Gibbon, Cozad & Western - "The 100th Meridian Line"

[3DTrains]

Hi Mike,

Not much has changed in and around the yard in 50-years. Besides some name swaping, about the biggest changes have been the addition of the double viaduct roadway, removal of most of the old steam-era buildings, and the realignment of industry tracks just south of the balloon track on the west end of the yard. Even the passenger tunnels from when the platforms were active are still there, and at least up until 2005, you could walk from the depot to the parking area next to the fuel pad without crossing over the tracks. Probably all locked up by now though.

I used to have a large map of the yard, but lost it in a HD crash a few months back. I did send it to a friend several years back and have asked if he still has a copy to send me (he's building a 4000+ sq ft layout of the Wyoming Div between Ogden and Cheyenne). The map is very detailed - more like a city-planning map or railroad plat, and even shows the old street car line that ran down Lincoln Ave. I do, however, still have the modern map version. Although large and accurate, it lacks the interesting detail of the older map (both of which are in PDF format, btw).

I worked on a project for UP in 2005 and got all kinds of neat stuff - even a cab ride in 844 during a Frontier Days shakedown run! I'll have to dig around, but I might be able to locate a few ZTS charts and other details for Frontier Oil and Dyno Nobel (Wycon Chemical). Drop me a PM with your email address.

Cheers!
Marc - Riverside

[C855B]

Super! Thank you, Marc!

Using the topo as a reference I was starting to put the plan on paper, and quickly realized I don't have nearly the space to do it justice. But there's enough there to catch highlights in the context of the rest of the layout. What I find interesting are the several connections to the C&S smack in the middle of downtown. There seems to have been street running up Reed Ave., with the streetcar and C&S lines running in parallel. That must have been fun for the locals (not!), and I see from current satellite that the street where the tracks are is no longer there - it's just tracks now.

You mention the balloon track... has that "always" been there? You might have noticed it's not on the topo.

Stand by for PM.

[3DTrains]

Hi Mike,

I'm not certain, but I'm beginning to think the tracks running down 17th were actually part of a spur coming off the C&S/UP connection that ran up Reed. I just heard back from my friend, and fortunately he still had the PDF to send back - I'll upload it to my server in a bit. I'm also wondering about the balloon track - as far as I've been able to make out, it might have been added sometime in the late 1970s or early 1980s. BTW, in looking for the balloon track info, I came across a Sanborn map circa 1931. Neat stuff.

Cheers!
Marc - Riverside

[C855B]

Quick updates:

Layout Design - Cheyenne is currently suffering from "10 pounds in a 5-pound bag". Marc's treasure trove of info is forcing hard decisions on what to capture and what to omit while still keeping the flavor. Also, I am mulling the idea of eliminating the lobe with Wasatch and Green River, moving Wasatch to the east wall, foregoing Green River, and repurposing the space as a lobe going up, continuing RR east out of Cheyenne. With Green River and Cheyenne, it's becoming a bit yard-heavy.

Railcam - As noted in the railcam testing thread, I've taken down the bench test. The cost of the internet drop at the building is daunting, where the only way I can justify it is to co-locate my other servers there instead of running two sites. However, there's no place to put the equipment at the moment, at least where they would be safe from construction. It will have to wait until the mezzanine expansion is in some state of completion.

Building - Taking it easy at the moment. I ignored the project safety officer (i.e., Robyn) and strained my lower back improperly lifting bags of topsoil for her garden. Ouch. So restroom tiling is paused, requiring too much time hunched over. However, was able to coach Robyn in fixing some of the more glaring issues with the studio ceiling, so once the mud is dry I can shoot another coat of primer and see where we stand. I guided Phonsie in removing some of the joists supporting the old mezzanine, so progress there, and the old drywall has been peeled off the east half of the north wall and new insulation laid in. That process went very fast, which is quite encouraging since this is the first step toward shaping-up the layout room. Next on my agenda is framing around the workshop so we can put up the recovered joists for the new mezzanine.

[C855B]

Building progress. No, no trains yet (but look closely in the pictures ), but layout progress does not occur without "necessary infrastructure" in place. First pic is of the general progress in the studio - ceiling done, lights wired and installed, trackwall starting to go up around the counter area. Second is the finished restroom, done a week ago. All it needs is Robyn to finish and hang her choices for art. All black-and-white photos, of course!

[LKOrailroad]

Looks very nice.

[basementcalling]

Building progress. No, no trains yet (but look closely in the pictures ), but layout progress does not occur without "necessary infrastructure" in place. First pic is of the general progress in the studio - ceiling done, lights wired and installed, trackwall starting to go up around the counter area. Second is the finished restroom, done a week ago. All it needs is Robyn to finish and hang her choices for art. All black-and-white photos, of course!

Don't get run over when you are on the John.

If Green River has to go, depending on your era (I forgot when you plan to model.) you might consider Rawlings. It's the modern fuel stop for diesels between Ogden and North Platte. Interesting set up, but not a yard with switching, but because all trains make a pit stop and crew change it can have the feel and effect of a yard without all the track and switching.  Just a thought.

[nscalemike]

That is some nice space you are creating there! Keep it up and the trains will be coming before long.

[C855B]

Thanks, guys. It's a lot of work, but every bit of progress is quite satisfying as we see more of "the vision" emerge from the rubble. We are, however, going to take a break for a few days to let my shoulders rest.

Peter, the target period is 1965-1970. DDs, Alcos and Turbines, oh my!

[basementcalling]

Thanks, guys. It's a lot of work, but every bit of progress is quite satisfying as we see more of "the vision" emerge from the rubble. We are, however, going to take a break for a few days to let my shoulders rest.

Peter, the target period is 1965-1970. DDs, Alcos and Turbines, oh my!

Drool, drool. Drool some more.

I am going modern myself, but nice to see a man who knows the proper use of precious space. 

[C855B]

A wee bit of progress to report.

Major headway on studio. The trim drywall (window and door openings) is finished and Robyn is wrapping up the painting. All the lighting is up except for the center track lighting over the studio work table, which was delayed for parts. Mosaic tile for the work counter backsplash is up; grout tomorrow. The upper half wall above the studio is framed. This is a slightly complicated transition from the studio ceiling up to the layout room ceiling and I am NOT looking forward to hanging the drywall. That will wait until we're in drywall mode for the layout room. Anyway, studio space is rapidly closing in on "done".

Robyn having fun "signing" her paint work:



Today the grading contractor started on the parking pad and general cleanup in prep for landscaping. It was a mess, with chunks of old asphalt and sunken spots. The skid-loader operator started on a bit of concrete sticking out of the driveway apron that we all thought was old curbing... nope, it was remnants of an old foundation from a building that had been razed about 80 years ago. We popped into the history museum to see if there was any info on the old building, and it turns out it was a print shop. Other surprise was 1-1/2 steel pipe about 6" below the surface, terminated under a bit of driveway we were removing. It was too shallow to be gas or water line, and didn't show-up when the locate crew did their thing. I did a bit of forensic work, and it was old oil well piping - Centralia was an old oil boom town and we still have numerous active wells. Too much trouble to remove and mitigate, we'll just push the dirt back over it.

Big news is in the railcam department. I found a great deal on a professional-type HD security camera (the type I work with in my job), and I have it configured and ready to put up. 720p. Internet connection was ordered today, so if the weather doesn't chase me off the ladder I hope to get it going in the next week or two.

[C855B]

We have been working very hard. Aspirin and ibuprofen are on the menu at pretty much every meal. Today we were digging out the main building drain so I could add plumbing for a temporary shower in the workshop, a logistics priority.

Anyway... a funny. I mentioned above that we had a contractor cleaning up the lot. We have a fresh gravel drive and parking pad - it looks nice! Robyn expressed concern about the neighbor kids doing donuts in the fresh gravel (it's happened ). She was thinking about a pipe gate across the drive, and I cringed at the idea of getting out of the car to unlock/lock the gate every time we went over there, which is three or four times a day. And I think a gate like that is just plain unfriendly.

Surfing eBay tonight... "Honey, I found the solution!" - http://www.ebay.com/itm/121154709789?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649

She laughed, "It figures!" What she doesn't know is that it is within a day's drive, and will fit in our truck.

[reinhardtjh]

Nice!  I'll bet you can rig up a remote actuator or maybe even an RFID tag for your vehicles to open it as necessary.

[C855B]

Well, we didn't buy the crossing gate, which had no bidders. The grading/gravel bill was way over budget and the toys have to be back-burnered for a while.

Most of the building work has been outside, prepping the lot for new grass and putting the railroad ties back around the parking pad. We'll be back inside tomorrow making headway on the studio finish work.

Anyway... let's run v1.0 of the layout plan past the group with Cheyenne laid out. If there's any thinking not on "paper", it's maybe a couple of industries around Grant Tower and the grain elevator at Cozad. I've given up on Sinclair for the moment (large refinery). Maybe clarity will come. Like before, main layout phases are represented by pink, yellow then green benchwork, and the upper deck branchline is in blue.

I'm still undecided about dropping Green River given the increased capacity in Cheyenne. That would move the two rightmost lobes one "aisle" east and add more running to the branchline, but the branchline transition would then be through and above Wasatch, which makes no sense in the "narrative". OTOH, it provides the opportunity to fix the narrative for Cozad and Gibbon and get rid of some of the loop spaghetti around Cheyenne. Hmmm.

[Specter3]

Is Cheyenne going to be an operational yard or simply represent the arrival and departure tracks of an unseen classification yard? I think you have me tioned it but I cant remember.