First Train Run!

The Dragonfly Sub is up and running, if only for a few feet of track! We decided to hook up the good old MRC powerpack and test out a non-DCC engine... just to get something running! The kids and I had a great time. I think they were as excited as I was running the engine back and forth on 5 feet of track. We have come a long way in a short time. It wasn't the "Golden Spike" ceremony, but it was certainly a milestone!

Construction Update:
More progress has been made laying track this past weekend. The entire staging yard (Mendota) is complete. The mainline is progressing east from Walnut to the switch at the River Vally Coop spur. There remains a short section then from River Valley Coop around to the staging yard. Also to be completed is the lift out bridge section as well as the town of Prophetstown. I am having some second thoughts about the track configuration in Prophetstown. I am more inclined to have the mainline "continue on" (beyond the modelled portion of railroad) and include more industries for generating traffic. This piece of the railroad is back on the drawing board and will take some more study. The more I research the real operations for this branch, I am finding out that the railroad operated what was nicknamed "the Moonlight" job.

The Moonlight job ran from Mendota over the Tenth Sub to either Denrock or all the way to Barstow. So, my initial idea of basing a local out of Prophetstown is not prototypical. A yard did not exist at Prophetstown, at least in the sense of using it to sort/classify cars, which is what I was initially intending. I may have to tweak things a bit... but then again, that is all part of the fun of Model Railroading!

Scott