Conrail Connections at Karnak, IL                  

The Joppa Sub crossed the old Conrail "Big Four" route at Karnak, IL., and had an interchange track with them.  At one time, this crossing had an Interlocking Tower, but during the 1980's, it consisted of nothing more than a signal, and locked switch stands.  Conrail brought coal down from the Saline County, IL mines and handed it over to the MoPac to take to Joppa Power plant.  This was a daily turn for Conrail crews until the mines slowed during the mid-to-late 1980's...

MoPac trains will clear the Conrail interchange traffic daily on their way south...and pick up empty cars at Joppa to return to the interchange on this HO scale version of the Joppa Sub.  I haven't yet decided as to whether or not I'll make the Conrail interchange "Live".  So the roster currently is just coal hoppers.

The coal hopper fleet consists of typical cars of that era...older 70 ton cars from Stewart hobbies.  I like to mix the Conrail cars up in a train, as that is how I remember them.  Grain will be interchanged as well, as Mermet Grain Company also loaded cars for Conrail to take to Cairo, IL.  I do have some larger Bowser 100 ton H43 cars in both Conrail and Penn Central...so I could also use them in coal service as well.

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