Construction photos from 2004
Note- think of this as a running log of our work in photo format. Since we often shoot photos a couple times a month it will be pretty long at the end of the year and for people on dial-up modems it may take a minute to load. Enjoy!
Jan 8th
That's the yard down there and the hole in the wall... Note the modules in the upper right
Looking over Duplainville! The Penninsula Minor [still in the planning mode there...] will be where our chairs are right now...
March 24th
Soon to be a river and hills...
It all started with plywood and cardboard and a styrene bridge...
Andy "I should have gone into landscape architecture" works on the farm scene...
The city of Duplainville now has a depot. No passenger service yet [some Amtrak equipment would help] but hey, a depot's still nice!
The farm house. What are they farming you ask? Looks like a bumper crop of cardboard this year...
Soon to be the helix, now a bunch of circles made out of masonite...
April
The helix parts are being built...
The stand for the helix
Bob gets the holes drilled in the masonite layers.
Dan marks the lines to guide the track laying....
June 1
Joe, Bob and the back of Andy's head work on the helix...
Caulking down the track with Joe, Andy [and a blue lamp] and Bob and the controls...
The river got a new bridge today and the scene will soon begin to take shape...
Bridge over - no water? Ok, but it is coming along and with the help of temporary supports it now hosts trains!
June 23
Bob is hard at work laying track in the helix
Sorry Bob - you're stuck in there for good! We'll send food every so often until you get it all done...
July 20
We did it! The Helix is in place now - it needs some tweaking before connection but so far it looks like everything came out just fine for perfect operation!
The view from the soon-to-be loop track around the back...
As seen from the inside track of the helix...
Before...
And after! The green brings the scene to life and gets us out of that perpetual winter...
August 17th
Track goes down on the last turn...
Clearances may be tight but we're in good shape with even the longest cars!
And here it is - the complete helix! Track is in, now it just needs connection to the lower level and then we're on to building the upper two levels!
Brian takes some time to service our Empire Builder - pulled by a CNW SD60 until we get some F40s and P40s for Amtrak power!
Sept 4th
The big view
Sept 17th
Andy and Joe make progress on the WI-CHI loop track around the helix, with that done our lower mainline will be back in service once again...
West side
East Side
Sept 17
Our helix bypass loop is almost ready
Sept 24
And the first train around the bypass loop as the track enters service!
Oct 20th
It's done! Over 6 months of work went into this thing and now we can't wait to get started on the second level! Above - the mainline enters the helix.
Below - the yard and the middle level exit right above the edge of the yard....
Nov 10th
A forest starts growing in the river valley...
Nov 12th
Fascia is being installed! 1/3 of the way done, it will be official U of M maroon when completed...
Nov 19th
The fascia is in! Not done yet, it still need trimming to fit the landscape and a coat of official maroon paint [the above-and-below sky look is kind of interesting though] it does add a lot to the layout...
And now the farm scene begins to come to life now that the fascia is in place - watch for more growth in this area soon.
Dec 3rd
Loads of progress today - maroon paint applied to the fascia [thanks to the folks at Williams Arena for helping us get the maroon exactly right!]
Next up are the blue hills from outer space! So far they are out of this world, soon we'll bring them down to earth but until then here is SD9 130 working a manifest train over the county highway...
Another view of the highway
Dville sees business grow on the east side of town...
Dec 28th
We wrap up the year with plenty of work and progress.
Bob and Mark work on level 2 joist installation
Meanwhile, Andy and Joe were busy on scenery with a larger area now receieving the "snow covered look" in the farm or some flat base work over near D'ville. See ya next year!