Here you can see the partial installation of a switch for the section house end of the siding. We did this while realigning the turntable lead to match the new switch connecting it to the mainline. The point is spiked in place. We won't complete this switch until we actually start to lay the siding.

Here we are taking the kink out of the mainline curve. Depending on material availability, we might rebuild this section of mainline before building the siding. Then perhaps we salvage the mainline rail and some ties for the siding. In any event, we wanted the mainline placed correctly before we tried building a siding parallel to it!

This project had no activity in 2000 for want of rail, ties, joint bars, and willing bodies.

Well, this is another project finally getting some action again. Thanks to the Strong Bicentennial Committee effort to bring Steam to Strong, there is now 300 ft. of track to be disassembled into panels and trucked to Phillips. That's about 30 feet more than needed for the siding. We still need to fabricate the switch or switches for the north end of the siding. This one just got a lot closer to being done!

The panel track recovered from Strong now sits on our flat car with four more panels stacked on the ground nearby. The Nov. 17, 2001 work session went toward mainline trackwork rather than the siding. May 2002 will likely see nine of these panels laid as our new passing siding.

Here you see the advantage of borrowed equipment. The ballast was dumped, then spread by the excavator bucket on a light dozer. We have changed our plans for the siding considerably. For one thing, it will extend north of the roundhouse, almost to its common carrier location. This gives more clearance space for a train to stand on the siding at Maplewood. The north siding switch will be about 45 feet short of its historical position due to the priority placement of the carbarn lead.

Here you see slightly more than half of the siding ties in place. This is another change in plan. We were going to use the panel track for the siding, but chickened out on the basis that the raw cedar ties would rot out in about 10 years. We are using most of the panels in the roundhouse, perhaps the rest will go into the carbarn. As of mid November 2002, the tool shed in the far background of this photo has been moved back about 9 feet so the siding can also extend past that point. Yes, that means the turntable lead will eventually connect to the siding in its original configuration. The siding will not extend south as far as it originally did either. The Museum/station/bunkhouse building is in the way. So, the south siding switch will be about midway between the tool shed and the museum.

Well, it's not a useful siding yet, but we do have the switch installed and rail laid almost to Maplewood. You can't see it in the photo, but all the rail is actually laying alongside the ties. Our big holdup now is that we don't have joint bars.