| Layout Photo Tour - Page 4 A quick photo trip around the layout - continued The layout is always changing but this is a snapshot as of May 2009 |
[Click Photos to Enlarge]
| Mackinaw City, Michigan |
| The above photo is Mackinaw City Yard. This is a view looking south from the classification tracks. The yard has four classification tracks (on the left), the siding, the main and the passenger track at the far right. The engine and industry tracks are located at the upper left of the photo. |
| Photo above - (looking north)The two tracks at the far left (to the left of the RDC) are the boat yard tracks. They lead to the car ferry, the Chief Wawatum (see the Intro section of this website) where the cars are transported across the Straits of Mackinac, to St. Igance in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Since the C&M is a bridge line, lots of traffic traverses the line from Fort Wayne to the Upper Peninsula via the "Chief". The boat yard is our "staging tracks" for the north end of the railroad. |
LAYOUT CONTROL:
Left Photo - The Chicago & Mackinac
Railroad uses the EasyDCC system from
CVP Products, with nine wireless throttles
(two more throttles on the command
station if ever needed). The command
station is located on a slide-out drawer
just below the engine facility and
programming track in Comstock Park
Yard.
Knowing absolutely nothing about DCC, I
plugged the system in and it has worked
flawlessly ever since (except for some
early-on operator errors). I would highly
recommend it to anyone.
Left Photo - The Chicago & Mackinac
Railroad uses the EasyDCC system from
CVP Products, with nine wireless throttles
(two more throttles on the command
station if ever needed). The command
station is located on a slide-out drawer
just below the engine facility and
programming track in Comstock Park
Yard.
Knowing absolutely nothing about DCC, I
plugged the system in and it has worked
flawlessly ever since (except for some
early-on operator errors). I would highly
recommend it to anyone.
color strip on the top (added by the printer). These color strips are coded by type
of car and related loading. For instance, an orange strip indicates that this waybill is
a loading for a boxcar and a blue strip indicates a waybill load for a refrigerator car.
This helps the operators properly bill the various cars when necessary. We do not
want fresh fish being shipped in a gondola car! (however, sometimes it happens)!!
The above right photo is of the card box for the Grand Rapids, Comstock Park Yard.
You will notice the pack of cards in the Mainline box with engine 314 in the front.
You can tell by the all blue waybill color codes, that this train is "hot", as it is an all
reefer express train. I believe the color coded loads also help operators find cars
while working a train in the yard or at industries.
of car and related loading. For instance, an orange strip indicates that this waybill is
a loading for a boxcar and a blue strip indicates a waybill load for a refrigerator car.
This helps the operators properly bill the various cars when necessary. We do not
want fresh fish being shipped in a gondola car! (however, sometimes it happens)!!
The above right photo is of the card box for the Grand Rapids, Comstock Park Yard.
You will notice the pack of cards in the Mainline box with engine 314 in the front.
You can tell by the all blue waybill color codes, that this train is "hot", as it is an all
reefer express train. I believe the color coded loads also help operators find cars
while working a train in the yard or at industries.
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CAR ROUTING:
The C&M uses the Car Card & WayBill (CC&WB) system to route cars to their proper
destination. We use standard library card pockets as Car Cards to hold standard
3X5 cards we us for the Waybills.
The C&M uses the Car Card & WayBill (CC&WB) system to route cars to their proper
destination. We use standard library card pockets as Car Cards to hold standard
3X5 cards we us for the Waybills.
to generate labels for the Car Cards
and to generate the actual 3X5 card
waybills. Office Depot sells clean perf
edge 3X5 cards which I run through
the printer.
You will notice that each way bill has a
and to generate the actual 3X5 card
waybills. Office Depot sells clean perf
edge 3X5 cards which I run through
the printer.
You will notice that each way bill has a
| Mackinaw City Yard starts with a six track arrival/ departure yard (right), with three through tracks and three stub end tracks. This really helps the Mackinaw City yardmaster keep his yard in good shape. There is plenty of room for industrial tracks to be added in the future. Below are two southbound trains waiting to depart and two trains in the stub tracks at the left. Above, the station board was built by my brother, Lee. Below is another view of the A/D yard looking north from the south end of that yard. |