A Turntable "Themed" Report.

Today's post is from our intrepid Roundhouse Foreman and designer Ken Eells. Ken's report brings us up to date on turntable progress and plans. -Chris

15” Gauge Turntable Report Part II

First of all allow me to express my gratitude to everyone who has commented on how nice the rockwork on the turntable pit wall is looking so far. That part of the project is about halfway done and thanks to the excavation crew on the Cut, we are using some very nice bluish rock material that they “dug” up.

Thankfully, we have definitely turned a corner with the turntable and are getting set up for a huge February 7th assault with Chris’ wire-feed welder. The turntable crew will be welding on the “training wheel” assemblies, 4 X 4 steel crossties and if time allows, they will be welding down the 12# rail.

From that point forward, I will be directing the theming aspect of the turntable which will impart that nice rich rusty, crusty, aged and grained look that the Rio Grande Southern railroad was so very famous for. It will be a thing of beauty.

Our current construction schedule has us completing Track-4 (inbound track) up to the turntable by early April. That gives us plenty of “tweaking time” before the May Spring Meet in order to make certain that railroad operations are both safe and successful.

From there we will be spring-boarding off of the turntable and onto the roundhouse. By that I mean that we be building from the success of the turntable and step up the call for donations in order to get the wood framing going on the roundhouse by November ’09. Our initial goal is to put together an amount of $10,000 to get things started with, but more on that later.

In the meantime, we will finish up the turntable for this season which will definitely put a new spin on things for the 15” gauge railway. -Ken Eells