Chicago, South Shore, and South Bend Railroad

O Scale version in Berkeley Springs, WV

The layout will controlled by a dispatcher using a CTC machine. The CTC will be interfaced with a PC using DCC by NCE, Bruce Chubb's C/MRI, and JMRI.   All benchwork is completed and 95% of the track has been laid. We have completed wiring all 98 blocks and have wired and tested the occupancy detectors. The PC running JMRI detects all blocks on the railroad now. All switch machines have been installed and tested. About half of the local panels have been wired and installed. Construction has been started on the CTC board but will be limited to detection LEDs until signals are designed built and installed. Of course there is 40 or 50 feet of building representing downtown Chicago to build, 100s of feet of overhead towers and wire to hang, station platforms to build, trees, people, and wiring for all this. Today 4,000 feet of #12 wire for track power has been installed. On or about January 15th we removed the upper deck and soon will remove the wall that stood between the two rooms to open up the railroad to the entire basement area. Web site updated 2/08/09.

A Revised Drawing (February 21, 2009) Of The Layout Can Be Downloaded Here

Click for Some Construction Photos

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