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EnterTRAINment Junction aka Big Train Project
Download Gandy Dancer for April 2008
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(PDF) Latest News -
April 2008 -
More Details & PICTURES in Gandy Dancer
It is mid-April and many things have been
happening at EnterTRAINment Junction as we work towards the goal of a Summer
opening. Furnishings and decorations are arriving. Being Springtime, Depot
Street is bursting with colorful blooms and the trees and shrubs have leafed
out. Unfortunately all the new flora was quickly subjected to a massive
attack of what appears to be tent worms. Soon Junction Cafe will be fully
equipped to feed the throngs of visitors the Opening promises to bring. A
platoon of technicians have descended upon the maze area and have begun to
set up the haunt which will make its diabolical debut when Summer winds
down. The Museum of American Railroading is in development and promises to
be both an entertaining and educational experience for both young and old.
Hopes are high for the successful acquisition of some rather unique and
impressive exhibits. The hobby shop remains vacant as the search goes on for
a tenant with the necessary ingredients to make this important feature of
the facility what it needs to be. As for other aspects of the facility, the
outdoor pump car ride for kids is planned for installation and landscaping
ASAP. Imagination Junction, the train-themed children’s activity area, which
will have an HO Thomas the Tank Engine layout being developed by Bachmann It
is mid-April and many things have been happening at EnterTRAINment Junction
as we work towards the goal of a Summer opening. Furnishings and decorations
are arriving. Being Springtime, Depot Street is bursting with colorful
blooms and the trees and shrubs have leafed out. Unfortunately all the new
flora was quickly subjected to a massive attack of what appears to be tent
worms. Soon Junction Cafe will be fully equipped to feed the throngs of
visitors the Opening promises to bring. A platoon of technicians have
descended upon the maze area and have begun to set up the haunt which will
make its diabolical debut when Summer winds down. The Museum of American
Railroading is in development and promises to be both an entertaining and
educational experience for both young and old. Hopes are high for the
successful acquisition of some rather unique and impressive exhibits. The
hobby shop remains vacant as the search goes on for a tenant with the
necessary ingredients to make this important feature of the facility what it
needs to be. As for other aspects of the facility, the outdoor pump car ride
for kids is planned for installation and landscaping ASAP. Imagination
Junction, the train-themed children’s activity area, which will have an HO
Thomas the Tank Engine layout being developed by Bachmann The GANDY DANCER 1
APRIL 2008 The BIG TRAIN PROJECT VOLUNTEER’S NEWSLETTER Vol. 2 No. 2 APRIL
2008 On the first good day in March the first sign was put in place over the
main entrance to the building adding a bit of “officiality” on the way to
the Grand Opening this Summer. Just at the time the flora on Depot Street
reached full bloom it was severely attacked by a case of bagworms. Or maybe
itʼs protection from an early Spring frost. (Actually itʼs to keep the dust
of layout construction off of them.) Trains. It is also in need, among other
things, of a quality, interactive “Lionel” Train layout. The Great Train
Expo room, which is currently being used as the big layout’s workroom will
need to be transformed to meet its intended purpose - that is to house
quality layouts in all the popular model railroading scales - Z, N, HO, S, O
and Lego as well as provide space for special exhibits. One such exhibit
consists of the operating consoles that came from CSX’s Queensgate Yard Hump
Tower when it was upgraded to more sophisticated computer control a number
of years ago. A capable person or persons is being sought to complete the
reassembly of these items and evaluate the possibilities for bringing them
to some degree of life as viable museum exhibits.
stain to some pieces destined for a bridge
husband Lee and she are building. (Renee Dane and Paul Hulsman prepare
poultry wire in the background.) Sonjaʼs husband, Lee, checks a bridge
drawing above right. Lee and Sonja spend several hours per week in the
evenings after their day jobs, on Saturdays and even some vacation days
working on buildings, bridges, tunnel portals and a number of other things.
Leeʼs specialty is scratchbuilt scale model wagons as you see pictured at
right. Wheels are from Ozark Miniatures and Grandt Line Products. As for the
BIG TRAIN PROJECT, the layout continues to develop thanks to the efforts of
a core group of dedicated volunteers supplemented by “sometimers” who take
every opportunity to push the work forward. Thanks to a number of folks who
responded to the call to prepare the poultry wire for hanging, this phase of
the work is rapidly drawing to a close. Latest News -
February 2008 -
More Details & PICTURES in Gandy Dancer
BUILDING PROGRESS
Various aspects of the building
are being finalized. For instance, most of the the kitchen equipment has
arrived and has been put in place. The gift shop and ticket window counters
and cabinetry have been installed with the computers for ticket and other
sales to be installed soon. Depot Street will soon see benches and greenery
and other fixtures. The tuning of the HVAC system is progressing; the second
half of the layout lighting is being put in place; and the suspension system
for the lighting and sound systems has been installed in preparation for the
set up of the three mazes starting in April. Imagination Junction, the
children’s play area, is slowly working toward completion. In the meantime,
the “Museum of American Railroading” has been placed in the hands of Brain
Sells, a husband and wife design firm who are enthusiastically working
closely with the EnterTRAINment Junction management as well as the
Cincinnati Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society, which by the
way, is making great progress in establishing its home here at EJ. The new
bookcases are in place in the library and the shelves are just about filled
with the chapter’s collection of railroad books and other research
materials.
LAYOUT PROGRESS
As for progress on the big
layout…. As of this writing, an informal tally shows that about 100
volunteers have been spending anywhere from an hour or two a month for some
and up to 40 or more hours a week for others working on various aspects of
the layout. I regret that I cannot acknowledge each and everyone’s
contribution in this limited space. Here are some of them… Ray Hughes,
assisted by Tom Breon, George Etesse, Joe Gerstemeier, Frank Kammer, Chuck
Miller, Allan Pantle and Dennis Thompson have about 95% of the roadbed
constructed - only one part of one high line remains to be built. The track
crew consisting of Steve Carr and Tim Watson have approximately 85% of the
track down. The Infra Structure crew (a.k.a. Roadbed crew) also has about
80% of the mountains framed. Working under the supervision of Mike Crone,
Dick Grace, Jim Kuschill, and others have approximately 40% of the mountains
covered with poultry wire with about 30% having been foamed. Many others
have taken a “stab” at scenery carving. Dan Sheedy, Ken Wagner, and many
others have been plugging away hot-meltgluing the fiberglas veil to the
poultry wire. Jeanette Kuschill and Jim Pugh have been busy carving and
painting the foam. Don Maxwell, Chris Lockwood and Ray Murdock IV from the
Ashland, KY/Huntington, WV area came by for a visit and hung some poultry
wire over a two day period. Tom Bartsch and the team from the Miami Valley
Garden Railway Society - Gordon Carlson, Gordon Havens, Jerry Humston, Jack
Wilson, Wil Davis and others have been in and out many times laying out
right of ways, the modern city and other areas as well as beginning
construction in various places within the Modern Period area.
Latest News - November 2007 -
More Details & PICTURES in Gandy Dancer
Tempus continues to fugit! Here
it is November already. Well, needless to say the contractors did not
complete as of the date previously stated. As a matter of fact they are
still winding down. Most have left but that doesn’t mean they are finished.
There is a very long punch list yet to be dealt with. The HVAC contractor,
as a matter of fact, has gone out of business, leaving us with a
computerized system that no one knows how to control. A new outfit has been
hired but they’ve not yet figured it out for themselves, or if they have,
they’re not talking. The good news is the system is putting out heat in the
layout area. We do have operational restrooms. Speaking of opening… the
projected opening is still June ’08. In the meantime, we are operating under
a Temporary Occupancy Permit. The offices have been furnished and Don Oeters
and Watson’s partner, Jim Kathmann, have both moved in. Operations Manager
Bill Balfour and your editor have also taken up residence. Many have asked
about the times when volunteers will be able to access the building. At
present, Don Oeters, and/or Bill Balfour, and/or Larry Koehl, and/or Ray
Hughes will have the door open and will be present Monday through Friday
from at least 9 AM to 4 PM. Ray Hughes, who is away until December 3,
usually opens the door at 6:30 AM. Starting November 19 volunteers will have
access on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings until 9 PM. Saturday hours
- 9 AM to 4 PM will begin November 17. The building will be closed
Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day. Other open hours or changes to
the hours given above will be posted at the building with as much advanced
notice as possible. Construction has progressed steadily. To date all the
roadbed and track is in place in the Early Period area of the layout. The
Coal Mine area of the Middle Period is also complete in that respect as
well. Construction crews have moved on to the Middle Period Engine Service
Facility and Modern Period Mainline. The track for the Subway under the
Modern City has also been put in place. Spray foam is beginning to appear in
the Early Period area at the higher elevations as well as along the stream
and lake bed. Mountain framing is complete in much of the Early Period and
in the Middle Period Coal Mine area. Preliminary work has begun on train
control wiring. As-Built drawings are being prepared for Early Period areas.
Once complete and reproduced these will greatly facilitate wiring and other
aspects of layout construction.
Latest News - August 2007
Construction of the facility
with the exception of the train layout has entered the final stages. The
projection is the contractors will essentially be finished on or about
September 1st, about three weeks from this writing, leaving things to the
volunteers to continue with the construction of the layout. The target date
for opening the train layout to the public is June 2008. The lights are on
in some areas and there is power in the electrical outlets in many
locations. The new lighting in the workroom has greatly improved working
conditions, unfortunately, although the power has been turned on the HVAC
has not, and will not be until the contractors are practically finished. We
are still operating with two porta potties out in the parking lot.
Restrooms, we are told will not be useable until just before facility
completion about September 1. Doors are being hung and paint applied
everywhere. The parking lots are taking shape. Large amounts of earth have
been moved and removed, storm sewers are in, curbs are being poured, gravel
spread, etc. The east side of the building where the dock doors were is now
officially the front as opposed to the north side which is being downgraded
to an emergency exit. As for the big train layout, even more infrastructure
has been erected by the contractors with mountain framing and roadbed being
added to two areas by Ray Hughes assisted by both volunteers and
contractors. The location of the stream and tracks has been laid out on the
Early Period peninsula with roadbeds and mountain structure to follow soon.
The first level of benchwork framing for all areas should be complete just
about the time you receive this issue. The mezzanine has finally been built,
the control room framed and drywalled and power is being run into it. The
signal tower has steps are in place and finish work is going on there, too.
The “paving” of Depot Street is to begin very soon.
Latest News - June 2007
The fire proofing issue in
reference to the layout infrastructure has been solved. The metal bench work
structure will be topped with fire retardant plywood and will have
sprinklers installed below the first level and under the mountain peaks.
Four sections of bench work have been erected - the Early Period
Sawmill/Mining/Logging area, the Early Period Peninsula with the “lake”, the
Early Period Coke Ovens/Middle Period Coal Mine area, and the Middle Period
City area. Each of the four pedestrian tunnels have been framed up. The
plywood has been applied to the first Early Period area and Ray Hughes has
begun laying out track locations in preparation to building the framework
for the upper level tracks. The Layouts and Collections Room has been
secured and is in the process of being transformed into a temporary
volunteer’s workshop. Various pieces of woodworking and other equipment have
been acquired and are being set up. As for the non-layout aspects of the
facility are concerned, the office area continues to move rapidly towards
completion, the meeting rooms are shaping up as well as the food area.
Windows are being installed in many places as well as siding and trim on
building facades. The installation of the wiring is being pursued
vigorously. The steel for the mezzanine is finally showing up. Excavation of
the east side parking area was to begin this week but has been delayed by
the hospitalization of the operator. The restroom which has be reported as
being less than satisfactory has taken a decided turn for the worse due to
the midnight blue ceiling paint over-spray that fell through openings left
by missing ceiling tiles. A Volunteers Open House is being planned for
Saturday July 7. An the next issue of THE GANDY DANCER, coming out soon,
will have the details.
Latest News - March 2007 -
More Details and PICTURES in Gandy Dancer
The permit was finally
received on Tuesday, March 27 and the construction activity has be furious
ever since. Walls are going up in all areas, drywall being hung and
finished. No sooner are the stud walls up and the electricians and plumbers
move right in. As of this writing, the inside of the outside main building
walls have been or are being furred, rough wired, insulated and drywalled;
the children’s activity area partition and the hobby shop walls are up
except for part of the back one near the old marginallyfunctioning restroom.
The inside depot walls are framed up waiting for the arrival of the roof
trusses. The new layout and meeting room restrooms are all framed up, rough
plumbed, and electricals roughed in. The meeting room and food area walls
have to wait until the HVAC work, in progress, is done overhead. Meanwhile,
in the back 30, the main stud walls are in place around the seasonal maze,
the office, and layouts and collections areas with drywall going up on them.
As soon as the ductwork is in place in the office area the inside walls will
go up in there. HVAC work is being
done on both the the top and undersides of the roof. Some of the mezzanine
steel has gone up as well. All the contractors are doing their best to clear
the way for the construction of the first layout benchwork so track laying
can begin at the earliest possible time - which should occur in a few weeks.
The carpenters wanted to begin framing up the two early period pedestrian
tunnels but were persuaded to hold off until the walkway can be diamond
honed in these areas first. The Early Period area floor preparation and
ceiling and hobby shop wall painting are to occur within days with the start
of benchwork construction beginning about April 26.
Latest News - March 2007
Things are beginning to
happen at the EnterTRAINment Junction building in West Chester. Demolition
has been underway the last couple of weeks. A large percentage of stuff in
the building that needed to be removed has been removed. Much of the
electricals have been removed including about 80% of the lights. Some
temporary lighting has been installed. The carpenters have marked wall
locations and have materials stockpiled. The plumber has marked the floor
and has completed saw cuts. The trenches are waiting to be opened. The floor
has been cut for the foundation of the inside depot, the floor opened and
the footer is being dug. Insulation etc. has been stripped from the outside
walls. The calking in the joints between outside wall panels is being
removed in preparation for replacement, unneeded sprinkler piping has been
removed, etc. Unfortunately, the most important thing has not happened - the
permit has not yet been received. The wheels of government turn ever so
painfully slow. The carpenters are ready, the electricians are ready, the
plumber is ready - all that’s needed is the permit - it is hoped that it
will be received by the end of this week. As for the layout, the general
method for making the basic scenery has been pretty much determined -
Urethane foam over poultry wire supported by steel studs. Progress on the
layout model is being delayed because Mike Crone is otherwise preoccupied
for a while with the passing of close friends who have no relatives - it’s
all in Mike’s hands. Raodbed & Track leader Ray Hughes has ideas for roadbed
that are waiting for the availability of materials to create some test
sections. The bulk of the track will be arriving soon. Jack McLaren is doing
a fine job of getting the bridge crews down to business. I will be
contacting buildings people and scenic details people very soon to get both
started on specifics. Ray Hughes is also working on compiling a list and
doing shopping to equip an onsite workshop for layout construction. Gary
Hilgeman is working on ideas for train control, etc. Tom Bartsch is doing a
great job in developing a study model of the MVGRS group area of
responsibility.
Latest News - January 2007
At the time of the last issue
of THE BRANCH LINE - late November 2006 - the architectural firm of FRCH was
wrapping up the drawings for the Enter- TRAINment Junction facility. Since
then the plans have been completed, the building permit applied for, and the
contractors on the bid list have picked up their copies of the prints. The
contractors are working up their bids now and should be submitting them very
soon. Also back in November an open house for volunteers was in the planning
but hadn't been nailed down so it couldn't be announced at that time. On
Wednesday, December 27, the ENQUIRER ran an article in the business section
on the project with information about the open house to be held January 6, 7
and 9. If you missed the article you can still access it at the web address
at the bottom of this page, or you can do a GOOGLE search on "Enter-
TRAINment Junction" and it should be the first on the list of results. Your
editor was also interviewed by Bill Whyte of B105 which aired at 8:15 on
Tuesday January 2nd. The purpose of the open house was to show volunteers
and other interested parties the status of the project to date and to give
an idea of the arrangement of the layout. The aisle ways and prominent
features of the layout were taped out on the floor, the pedestrian tunnels
were mocked up with furring strips and tarps, and various exhibits set up in
appropriate places throughout, including a 1/2" scale model of the layout
which is still in development. Eighty-seven volunteers signed up during the
two day and one evening open house event. There are now 212 names on the
volunteer list. Out of the total of 212 volunteers 145 attended the open
house - 67%. Volunteers will be contacted soon with updates and meeting
announcements.
Latest News - November, 2006
The Site Plan has been approved
by the City of West Chester. The architect is just about finished with the
plans. The building permit will be applied for shortly and contracts put out
for bid. Halloween Express has vacated. The remaining demolition has been
completed. The Volunteers event has been delayed until early January. There
are 126 volunteers officially signed up. Great progress is being made, it
will be obvious soon!
Latest News -
August 25, 2006
Since the last update in
mid-July progress has continued to be made. The final zoning approval
scheduled for August 21st, however, did not take place because the county
did not complete its review of the traffic study in time to bring the issue
up for a vote at the August 21 Council meeting. BUT the Good News is the
county is recommending to the City of West Chester that the findings of the
traffic study be accepted - that is, a turning lane on Kingsgate is not
required. Knowing this, Don Oeters now has a high enough degree of
confidence that approval is on the way and has subsequently authorized the
architect to proceed with the plans for the facility. The site plan will be
up for approval in October. The plan for the layout benchwork will be
submitted very soon thereafter in order to obtain a preliminary permit to
begin construction on that phase of the project. If all goes as presently
planned layout construction will be under way in January. In the meantime
the planning of the big layout is proceeding. The early period areas have
been worked and reworked and are close to solidification. The middle period
area is in process of refinement with the modern area well into development.
The upper level above the museum has received some prelininary attention and
will be the last to be refined. Although we missed the August 21st target
for the submission of the benchwork plan to the architect, the planning is
going well, and that date has been moved back to mid-September, still in
time to begin construction at the earliest possible date. With progress
continuing at it’s present pace all phases of layout construction should be
in full swing during the winter months ahead. I never thought I’d ever look
forward to winter! Part of the track plan has progressed to the point where
lists of train equipment, structures, bridges, scenic details, etc. can
begin to be developed. Once we have these lists for the initial areas we
will have something for section gangs to get their teeth into. We are not
quite ready to pick the date for the general volunteers meeting to present
the layout plan, the map of the construction process that lies ahead, and
partial lists of specific items for various section gangs on which to go to
work. As it appears now the event will likely be scheduled for late
September or early October. Keep your eye looking down the track... The
train’s coming...
August 2006
Don Oeters is quite optimistic
about the final vote on the zoning for EnterTRAINment Junction project to be
taken by the West Chester governing body on August 21. In the meantime,
about every Tuesday or Wednesday evening, the layout planners continue to
press their pencils to the colorful 4x6 foot printouts with last week's
additions, changes and deletions. At the present time each area of the
layout is in a different stage of planning. In some areas the track plan is
close to being finalized with the basic topography being determined. On the
other end of the spectrum track diagrams at present are very generalized
suggestions. Assuming the zoning vote is favorable on the 21st, the goal is
to have the topography ready for the architect by Sept. 1 as was reported
last month. At a recent planning session a Bachmann Shay and a Climax were
tested on four and six percent grades with a ten car train - result: like
the grade wasn't there. An unexpected finding was a Bachmann skeleton log
car will be rendered temporarily unusable when dropped from a 4.5' height to
a concrete floor.
Latest News - June 2006
The brainstorming for ideas for
the things that could be represented on the big layout was completed and the
process put into the hands of a planning committee. The group consisting of
Larry Koehl, Ray Hughes, Scot Rogers, Gary Hilgeman, Mike Crone and Neil
Helwig has taken the many ideas and have begun to draw lines, write numbers
and make notes on big sheets of paper. The location of general time periods
and the types of railroading to be represented have been determined and very
general track diagrams have been drawn. At the same time many other aspects
such as viewing angles and elevations have been discussed and the all
important element of accessibility for construction and maintenance is being
factored in, and a bunch of other stuff too. The group took a behind the
scenes tour of Cincinnati In Motion at the Museum Center and learned many
things. The next step is to take was has been drawn so far and begin to
refine the many scenes and track configurations. A intermediate plan should
be available in a few weeks to present to the all those interested.
Meanwhile on another front, the City of West Chester held the first of three
open hearings and voted 5-0 in favor of the project. The next hearing is
scheduled for Tuesday June 13 which will deal with the traffic study and
parking issues. The third will be a month after that. Assuming successful
outcomes of the three hearings, it will then be time to submit the
architectural drawings to the City of West Chester as part of the permit
application process. Those among us who just can't wait to jump in and start
building need to exercise patience - the government is involved and we can
only make haste slowly.
Status Report
The acquisition of an 80,000
square foot building on I-75 at the Tylersville Road exit, the former Oak
and More furniture store, has been accomplished. The building is presently
being readied for it’s new and exciting purpose. Its location is easily
accessible to the public and provides free exposure to 140,000 passing
vehicles each day.
The City of Westchester is
excited about the prospect of a family entertainment facility coming to
their community.
Promotional efforts will have
the goal of placing this quality facility among the top eight Greater
Cincinnati family entertainment destinations.
The Big Train Project will be
financed primarily by Mr. Oeters. Corporate sponsors have been contacted and
an additional investor has been secured.
A contractor will be selected
to complete the bench work and supporting structures so track laying can
begin as soon as possible.
The organization of the
volunteer work force to build the centerpiece train layout is an integral
part of this project and must be in place and ready to go to work.
A soft opening is projected
for September 2007 with the grand opening in November 2007.
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