Mill
Creek Central Track
& Structures
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| The
small diagram on the right shows the entire Mill Creel
Central Railroad. The railroad is long in the north-south
direction (~1350 feet) and narrower (~750 feet) in the east-west
direction.
There are two towns, Middletown located in the northern part of the area served by MCC and the smaller town of Coshocton located to the east of Middletown. Middletown is on a hillside above the Mill Creek Valley while Coshocton is located in the valley and subject to occasional flooding. MCC is organized into the Valley and the Mountain Divisions. The two divisions meet at Middletown. The Valley Division is located in the Mill Creek valley and is relatively flat. There is a long grade between Middletown and the valley and a somewhat shorter and steeper grade to Henry Hill on the loop northeast of Coshocton. Future plans for the Valley Division include the addition of a loop around Benny's pond. There are also plans to increase the size of the pond. The Mountain Division is located in the higher elevations to the west of Middletown. There is a long steep grade from Middletown through the tunnel to Tower siding which is relatively flat. The grade begins again at the trestle and continues to the summit at Apex. Note that several new sidings which are shown as complete on the drawing are in fact still under construction. They should be completed by spring 2009. |
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The diagram is too small to view the details. One can download the image via the link below. (Windows users can right click on the link and then the select save target as option.) Once downloaded, the image can be viewed and magnified using an image viewer such as Windows Picture and Fax Viewer. The details are recognizable when printed on legal size paper. The details are clear when printed on 11X17 paper. Staples and some other office supply stores can make inexpensive 11X17 copies from the file.
Distance markers every 100 feet were placed on the track and also on the diagram. Marker number 0 is just south of McCloy lane on the future reverse loop around Benny's Pond. The numbers increase as one travels in the westerly direction to a maximum of 68 at Apex. These distance markers make it is easy to compute the loop-to-loop distance which is 11,600 feet --- over 2 miles --- or about17 scale miles. .
The next step was to measure the relative elevation at each distance marker. These data is displayed above. It is no wonder that some of the small steamers are having difficulty with the climb up to Apex. On the other hand, brakes are a necessity on the way down to Middletown. This image can be download via the link below. The image is quite nice when printed on 8.5 X 11 paper.
Once the elevations were measured it was then possible to compute the average grade on each 100 foot segment. These data is displayed above. Note that the grades are for travel in the westerly direction. The maximum average grade in a 100 foot segment is a little over 3%. The grade over some shorter segments is probably 4% or greater. This image can be downloaded via the following link.
There is considerable work underway on sidings so check back for changes and additions.