A blast from the past

In honor of our 100th post, a flashback to the beginning which wasn't so long ago.  The ROCK has come a long ways.  I look forward to watching it progress in the future.  It has brought me a tremendous amount of joy to see it come together so well.

May 31st, 2010 post...

With the boys coming over on Monday, I wanted to make some progress beforehand. The girls and I ventured out to the garage. I started marking up the first lumber and fired up the Dewalt compound miter saw. Not even the excitement of the girls' new bikes could keep them away from helping daddy with construction. I taught the girls how to mark the studs 16 inch on center. They also assisted with driving the screws in the 1x4s. They learned how to control the trigger on the variable speed drill and to slowly drive the screw into the wood. I was a proud Papa watching my girls learning how to use power tools at such a young age.

Saturday evening progress:

- 2x8ft 1x4 box frame for Davenport Yard
- 1x8ft 1x4 box frame for Bureau
- 14"x34" 1x4 box frame for East Bureau
- 3x7ft 1x4 box frame for the peninsula


Sunday evening, after the kids were in bed, I returned to the very humid garage to continue construction.

Sunday's Progress:
- 14"x7ft 1x2 box frame for Stockdale (upper level)
- 1x8ft 1x2 box frame for Blue Island (upper level)
- 3x4ft 1x4 box frame for the ovalix (bottom level)

Monday morning, I was joined by the talented, eager construction team made up of Marcus Neubacher of the Charleston, Roanoke & Eastern Railroad and Larry Keller of the Peconic Railroad.

After short discussions, construction began. The first section of benchwork at Bureau was installed. Installation of the frame supporting Davenport Yard quickly followed. The peninsula rose into position under the sharp eye of Marcus checking for level and plumb. By lunch, we had constructed and installed the box frames for West Davenport Yard/Staging, East Bureau, and the Ovalix on the lower level plus Blue Island and Burr Oak Yard/Chicago Staging frames on the upper level. Incredible progress in a short period of time!

After refueling, we continued construction installing the upper level frames for Stockdale and the ingenious T-frame construction for Joliet above the peninsula.

By mid-afternoon (quitting time) we had managed to construct 85% of the benchwork. There are some minor support brackets that need to be installed, but considering the short amount of time, a very productive day!

Photos of the Construction Progress

A special thanks to Marcus Neubacher and Larry Keller for their assistance and guidance in the conversion to N scale. Their knowledge and support has been invaluable!! Thanks guys!