Coming from a fictional N-scale empire, modeling a piece of history is both thrilling and frustrating.  It doesn't help that there's nothing left of the CGW in NW Illinois / NE Iowa (okay, so Winston tunnel is still there, but it's on private property so the odds of getting access to it isn't very good).  That's why modeling the section of the CGW where it had trackage rights on the ICRR (now CNR) seemed to be a good choice.

That small decision opened my eyes to what a railroad (and naval) hub Dubuque, IA really was (and in some ways still is).  Now if I could just get enough historical information to comfortably model the area...