Hello! It has been a long time since I have posted anything here. I had a blog (journal) going several years ago under the L&IN and INRAIL theme that had a big following. That railroad is long gone now and passed on to my good friend Tommy Fultz. He will have his own theme/road name. He dismantled the railroad and hauled it away on a trailer. He has since inserted it into his own huge model railroad. So, my old railroad lives on within his much larger railroad. The INRAIL theme was passed down to another good friend, Eric Graham who is having fun making it his own. I gave him my custom made decals helping him get started. 

After dismantling the  old railroad and selling the house and farm, we moved to Florida to be closer to our kids, other family members, and friends. All I had available in our new house was a spare bedroom. At my age of 70, something much smaller was planned so I can easily keep it clean and well maintained. Simplicity was very important to me this time around. I also decided to stay with a prototype freelance theme.  I do enjoy the freedom modeling what I like and not being held captive to a prototype. My new railroad occupies a room that is 11'4" x 10'. The layout dimensions are 11'4" x 10' x 8' and is 16" deep all the way around the U shape. It is 60" above the floor and is attached to the walls as shelves. Once again, I wanted simplicity after getting involved with some of these small shelf layout groups on Facebook. I only have six switches total! All of my track is Peco code 83 and work quite well. I have the new Peco switches with the solid point rails that really improve the electrical flow and performance. No keep alive and frog juicers are needed as of right now because of these new switches. I decided to kit bash most of my structures from available plastic kits.  I have only one laser kit on my layout. I do enjoy kit bashing and working with plastic. 

I am modeling late 1978 (September to be exact) when most of the vegetation was still green but getting close to changing. The Cass County Railroad is a start up short line servicing several former Conrail spurs and branches in Logansport, Indiana and surrounding Cass County. I am modeling a one town layout. In fact, it is just a small portion of the north side of Logansport where the South Bend Branch and the Butler Branch split apart. I am freelancing this area and added a second interchange along with three elevators and a fertilizer facility. There is lots of farm land all around Logansport and much of it was on the north side. I also show a small portion of the Eel River on my backdrop which followed the Butler Branch. I have an interchange along the back side of my middle 10' shelf that is connected to one of the many former PRR yards in Logansport (not modeled). There are many other spurs and branches going north, south, east, and west out of Logansport that are all a part of the Cass County Railroad but are not modeled. This way, I can justify having a few more locomotives that can be rotated in and out of my switching district.

Now you have the basics. Following will cover the construction stages, structure building, track, and scenery. Hope you enjoy the ride.