This #$^# Just Got REAL!

Well, I took the first step to building the layout of Lynden, WA.   I ordered 200 feet of Code 125 steel rail and 1500 sugar pine ties from Right-O'-Way and those showed up a couple of days ago.  Really appreciate Jay Criswell's great customer service and looking forward to meeting him in person at the March Meet this upcoming weekend.  Plan on picking up supplies while at the March Meet...such as spikes, tie plates, and other various items.   I will also be looking for several cars but I have more research to do on them...flat cars that brought in IH, Case, and John Deere farm implements; tank cars going to several fuel depots; and three bay cylindrical covered hoppers.

I am debating on building my own turnouts but will talk to Jay and others at the meet as well as watch some of the youtube video links that Jay sent to me.  Based on what I see I need three left and four right hand turnouts so a total of seven.....15 less than I would have needed for Kingsbury Avenue and well $1500 less if I purchased finished turnouts.....

The 2nd step I took was attempting to sell some of the equipment that I have....such as the Lionel 86 ft box cars and the Atlas 60' auto box cars.  Reading through the inbound and outbound traffic reports I see no mention of any of these cars in 1978 and 1979 going to or from Lynden.  Have not looked at the 1976 reports yet.   If you are interested in the reports you can find them on Cascade Rail Foundations Milwaukee Road Archives......http://research.milwelectric.org/_layouts/15/start.aspx#/SitePages/Traffic.aspx.  If you have personal knowledge of such cars showing up in Lynden let me know.

If you are interested in purchasing any of the four Lionel 86' box cars (3 MilwRd, 1 RI) or one of the EL or MilwRd 60' auto box cars let me know.  Some modifications have been made such as the Lionel trucks having NWSL 33' /145 wheel sets installed and both being weathered.  Kadee #805 couplers are included in several of the cars.  I can provide more details if interested.   The two 60' undecorated auto box cars are spoken for so it has begun.  

Hopefully in the next month I can get all of the inbound and outbound traffic reports for Lynden into an excel spreadsheet and then run some pivot tables and such to get an idea of how many cars per week inbound with freight and outbound with freight as well as the time of the year.  Most of the cars I have on hand fit Lynden and some others no so much but with a team track it is plausible for 2 bay covered hoppers as well as 40' and 50' airside hoppers to show up......any feedback on this type of freight showing up in Lynden would be appreciated.  

Heading to Chicago early on Friday so I can get to Ted Schnepf place to take part in an operating session on Friday afternoon.  I will be attending the P48 meeting Friday night so that should be fun. Saturday it is all about walking around March Meet and looking for stuff that I need....nailing down the prototype for modeling really cuts down on buying cars that would never show up even though I think the cars are neat to have.