- Eliminated towns, in favor of modeling two towns (Walnut, Illinois and Prophetstown, Illinois). This major change will require modification to the Operating Plan. It appears now that two local turns will leave Mendota (staging) with one traveling to Prophetstown and the other traveling to Walnut. The turns will switch the respective towns and return to Mendota. This scheme would work if multiple operators are available... if not... then a single turn could be run to handle all of the work.
- Removed the Green River in favor of more Midwest style flatland. My initial thought in including the Green River was to provide a visual barrier between towns (switching areas). In the end, this was not effective and was more of a stumbling block, trying to tie two industrial areas into a "country scene". It has been removed and replaced with flatland.
- Started to build structures and place them on the railroad. This is a trial and error process. A building can look very different if placed at various locations on the railroad. With that in mind, some time has been spent moving structures around and determining if 1) Does the building look believable in that location, does if fit (both physically and conceptually) and 2) Can rail be used to serve it? This has been a fun process and the moving about of the buildings seems to be about done.
- Added a coal unloading dock in Walnut. This will add some coal hopper traffic from both the Q at Mendota and the CNW at Walnut.
- Added two additional industrial sidings in Prophetstown to generate more traffic. The tracks will serve a grain company, warehouse, bulk oil dealer, and lumber yard.
Happy Railroading!
Scott