For those of you who've been monitoring my progress, the main line through
Keokuk now extends through the south end of the yard. The tracks for the
Hubinger plant are in place, but I now find myself dealing with a design
problem. In order to do the scenery in a way that I'll be pleased with, I don't
think that I can have the spur to "uptown" Keokuk leave from the back of the
yard. Hiding it behind scenery halfway round the room will take up too much of
my layout depth and force some awkward scenic treatments to hide it. I'm
considering reloacating it to south of the yard as more of a branchline. It may
join the CRIP main or cross it to join straight into the CB&Q. Regardless of
how the junction gets laid out, I'm curious about how train movements at the
junction of a branch would be controlled in a non-signalled area (as I believe
the K-line was in the early 60's). Would it be simply by timetable (and you
take your chance that everyone is on time)? Or would there be a telephone box
so that the crew could call the agent in Keokuk for permission to proceed? What
sort of equipment might be located at such a junction in this kind of scenario?
Any help in making my distortion of reality more realistic would be greatly
appreciated.
Duncan Cameron
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