Mill Creek Central Track Diagrams
Initial 1/07/2007 Last updated 11/12/2011

Major additions have been made in the past year so it was time to update the track diagram. 

The biggest change was the completion of Clee block in the southeast corner of the railroad. Clee bock is an 800 foot loop which together with using Henry block in both directions added over 2000 feet to a round tip on the railroad.  

The sidings at Whitaker on the southwest corner are also essentially complete ---- the ground where part of the western most siding will go is slipping into the gully as of late October 2011 ---- completion of that section will come after a firm base is established.      

Rough grading is underway for the Logging Line which originates at Doran Wye at the south border of the railroad, goes north about 600 feet and then turns west under the trestle and on back the south side of the ravine for about 550 feet where it loops back and follows the north side of the ravine to the meadow a few hundred feet west of Tower siding.   The Logging Line has sharper curves (45 foot radius)  steeper grades (6% or greater) than the main line.   This branch line will be over 2000 feet long.

The addition of the logging line will be a major expansion to the west.   When the logging line is complete, the railroad will be span about 1100 feet east to west and 1400 feet north to south.  

The image above gives an overall impression without the details.  Three more detailed images can be downloaded for more detailed viewing or printing as follows: 

11" X 17" Image (1.3 MB):  MCC10_25_11_11X17Print.pdf

22" X 36" Image (5.0 MB):  MCC10_25_11_22X36Print.pdf

36" X 42" Image (5.9 MB):  MCC10_25_11_36X42Print.pdf

The 11" X 17" is more than adequate for viewing --- the image and be enlarged or reduced as necessary to achieve the desired detail.    The images can be downloaded and transferred to a USB flash drive and taken to Staples, UPS stores, Kinkos, etc. to be printed.  (Windows users can right click on the link and then the select save target as option to save the file locally).   All details are clear when printed on 11" X 17" paper ---- however bifocals or reading glasses may be required.  Our local Staples store (Mt Vernon, Ohio) can make color copies up to 24 inches wide (~$7/sq ft) and black/white copies up to 36 inches wide (~$0.50/sq ft); they make great wall hangings.

Stacey Summerhill has put together some great videos of the track.   The videos are at the following links:

 MCCRR Mountain Division

 MCCRR Valley Division Part One

 MCCRR Valley Division Part Two

 Block and siding names are embedded in the videos so it is easy to follow the track diagram.   One neat way is to use a split screen with the track diagram displayed beside the video.  Stacey has added background music so be sure to turn on you speakers.   Thank you Stacey for all your effort and for sharing the result.

Distance markers every 100 feet were placed on the main line track and also on the diagram.  Marker number 0 is just south of McCloy Lane near the beginning of Clee block.  The numbers increase as one travels in the westerly direction to a maximum of 68 at Apex.   Distance markers have also been placed on the diagram for the added sections.  A C prefix is used on the Clee block markers and a L prefix on the Logging Line markers.  The distance markers make it is easy to compute the round trip distance Clee loop to Apex loop and back  ----  total distance is 13,600 feet --- over 2.6 miles ---  about 21 scale miles.       .    

The next step was to measure the relative elevation at each distance marker.  These data for the main line 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.  

Elevations (220K) 

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.

Grades (180K)

 Clee bock is essentially flat so elevations there are of little interest.   The opposite is true for the Logging Line where the elevations and grades are the most interesting.  We will update this page with logging line elevations shortly after the track is in place --- probably mid 2012. 

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