Enter the Rock...

Following the 'shrinking' of my layout to fit the available space, I was communicating with a member of the virtual interchange group I am a member of, and the suggestion was made for us to run a 'virtual' transfer run from Silvis to Calumet South using Rock Island and C&SFT motive power.

So...

I repainted the MWSL GP9 dummy loco I had sitting around into the red, yellow and white Rock Island colors. So now I run a transfer between the C&SFT yard at Calumet South to Silvis. When travelling west, the train's symbol is RI1519, and when it's travelling east it's symbol is SIL-CAL. I also introduced another C&SFT transfer, which runs west from Calumet South, called BI319 as a counterpart to IHB train 815 as 815 only hauls cars eastwards and returned to Blue Island light engine. As a result of the introduction of the RI/C&SFT train the IHB train 815 and C&SFT train BI319 don't run every operating session, and the cars that were once hauled by exclusively by trains 815 and BI319 are now shared between RI1519/SIL-CAL and 815/BI319.

Over all, I think these changes is going to enhance operations considerably.