Freelancing

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Catt

Hey people I am a born again freelancer and curious as to wether there are more out there in the big blue?
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Catt! A freelancer for life
 
Catt, as you know, I'm working on my free-lanced Indiana Northern! Just thought I'd make myself known to the masses with this post!

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Brian Schmidt
railohio@trainorders.com
ICQ #21630753
AIM - railohio
 
Brian tell us about your Indiana Northern. Are you going to base it on a real railroad for operations etc that served that area, like the Wabash or something? Thanks.


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...Pioneer Zephyr...
"The miracle of 1934"
 
The following is a rough draft of an article I'm writing outlining my future layout. I have also drawn up a more comprehensice locomotive roster and industry chart, but I've ommited them here due to formatting limitation. All comments, both positve and negative, are welcome!

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The Indiana Northern Railroad (reporting marks, INNR) is a fictional shortline operating in northern Indiana. The "Mishawaka Road" operates a former Milwaukee Road branch east from Gary to New Haven via South Bend.

Prototype

The line was originally built as the Chicago, South Bend, Fort Wayne & Pacific Railway. The railroad had aspirations of reaching Lake Erie at Toledo, but those dreams went out to sea with the Panic of 1897. The CSBFtW&P was swallowed up by the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul during the early years of the Great Depression.

The line was operated by the Milwaukee Road until the line's merger into the Soo Line in 1985. The Soo continued to operate the line until 1987, when it became apparent that the line didn't fit into Soo parent Canadian Pacific's long-term strategy. Instead of filing for abandonment, Soo decided to put the Gary to New Haven line, along with the branch to Goshen, up for sale. The line was purchased by a group of local investors, looking to preserve rail service to online customers.

The Mishawaka Road's mainline exists entirely within the state of Indiana. The railroad operates from Gary east through South Bend, terminating in New Haven, which is just east of Ft. Wayne. The railroad also operates a branch from South Bend eastward through Elkhart to Goshen.

Traffic consists mostly of general freight. Unit coal trains are operated to the Northern Indiana Power generating station at Elkhart from a connection with the Chicago & Northwestern at Gary. The Indiana Northern also forwards trains bound for Chicago and points west for the Grande Valley Railroad from a connection at South Bend.

Considering the line's secondary nature, passenger service plays a prominent role in its operations. Amtrak operates a daily train, the Mennonite, from Goshen to Chicago. The train operates push-pull fashion, usually with an F40PH and three Amfleet coaches. The line also hosts two other Amtrak trains on its rails, the Ft. Wayne to Chicago Hoosier State and the Grand Rapids (Mich.) to Chicago Grande Valley Flyer. These trains are usually more formal affairs, being turned at the end of their respective journeys. They usually garner an F40PH, Heritage baggage, three Amfleet coaches, and an Amfleet dinette. The Northern Indiana Commuter District (NICD) also offers commuter rail service between South Bend and Goshen with a refurbished Budd RDC.

The Indiana Northern operates exclusively with EMD diesels. The backbone of the mainline power is made up of nine GP20's and eleven SD35's. These engines were all purchased secondhand from Conrail shortly after the line's creation. Seven cabless F7B's provide additional horsepower for road jobs. Locals and transfer runs are mostly handled by thirteen GP9's and four SD7's. The fourth SD7, number 2211, is painted in Milwaukee Road colors and is leased to a local tourist line on weekends for excursion service. The yards are switched by five SW1200's, two each are stationed in Gary and Fort Wayne and the last resides in South Bend. The INNR's paint scheme is similar to that of the old Nickel Plate Road, a black body with gold end stripes and lettering.

Model

I have chosen to model a portion of the Goshen branch between Elkhart and South Bend as it existed right after startup, in the late 1980's. This will allow me to take a more laid-back approach to operations.

The modeled INNR serves a diverse mix of industries. The line directly serves the Northern Indiana Power generating station, Olson & Son's Recycling, Kirk's Ready-Mix Concrete, L.E. Gant Printing, Harding Wood Furniture, Hanson Stone, and Hoosier Brewing. They also serve Midwest Plastics, Hayden Lumber, J.D. Hardly Wholesale Produce, Tropicana, and an Amoco distributor with a team track in Elkhart.

Tentatively, my layout is set to be built on a pair of hollow-core interior doors arranged in an 'L' shape. The mainline will be an oval with the rear portion hidden by a backdrop. Behind the backdrop will be a hidden three or four track staging yard. The left will be South Bend and an interchange with the Grande Valley Railroad. Moving to the right (east) the line will enter Elkhart.

Rolling stock on the layout reflects the laid-back atmosphere of a regional's secondary lines. My model roster will include a Life-Like SW1200, a pair of Atlas GP9's, and a Life-Like SD7 (probably the one in Milwaukee paint). There will also be a Life-Like GP20 in Grande Valley colors and an F40PH in Amtrak paint. I seem to have amassed a rather large collection of modern 50' box cars, so the majority of the rolling stock is made of those.

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Again, this is just a rough draft, so odds are it'll be expanded on in the near future.

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Brian Schmidt
railohio@trainorders.com
ICQ #21630753
AIM - railohio
 
If anybody is interested the Grande Valley Brian mentions above is my railroad.
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Catt! A freelancer for life
 
That sounds really interesting, Brian. I've always toyed with the idea of free-lancing. If you guys keep these postings up, you might make a convert of me yet.
 
Well done Brian. I sure enjoyed reading about your free lance venture and all the information behind it. I too am a free lancer with a line from central Canada (Maberly Ontario) to the pacific coast (Tayside) The layout passes through northern Ontario, across Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and through British Columbia. This takes me from the flat praries to the Rocky mountains, the Selkirks ,the Monasheen and the coastal ranges. It's all fun and interchanges with the GVR, the CN and CP.
If you haven't seen my web site yet it is
http://members.nbci.com/Matthyro/index.html
Robin



[This message has been edited by Matthyro (edited 12-31-2000).]
 
Hello Brian and welcome

quote from you
The following is a rough draft of an article I'm writing outlining my future layout. I have also drawn up a more comprehensice locomotive roster and industry chart, but I've ommited them here due to formatting limitation. All comments, both positve and negative, are welcome!
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FINISH it, and I'll put it in the Academy forum where all articles of interest will be going soon.
Happy New Year
shamus
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I've taken a few minutes to hand-draw a quick sketch of the INNR's track plan and scan it.

INNR_trackplan.jpg


I've also included a table of the layout's industries, drawn up in Word 2000.

industry_chart.jpg


Hope this helps you guys figgure out just what the heck I'm talking about! :-)

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Brian Schmidt
railohio@trainorders.com
ICQ #21630753
AIM - railohio

[This message has been edited by Brian Schmidt (edited 12-31-2000).]
 
Looks good Brian,now I guess I have to get off my butt and put the GVRR on paper.
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Catt! A freelancer for life
 
I see nothing wrong with using a prototype scheme for your own freelance railroad.After all the prototype does it all the time.

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Catt! A freelancer for life
 
First, a disclaimer for Catt: "This is your railroad and you can do whatever you damn well please." Now, on with our show...

I have a philosophy on this, just like many other things in life. I don't see anything wrong with taking a simple and widely used scheme and duplicating it on your line. Say what? I plan on using a variation of the Nickel Plate's black and gold on my Indiana Northern engines. I see nothing wrong with this because many lines used one-color bodies with safety stripes on the end. I do, on the other hand, have a problem with someone taking something as specific as the BNSF Heritage scheme or a similar design and calling it their own. To me, that just seems like cheating.

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Brian Schmidt
railohio@trainorders.com
ICQ #21630753
AIM - railohio
 
I guess what I'm driving at here is that, unless you have the means to design & create your own heralds & decals (I don't), then you're going to have to make do with what's available.
A cheap & easy (& like Catt says - prototypical) approach would be to take a factory paint job, remove the lettering, & apply your own. You could incorporate this into a ficticious history where your RR bought the equipment 2nd. hand from the former owner/s. There are short lines all over the world that do exactly that.
There's also the method of mixing & matching other schemes (& decals) to create your own variations. After all, isn't the CSX scheme simply a variation of the old C&O? And hasn't the BNSF incorporated a little of the old Great Northern into it's new look? (they don't call it heritage for nothing)
 
well I have several assoreted 50' FMC boxcars that have had a patched re-paints only over the reporting marks and the logo, while my railroad letters over that A&A and then the number below that. Mine is free-lanced settings, with operations ideas from CSX & Norfolk Southern (rare but you may find the lead engine running backhards .)

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[This message has been edited by wt&c (edited 01-21-2001).]
 
Hi guys! I vote for taking a prototypes herald, and changing it for yourself.
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This logo is based on the Duluth, Messabi and iron Range's "Safety First". I created it in '86 (showing my age LoL) for our first layout. An N Scale 12 x 9, with about 120' of track. (hence N Gauger) The logo appears on one of our passes.
It has, where safety First was, our name: Just a Great, Big, Super, Mother "F" n Waste RR. -- Say it to yourself all at once, you'll get it!
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Reporting marks: MFW RR
It also contains our names: Janine, George, Bart, Steve,Mike (me), Fred, Wayne, And Rhonda (RR - My Wife)
The DM&IR, simply has the initials in the center of the circle. I have put an "upside down) keystone, in PRR Tuscan Red. The reason for this, is: we are 1/2 Mile from The North East Corridor, and I didn't want everyone, just glancing at the logo & saying "oh PRR". Now they say, "Hey, the keystone's upside down". LoL
We needed a "catch phrase" ours is: We'll haul Anything! This is represented by the dumpster in the Keystone, with FUBAR scrolled on it.

View

Hope you enjoyed this! If anyone is into exchanging Passes, let me know by E-mail. See Ya!!!! -- N Gauger

[This message has been edited by N Gauger (edited 01-21-2001).]

[This message has been edited by N Gauger (edited 01-21-2001).]
 
I freelance (sort of) its more a "what if" road.
As in "what if" the Allegheny Valley branch of the PRR (Pittsburgh to Clarion Pa. and then north to Oil City)had stayed independant, or been sold off in the '50's (haven't decided which is more plausible yet) Add a further what if the road managers had stayed with steam into the early '70s due to lack of money/inclination for dismals. (yeah, unlikely, but I like the looks of the Bachmann Consolidations... even if they won't pull much of anything!)

I get to haul coal, oil, cement blocks, and commuters to Pittsburgh, and wood products (mostly plywood and building materials), some heavy machinery, empties and more commuters back.

I only have two real problems, one it has to be kept rather small and modular because we still rent, and two, my ideas are running WAY ahead of that time & money thing....

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Allen at Catfish Hollow
 
So what does small mean to you? Give up some sizes and we can help(maybe ;-).You can build an Nscale in 2ft by 4 ft or less depending on what you want to do.

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Catt! A freelancer for life
 
You can go a lot of places with that "what if" scenario. What if Amtrak, Conrail, or CSX had never happened? How about a Genesis locomotive with a consist of super liners in tuscan with keystone heralds? Or an L&N coal drag pulled by a couple of AC-4400's in gray & yellow?
And by the wat Steamnut, you're not a true model railroader unless your ideas are way ahead of your time & money limits.
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Steamnut, I have a plan (somewhere) for a 3' x 20" N Scale shelf layout, that I had in an apartment over top my TV, for about 5 years.
I seem to remember it had a single loop, but it had 2 switches off the main loop. and a double back for switching puzzles. You Interested??
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My wife says if I buy One more Train, she'll leave me...
Gee I'll miss HER!!!!
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-- N Gauger

[This message has been edited by N Gauger (edited 01-21-2001).]
 
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