Railworks America

I cloned my already modified Lakeside route, extending the Atlantic Branch south to meet up with the AI double tracks. Historically, the Atlantic branch could represent the Milwaukee Railroad going south to Iron Mountain, Michigan where it met with the Chicago and North Western. The C&NW had a "mainline" that ran between Ashland, Wisconsin and Escanaba, Michigan. There was a parallel branch line between Iron Mountain and Escanaba to service the iron mines in the area. Traffic was combined and made up into road trains in Antoine Yard, from there the cars went east to the docks in Escanaba, while the Milwaukee Road continued south to Green Bay. Back in the day Antoine Yard had a roundhouse (engine house) that was served through some switches and stub tracks (much like the E&LS yard in Wells, Michigan). The lack of a turntable meant any steam power had to be turned on the wye that made up the yard. For simplicity's sake, I added a turntable to save time turning locomotives. Just south of the C&NW crossovers I plan on adding a large industry, most likely one that will take in lumber and ship out auto frames (much like Ford's Upper Peninsula operations back in the day). I'm going to add "Atlantic Mine" on the C&NW Branch to the east where the branch will terminate. The RW&A will have trackage rights to the mine allowing more ore traffic for the docks in Waterton. I am also going to add a pulpwood load-out somewhere along the Atlantic Branch to generate loads for the Ford plant in Iron Mountain, as well as North Adkins Lumber.

The southern extension to Iron Mountain necessitated a .50% grade going from the new Atlantic spur switch to the RW&A bridge that crosses over the C&NW. Engineers then face a 2% downhill grade into downtown Iron Mountain and the C&NW crossovers.

This looks like a fun development of the RW&A. Could you post a screenshot of the 2D map view for the area to show better how the new track fits in?

Wow....I also am from the area and you have out done your self on this add on to this route....I like running this route also as it has a Wisconsin feel for it.....

Keep up the good work!!!!

Looking forward to seeing it and some scenarios for it. Will it be available at RWA?

Fantastic, this is really neat to see being done. My father grew up in Iron Mountain during the 70's, and spent a lot of time riding around on CNW and MILW trains. I've linked a shot of his which shows what your first screen looks (looked) like in real life. https://flic.kr/p/qYPwWh

Josh, my dad also grew up in Iron Mountain in the 1970s, I wouldn't be too surprised if they knew each other! Thank you for the fantastic photo, it will help me model that location much more accurately. I might put the extension on the website in the future. For now my computer's graphics card has decided to die and I no longer have my gaming computer. I am in the process of getting a job upon college graduation and once I have the money (if all goes to plan) I will get a new computer and find a way to transfer everything from the old one.

This addition sounds great, even if it isn't published for general use. A small road like the RWA would need support from some other lines to help it exist. The Iron Mountain extension would allow for running Milwaukee Road and C&NW equipment over the RWA to be plausible. There is another extension, the Lake Superior & Western, which brings in additional connections with the SOO, Northern Pacific, DSS&A, Canadian Pacific, Pere Marquette, and the Bessemer and Lake Erie. To stretch things to include the DM&IR, Great Northern and even the CB&Q wouldn't be a far stretch. The CB&Q, GN, and NP would further allow for the BN and BNSF to have modern day dealings with the RWA, while the C&NW allows UP traffic. I would love to see the Iron Mountain area in some form to further enhance the RWA, but even allowing for its existence enriches the story. Whatever way you choose to go, I believe you have done a nice job in keeping with the theme and the era of the RWA. Best wishes !