Boy, this thread is old by now. So much has changed in the last few years.
Happy to say we weathered the Covid-19 shutdowns, although we lost a couple members during that time. We have since been growing back pretty steadily now rostering about 45 members. These new members, along with returning members have injected new life and new ideas into our club and I am proud to say I am leading the first effort in a list of layout expansions we want to undertake.
We know we'd like a thick, urban city scene at some point. Our current passenger yard area was built with the idea of being temporary. As currently envisioned, the city would stick out of the western side of the layout as a peninsula, featuring several local nods and a spectacular rendition of St. Paul Union Depot currently in development by our Secretary.
So with that in mind, I found myself staring at this.. thing. This goofy area was mocked up for the 1999 NMRA convention so that we would have something new to show off, but has sat as is ever since. It's never really been anything but a cheesed attempt to look like progress, and it's been driving me absolutely nuts. But... what to do with the space? What major industries fit a big city like our Not-Minneapolis?
And then it hit me. Hiawatha avenue district and its towering grain mills are but mere blocks from our club. A local industry recognizeable to the visiting public, that won't overpower the future city or current scenery around it.. thus, Nokomis District was born.
This project has been a heck of a trip, honestly. I made my pitch and got board approval to begin development, and my first crew call got 10 willing people wanting to help somehow. I had assumed I would be doing it entirely on my own, but right away I had a capable carpenter wanting to demolish stuff and begin cutting plywood for our surface.
The spooky thing about it is how easily I can describe this project as 'shovel ready'. Because this was intended to be something years ago, there's already a track lead pointed at it from our Centerville yard, and on top of that the track is already wired to its own individual power bus. I just need to drop feeders and tie into that bus and we can be running.
I started this project with a deadline of September, promising the track would be powered and major buildings in place, ready to operate. Scenery can come later on at any time, likely through a combined effort from me and someone else. Hopefully I can keep up regular progress updates for this, but it's moving VERY quickly.