detail parts as well as other things I need through the magazine
advertisers. It is really a great resource. I make sure that I tell
the manufacturers I saw their product in MRH.
MRH:
Tom, thank you for your time, it’s been a great pleasure.
Thanks for sharing your layout with our readers.
Rewinding time to 1980
Since the interview with Tom, he has been busy rewinding the
layout time period back four or five years to 1980-81, before
the L&IN/INRAIL was incorporated. Who operates the line?
The Erie Western. What is the
Erie Western, you ask. The
Erie Western was a short-lived
company that operated the old
Erie/Erie Lackawanna line in
Indiana:
“The line I model is based on
the old PRR South Bend Branch
(Vandalia Branch) that ran from
Logansport to South Bend serv-
ing the Studebaker plant there.
The Erie/Erie Lackawanna
crossed the former PRR branch
that I model at Delong. For me it was a simple matter of hav-
ing the EW take over operations of the line after Conrail ceased
operations on the branch in 1979.
“I wanted to move my short line closer to a prototype while
still freelancing just a bit by moving to the Erie Western. I want
my motive roster to be made up of only five to eight locos.
During the process of back-dating and acquiring new locomo-
tives, it was a great time to make some major changes. I moved
