A work session was held on January 19, 2002 to begin construction of the CSXT Shenandoah Division Version 2.0 layout. Even though it was cold (about 35 degrees) and raining, I was anxious to get started on the layout, so some of the members of the V1.0 operating crew agreed to come over and help me get started.  The focus of this first work session was to rip birch plywood into dimensional lumber. 

Rich, Todd, and I ripped five 4' x 8' sheets of plywood into 1 x 3 and 1 x 2 lumber on Rich's table saw in my garage. As we cut the lumber, Marcus and Larry would then use Marcus' dad's miter saw to cut those pieces to length. Using the Export to CSV function of 3rdPlanIt, I had been able to pre-determine the length of most of the lumber for the layout's benchwork, so Marcus and Larry were able to cut all of those mass quantities. They were also able to cut to length some of the lumber that my father-in-law and I had previously ripped using a circular saw and rip guide. Having Rich's new table saw to do this work made it much faster and easier! In spite of the garage being somewhat crowded, I believe that everyone left will all their fingers. :-)

We got more done during this session than I had anticipated, and even though we did not begin to assemble any of the benchwork, I consider January 19 to be the official start date of construction for the new layout.

I have spent the week of January 20-27, 2002 finishing the details of the layout plan for presentation here on the web site, as well as making a major update to the web site. I wanted to get this update done so that I could share the layout design with others and perhaps get additional feedback on the plan. With that update out of the way, I intend to spend much more time on getting construction of the layout going. There will be fewer major updates to the web site now, but I will still place progress reports here in the Construction section as sufficient progress warrants, so be sure to check the What's New page for the latest updates.

I've included some photos below of stacks of lumber that we cut at the January 19 work session. Unfortunately, I didn't remember to take any pictures of the crew at work. :-(

View looking into bonus room addition where Salem Yard and Wadesboro staging will go. The lumber on the left was cut on 1/19/02 as part of the work session. The lumber on the right was cut in November 2001.

Most of this lumber is slated to be used in constructing the South Salem/staging and Catawba/Abbott peninsulas.

Additional lumber waiting to be cut to length plus one of the two bags of sawdust that were generated. There should be enough sawdust for both paper mills, both chip loaders, and a lot of woodchip hopper/gondola loads.

Another view of the remaining lumber.

Close-up view of some of the lumber cut from 3/4" birch plywood on 1/19/02.