Illinois Division

Hello everyone, My name is Steve and I travel for a living as an electrician on Broadway National Tours.  Currently I work on a layout with my father when I am not on the road, which is less than 2 months a year.  Eventually I will want to settle down, stop traveling, get a house, family, all of the things normal for most people. There is also a blog for the Missouri Pacific Sedalia sub that covers the layout as it is being built by my father and myself.

This layout is multiple years from ever seeing the first piece of benchwork being built because of my schedule, but this time will allow me to stay active by planning the benchwork (albiet for a slightly smaller than standard midwest basement to easily expand to fit whatever space I get), building and decaling rolling stock and locomotives, building turnouts.  Lots to do.

After a few months of debate about which direction I wanted to go with my future layout, I had finally decided on Norfolk Southern.  While I have a great deal of Union Pacific and Missouri Pacific locomotives and rolling stock, my interest in a coal branch through the hills and forrest is something that I will always have and if I don't make the switch now, it will probably be something that I regret.  I eventually decided on the Norfolk Southern Illinois Division between Moberly, MO and Huntingburg, IN, with Kansas City, MO and Louisville, KY as staging yards.  Also to satisfy my need to haul coal, there are many coal mines in Southern Illinois that while they may not truly be served by the NS, I am making them so for a coal branch on my layout.