SWMC

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Evansville Western Railway

SWMC

Southwind Maritime Centre

Southwind will be half of the first instalment of the Evansville & Western Project. Located in Mt Vernon Indiana, Southwind Maritime Centre handles unit coal and unit grain train to barge traffic as well as carload consignments to several industries. A reasonably small project the route should be a fascinating switching layout capable of handling 100+ car length trains. The first stage route release will also include the nearby town of Mt Vernon Indiana to the West.

The SWMC page includes main line shots east of SWMC, main line shots west of SWMC are on the Mt Vernon Page...

Oops! I really liked this area then discovered that I had misread an old map and the line goes over both the secondary road at the grade crossing and also over the freeway seen in the distance in the first shot...

... fixed! This is almost exactly the same spot as the grade crossing in the previous pic...

... and crossing over Route 62 near the road entrance to SWMC.

Thanks Mick :)

EVWR Gp38-2s headed back to Evansville cross Old Highway 62.

Approaching SWMC Wye from Evansville. the Evansville western is single track, but entry and exit portals will be in close proximity so to avoid issues with trains entering and exiting portals the main line has been duplicated. It will be singled as the route is extended and portals moved farther away.

Mick (Matruck) from Jointed Rail provided this EVWR SD60 skin - thanks mate - seen here headed eastbound from SWMC back towards Evansville.

Eastbound local.

Westbound CSX coal headed towards SWMC.

EVWR HPH1-15 (Empty Coal Evansville to Pattiki Mine) passes the western end of SWMC wye behind 3 SD40-2s and a pair of GP38-2s.

Love those ES44s :)

NS power westbound.

A pair of Gp38s work hard against the grade to shove a cut of boxcars into the Bristol-Myers Squibb factory and warehouse complex near Mt Vernon.

The bridge 'should' be an embankment but what the heck. Bridges are sexy, embankments are a pile of dirt :)

Mt Vernon local switching the Bristol-Myers Squibb facility.

New leasers for the line, GMTX GP38-2 (left) and GP40-2 (right), again from JR via Matruck.

Some background textures are in :)

Pattiki Mine unit coal train running wrong road from Mt Vernon gets a green light to cross back to the right-hand track at the western end of SWMC wye.

Approaching Mt Vernon Transfer Terminal.

CSX 100 car unit coal train unloads at Alliance Resource Partners' Mt Vernon Transfer Terminal, SWMC.

Trainz in the weedz - about all I can shoot till I get more background done...

Local job leaving SWMC headed back towards Evansville...

...The same train back on the main line.

'Speciality Minerals'.

Western visitors

Long(ish) shot with (almost) no grid in the background!

How good is that JR hopper?

Consolidated Grain and Barge Terminal, SWMC.

Overview of part of the river port area.

Approaching Consolidated.

Overview, mid December 2011

Looking South from the entry to SWMC just clear of the Route 62 bridge.

There is not a lot of detail around the coal barge loaders on account of they are pretty much invisible from the cab - 100 cars of CSX coal are unloading in the distance.

GMTX leasers power a Westbound Mt Vernon local approaching SWMC Wye on the main.

A lone EVWR SD40-2 idles quietly at the west end of the river port after switching out the industries at the eastern end.

SWMC's has just acquired two new locos, a pair of ex-UP SD40-2s numbered SWMX 4201 and 4202 they carry the names 'Southwind' and 'Maritime' respectively. Here we see the pair tip-toeing down the treacherous 3% grade to the river port area and later we catch...

... 4201 tied up for the night in a stub siding down by the Ohio River.

SWMX #4205 is another new arrival, ex-BN this time and in some semblance of a 'proper' livery!

SWMX #4205 again, this time with an improved skin. In keeping with the tradition of SWMX locos carrying names associated with the route this one is 'Michael O'Neill' in gratitude for a multitude of skins every one of which is substantially better than this one.

Last but not least #4206 is another of the named locos - this one is 'Fred Dugger' without whom it just wouldn't happen!

HP_Trainz new cabover and trailer - great models!

The final version of SWMX's two ex-BN SD40-2s pose fresh from the paint shops after being tarted up with a bit of lining ;)

Under threatening skies EVWR train HAD1 with runthrough power from CSX U611 (Russell KY - Evansville IN) grinds round the coal loop behind a pair of CSX ES44s with a third DPU unit shoving on the rear.

More CSX power, this time SD80MACs on the main eastbound back to Evansville.

EVWR local ex-Mt Vernon enters SWMC.

Eastbound on the Main between SWMC and the Evansville Portals.

BNSF Grain heads towards SWMC.

Nothing is impossible, but a Russian passenger train hauled by a heavy Russian freight loco? Nice model though!

Short local headed for the Evansville Portals.

Background texturing. This view won't be possible on Stage 1, the train is posed beyond the eastern portals.

Westbound CSX coal (should be loads, not empties!). This and the previous few shots are on the Stage 1 route, but are east of the eastern portals on the 'cosmetic' track between the portals and the 'edge of the world'.

Western grain approaching SWMC from Evansville.

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