2008-07-12 The base for the Taylorville industrial switching area was installed with the help of three friends from the "Tuesday Night Operating Group" -- a round-robin operating/construction/railtalking group I have fallen in with. The material for the platform, edge stiffeners, and legs were pre-cut. The deck is two pieces of 3/4" plywood, one 2 feet by 8 feet and the other 2 feet square. The edge stiffeners are 1x4 for the back piece and 1x6 for the front where the control panel will be mounted. Legs are 2x4s with lag screws in the bottom for height adjustments. The legs on the L-girder are attached to the legs on the Mainline Yard to firmly attach the new construction work to the existing layout. The 1x3 joists were installed last, attached to the rear stiffener and to the top of the L-girder. Alex Schneider, Jack Race, and George Schmidt gave me a hand with installing the edge stiffeners and the legs, then rotating the assembled base onto its legs and roughly into position. |
2008-07-28 Benchwork has been built and track laid in Taylorville. The standard gauge Taylorville Industrial Area is to the right, at the front edge of the new deck. The dual gauge main line runs through the deck from the Pana end of the deck to the near edge of the deck. Off the mainline a track climbs a grade. This is the start of the Branchline track and is dual gauged in this area for the junction with the mainline. The left Mainline track (with three boxcars on it) will be the Branchline/Mainline (CI/B&O) interchange track. Zigzagging up the hill is a narrow gauge switchback leading eventually to the wye just beyond the end of the center view block. It ties into the dual gauge branchline to pass through the junction and have access to the station which will be located near the passenger cars in the background. |
2008-08-22 The control panel for Taylorville has been constructed, painted, and installed. Now all it needs is LOTS of wires to connect to it. |
2008-09-19 The Taylorville Industrial Area and the adjacent Mainline, Narrow Gauge, and Branchline track have been wired up and switch machines have been installed and hooked up. All of the wiring from this portion of the layout has been terminated on barrier strips in the control panel (if it needed to be controlled) or onto barrier strips on Power Distribution Boards. |
2008-09-19 This is a view of the underside of the Taylorville Industrial Area and related tracks. Note that the Tortoise switch machines are wired directly into the control panels, as are the sections of track that are intended to be "killable" to allow killing power to inactive engines. |
2008-09-19 This view of the interior of the Taylorville control panel shows the barrier strips onto which all of the switch machine wiring from this portion of the layout has been terminated. Also visible are the power wires for two sidings which can be isolated from this panel. |
2014-04-06 A new industry in Taylorville -- a ramp for unloading piggyback trailers from TOFC flat cars. The track for this new industry is located along-side the track that serves the Central Illinois Interchange track on the B&O, next to the Central Illinois track from Pana to the Litchfield Yard. |
2015-06-04 Taylorville Implements has come to town!! This dealer and service center has taken its place in the Taylorville Industrial Park. Hidden behind the building is another lot containing several pieces of farm equipment, old and new, for sale. Just visible between the Taylorville Local Switcher and the box car is the implement dealer's unloading ramp. Passing the service bays is one of the trucks headed for the trailer ramp. |
2015-09-14 Another industry has been installed. The Honefenger Grain Company was a real industry served by the B&O in the Taylorville area, though the building probably looked nothing like this stand-in. This structure was a craftsman kit that I adapted to the space available for the industry. |
