Ah... the Christmas Holiday! I get FOUR DAYS IN A ROW OFF!!!!

First off, a very MERRY CHRISTMAS and safe New Year to you all. Let us remember the TRUE REASON for this wonderful SEASON: To celebrate the Birth of Our Savior.

Soo... what'cha been doin'?

I have been relaxing with coffee and RE! (Weird, I know.) In fact, I intend to continue to do so as mood and time allows this holiday weekend. AND... speaking of the Coal Belt:

I find it amazing that all this railroading intensity and interest was in my own back yard for all these decades. It really has been the advent of the internet that has allowed me to truly "discover" it. Prior to the internet, over the decades I would see itty bitty bits and pieces of what was here "back then"... but never really enough to "connect the dots". (Literally!) I now have enough data to do the project justice, and where I must extrapolate, typically enough known data allows me to do so with a great deal of plausibility. Thus the integrity of the effort remains intact.

BUT... and this is the kicker: It takes modeling the EARLIER YEARS to capitalize on all of it. Therefore, I chose the critical year of 1908. In 1908 all lines were in place, coal was still to boom for a few more years, and yet I do not have to deal with some strategic issues I wanted to avoid.

Lately I've been on an Iron Mountain kick: The town of Greenwood is calling my name.

So... I have been laying track toward Greenwood! To see what progress I've accomplished in the past evening or so, I will repost a previous update map, and then post the latest.

First the repost image (thread will be continued)...

Now, compare that to the latest update map. (See below.)

As you can see, much of the red "projected rails" to Greenwood now has track and towns in place. Only a small gap remains between the existing railhead and Greenwood.

The Iron Mountain Greenwood Branch is truly a sleeper! ROLLER COASTER gradients and topography. Nothing spectacular, mind you, but a profile that WILL keep you on your toes, train handling wise. The coal fields at Jenny Lind will be quite intense with several mines on long spurs to switch.

Greenwood itself will be the utmost in simplicity... but on account of the lack of adequate track facilities, the town will be a booger to switch as well as working the interchange with the Midland Valley. It is becoming obvious to me as the Greenwood Branch takes shape, that most of the coal traffic off of it would head back to Fort Smith.

Speaking of that last iitty-bitty gap in the rails, two words sums it up: BUTT KICKER.

You see, there's a ridge to climb that involves a large cut at the top. (I know, I have been to the exact location on the prototype several times.) Well, I'm having a devil of a time getting the gradient/curve and cut depth to match up in a plausible way. You see, building a route in a simulation program isn't an exact science. When dealing with mountains and hills, one must make adjustments on the fly. You can't always believe route markers! If they're off only a few meters in mountainous terrain, the results will be several meters too high or too low on the mountain or hillside in comparison to real life. As with all the critical areas of the Coal Belt, I want this to area to look "right".

BUT... it's a dead cinch I won't surmount that ridge as long as I'm sitting here typing and enjoying the sound of my own words!!!

With that I bid you ADIEU... time to get a fresh cup of hot coffee, and head off to the hills around Greenwood!!!

I dood it!

See the map below! The IM&S at Greenwood is IN!

AND... the MV and IM&S have been tied together. In fact, in order to "test" the new tracks between Excelsior and Greenwood, I ran a Midland Valley interchange train. Took 20 loads of coal over to the IM&S interchange and set them out, plucked my caboose off the rear... turned my engine... and chuffed back to Excelsior... just like they did over 100 years ago!

The above means that ALL outlying towns in the Coal Belt region that I envisioned reaching quite some time ago are now REACHED and some of them COMPLETE.

Eventually, I have a dream of extending the rails northward out of Van Buren (noted on the map) which will get into some SERIOUS prototype mountain railroading. Think aging 10 Wheelers helping heavy freights up out of Chester, Arkansas (MP 386) to the summit at Winslow (MP 375)... that's 11 miles of helper grade over some mighty tall trestles and through the Boston Mountain Tunnel at Winslow. One of these days!

For now, though, reckon the time has come that I can now turn my attention to track laying details I've skimmed over, as well as start planning the scenery things that will need to be addressed.

Folks... I've got a geniune, shur'nuf railroad on my hard drive!!

They've all been stunned in to silence! I'll say, "Wow!"

Looks great, Andre! Keep up the good work.

Al

But wait... that's not ALL... there's MORE! (Said in my best "Rontel" TV salesman voice.)

Compare the map below with the above!

I be on a roll of late!

Hey! With that Greenwood gap closed up, we'll get to run trains in a circle! I can see it now: the activity that never ends!

Sorry, I was out in the wind and cold too long today ...

Hi Andre,

Looking forward to another masterpiece.

I noticed that all of the schematics are dated in '09. May I ask which century?

Jim

Hi Jim!

Good question! All this talk of circa 1908, then seeing '09 on my schematics is rather confusing, isn't it?

When you see an update map schematic w/date... that is the the date on which I posted the update. Sooo... 12/27/09 would be December 27th, 2009.

FWIW: Before too much longer, I expect I will start building signature/specific objects for the Fort Smith/Van Buren segment. How long it will take to complete that segment, or how often/how long I'll need to take "breaks" from the effort is anyone's guess. Fortunately, I'm in pretty good health for my age... so hopefully in my life time!!!