01-13-2013, 02:07 PM
Illinois Central is a good choice in general. I have a number of DVDs with archival film of IC in the late 1940s and early 1950s -- in addition to HH Alcos, they had things like NW5 cow-calf sets and the early Alco-GE boxcabs also used by RI, NYC, and DL&W. Modlelers may pay less attention because it was north-south rather than east-west, but it served two very interesting cities, Chicago and New Orleans. Here's an old yellow-box Atlas from my roster:
And speaking of Chicago, here's an old Walthers-Roco from 25 years ago, hadn't been out of the box for 20 years since I moved to this address:
It seems to me that if you're interested in Chicago, there are operating possibilities you have beyond just industrial switching in places like Vernon or Modesto. Chicago had a lot more transfer operation among the various railroads. If it were me, I might start thinking about using the staging tracks on the other side of your room as Chicago-area yards and, say, running a transfer from one track, maybe IC Marhkam Yard, around the front to another track, maybe BRC Clearing Yard. Another arrow in your quiver.
And speaking of Chicago, here's an old Walthers-Roco from 25 years ago, hadn't been out of the box for 20 years since I moved to this address:
It seems to me that if you're interested in Chicago, there are operating possibilities you have beyond just industrial switching in places like Vernon or Modesto. Chicago had a lot more transfer operation among the various railroads. If it were me, I might start thinking about using the staging tracks on the other side of your room as Chicago-area yards and, say, running a transfer from one track, maybe IC Marhkam Yard, around the front to another track, maybe BRC Clearing Yard. Another arrow in your quiver.