New blog

I've created a new blog Midnight & Still Later to document the gathering, designing and hopefully building in N scale of the south end of the M&StL 10th district between Oskaloosa and Albia in 1950s Iowa.

Well, it's about time to bring this blog back to life after a long hiatus due to way too many physical health problems and the attendant mental health problems.

I got a bit farther with this module Featureless Plains but unfortunately the pictures I took of the next layer, gypsum with pigment and white glue, got lost when my laptop was stolen from my house while I was on a company outing. I still have the module but it is in storage at the moment awaiting decisions on what to do with it. Originally I wanted it to be a double track module but at a length of 1 meter it has become too large and above all too heavy. I lost a lot of strength as a result of a botched medical procedure. So I may cut it in two for easier transport or use it at home by redoing everything on top...

So I'm thinking of making this blog now a more general blog about my (model) railroad activities with links to specific blogs where I detail the building of N-scale modules according to the norms of the Fremo America-N group. For more information about those norms you can take a look here:
Fremo americaN

In the intervening years I've managed to get a lot of nice to have informationvia the M&StL Yahoo group (M&StL Yahoo group) with regard to my most favourite American railroad, the Minneapolis & St Louis Railroad. I'm particularly fascinated by the extreme south end in Iowa, the line from Oskaloosa to Albia. A very nice bonus is the fact that there was an interchange with the Wabash Railroad, my second favourite American railroad. I now have timetables, trackcharts etc. that give a good overview of this 23.5 mile long line. I'm in the process of setting up a blog detailing the designing, and hopefully building, proces of this south end of the tenth district of the M&StL in a small second bedroom in my appartment.

There are enough interesting features on this short piece of railroad, most of which is still there even though not in operation by the current owner Union Pacific, such as:
- (former) coal mines south of Albia at a place named Hocking,
- the interchange with the Wabash in Albia (and likely the former interurban ISU),
- a crossing and interchange with the Burlington (CB&Q),
- Hickory Hill,
- Lockman and it's trestles (and former coalmines),
- a long gone town named Coalfield,
- the then new powerplant at Bridgeport just before the crossing of the Des Moines river into Eddyville,
- Eddyville with sand and gravel loader and where a CRI&P line comes in from the southeast and parallels the line,
- crossing at Givin (another abandoned town with coal mines nearby)
- the sweeping curve at Beacon but no station, that was on the CRI&P,
- Tracy Junction, later Fosterdale Junction and finally
- the entrance to Oskaloosa's M&StL South Yard via a wye, underneath the track was a gauntlet track of the CB&Q and, again, the CRI&P.
- Ending at the modelgenic passenger station.
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So, stay tuned!