The Joppa Subdivision of the Missouri Pacific Railroad is the area immediately South of Benton Jct., IL on the former Chicago & Eastern Illinois RR. The MoPac renamed the area The Joppa Subdivision after its' 1967 takeover of the C&EI. The area was known for its' rich coalfields in and around West Frankfort, Johnston City, and Marion IL. Additionally, the vast Shawnee National Forest south in Johnson and Alexander counties added scenic interest to the line...As I grew up in West Frankfort, IL; Many southern excursions following MoPac Blue led to the inspiration and eventually this layout. I am currently revising it yet again, so these photos are not current. The timeframes for the layout are 1982, and 1985. The 1982 era is the all-blue MoPac era, with the Karnak, IL interchange being operated by Conrail...The 1985 era allows some yellow-gray MP units, and the Southern RR is now the tenant on the Karnak IL interchange (Originally the Cairo and Vincennes RR). Although, I am fudging the time frame to keep the layout with Conrail operation at Karnak, since I currently have 56 Conrail/PC coal hoppers and a couple of Conrail cabeese.

So, I'm leaving these photos on here for historical reference only...the actual layout is now vastly different from these photos.

Update July 2010:

The layout room is being renovated with new drywall for a cleaner look...a new track plan has emerged from the ashes of this one...one that better serves the area being depicted in HO scale. I've had a couple of long breaks from the hobby...in the meantime...Athearn has released a gorgeous GP15-1 in HO...to go along with my custom-built GP38-2's...Atlas U23B's...and B23-7's...I've got a lot of work to do on this one...but I think it's going to be worth the wait.

Tom Austin