Saturday, January 15, 2011

Progress Report 01.15.11

The N&W Meredosia Branch is alive!!  Construction began this evening. Waybills for traffic on the N&W have been created.  I'm excited to see the branch take form and begin to serve a purpose.  I have a strong affection for the Meredosia Branch as it is my wife's hometown.  It has become a source of great intrigue for me to learn about the town's history.

Below are photos of the construction.
 
Looking from Stockdale down the N&W Meredosia Branch.

Illinois Valley Grain to the left.
Billy J Hucks Machine Shop to the right.

Central Stone Co., Chambersburg, IL in the distance.


















The future Central Stone Co. limestone quarry.


















Looking from Chambersburg back toward Stockdale.

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Progress Report 01.12.11

Last night I completed the installation of the rope lights.  While not as effective as I would have thought over Davenport Yard, the addition of the rope lights made a big difference on the peninsula and over Bureau, IL.  I ran two strings of lights for the entire distance on the first level.  This left me with one extra set in case of failure.

For the past couple of nights, I have been working on modifying and creating waybills.  With the addition of a new local and new industry added, I had a lot of waybill work ahead of me.  I'm nearly finished and hope to finish tomorrow while waiting on my mom at the hospital.

Tonight, I did the unthinkable.  I threw away the instructions on a kit.  I modified the kit to fit a corner space on the layout.  Instead of the small footprint, I doubled the size of the facility.  This goes against every fiber of my being when constructing a kit.  I never....let me reiterate, never! alter from the plan.  I never scratchbuild anything, but am always amazed by other's ability to create something completely different with the same materials.  This was just a baby step tonight, but one that I'm very proud of.  I have talked about scratchbuilding structures before, but tonight I made the plunge.  I'm looking forward to constructing the very large neighboring Archer Daniels Midland Elevator soon.

Here are pictures of the new ADM Milling Co in Stockdale, IL.














Sunday, January 9, 2011

Progress Report 01.08.11

Constructed the Walthers Glacier Gravel kit for the Central Stone plant in Chambersburg, IL.  Looking forward to constructing the benchwork for the limestone plant and Meredosia branchline (down to the window).