Great Northwestern Railway

Work is progressing (slowly), and it's encouraging to see track get laid.  As a part of this process, I am trying to reuse as much old track before starting to use the new.  A lot of it came from a previous layout; a lot from others who were dismantling theirs and did not want to take the time to strip the track. Soaking the roadbed allowed it to easily come up (after about 20-30 min).  But the recycled track still had a lot of ballast and glue on it, making it useless for reuse.  So sharing a technique to assist anyone who may be in a similar situation. For switches, I just throw the turnouts in 5 gallon bucket for a few days.  The plastic and nickel silver is not affected by the soaking, and the ballast just falls off as the glue dissolves.  I even had a curved turnout I wanted to recycle, but it had some "Durhams Water Putty" on it from a roadway that crossed.  Soaked it for about a week, and even the Durhams just fell off.  Nice! Bu...

The Great Northwestern Railway is pleased to announce the first new track has been laid in the long-awaited Onava Cut-Off project.  "This new line will provide a direct route between Chloride and Warm Springs, offering improved service throughout the GNW system."  Although it requires a stiff 3.5 percent grade, the cutoff will allow crews to follow their trains over the scenic NM hills surrounding Onava, as well as connect with a previously islanded mining railroad.  "The increased car loading alone justified the expense of the work," said one high-ranking GNW officer. The cut-off required considerable design investment.  The integration of the existing system with the new line resulted in one section of line where 4 separate grades have to be built directly over each other.  "A lot of consultants recommended conventional benchwork, or even the elusive 'L-girder' construction.  We elected to go avant-guarde: L-brackets.  "Yes, looks unconventiona...