More Changes to the KLR

With the Fall/Winter months upon us, it's time to retreat to the basement again and begin work on the KLR.  Over the summer months and after the ONR convention open house, I sat down again and sketched a few changes for areas or trackage that I wasn't happy with.  This was to become my work list for the fall season as time permitted.  Look for details regarding these changes in blogs to come.

The first two items to change on the layout was the position and buildings of the Unimin mine at Nephton/Blue Mountain.  I had a chance to tour the open pit mine and talk with some of the employees this summer, which really helped me understand the traffic pattern and rail operations for the mine, as well as get some shots of buildings that I was missing.  The new photos really helped with the layout of the buildings and track, as my previous trip to the mine some 10 years ago made me realize that I truly didn't understand how some of the loading of ore was accomplished.

During this time, I also came to realize that the layout needed a small staging yard.  While I used to have a yard in a previous version of the KLR, I abandoned it in favor of a larger paper mill complex and a forest products business.  Probably a mistake in judgement but its done and there was no way I was going to get rid of my paper mill.  So a new "island" was born, which features the Unimin mine on one side of the divide and a small yard on the other side.  Eventually the end of the yard will be connected to a removable bridge, which will allow traffic to enter from the lumber storage business module, as well as allow two way traffic in and out of the yard.

As of late December, the new staging yard is in, basically wired and has been tested by running several trains.  Most of the trackage for the Unimin complex is also installed, although I have fallen behind with my wiring. Hopefully this gets done during the holiday season.

The next change was the total removal of the Cherny farm module, as well as a future hydroelectric dam module that I was thinking of building.  All of the pieces of the farm have been relocated to some space that became available with the movement of the Unimin mine buildings.  All that's ;eft is to re-scenic the area with grasses, trees, fences, etc.  Hopefully a job that can be done in an evening or two.