locomotives. The layout is point-to-point, linear design. Operating sessions are handled by 18–20 operators, including dispatcher, train crews, yard duties, city switchers, and operators. Time table and train orders control train movements. Fast clock is 2-to-1, with typical operating sessions lasting six real hours. Two operating sessions cover a 24-hour period.

The railroad is double decked. Elevation begins at 39 inches and rises to 56 inches. Train control is NCE DCC wireless. Track is a combination of code 83, 70 and 55. Scenery is 95-percent complete. Subroadbed and scenery contours are foam. Minimum mainline radius is 40 inches.

Current photos of the railroad can be viewed at cpsrailroad.com.

cpsrailroad.com