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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