Rising From The Ashes to a New Beginning

 

The last post left the reader with a sad tale of a layout vision planned for the second story of the building in the foreground only to see our hopes dashed by the fire that destroyed the barn right behind it. The heat damage and cost to fix up meant that this building has to be demolished as well. The remains of two barns behind this building have now been cleaned up.Instead of moving what we salvaged from our Devonshire layout to this building, we needed a new plan. So what to do?? 

With our layout now deconstructed into boxes of things we could save, lumber from walls and layout structure plus a lot of scenery garbage to get rid of, the push was on to find another location, hopefully on a ground floor and at an affordable cost. Alas, the fall weeks went by with no viable options so our chief came to the rescue with a place to store our stuff before the winter cold and snow arrived. He prevailed on a friend to loan us a 53' trailer that was no longer roadworthy but weathertight and lockable. With pandemic protocals adhered to, we transported our goods to this location where they are as I write this. Several members' basements are storing fragile items such as structures, products that could freeze, electronics, etc. And the push continued to find another location. A Facebook page was set up to keep members informed about possible layout designs if and when a place was found.

As time unfolded, it became evident that another fairgrounds building might hold promise as a new location for our layout. We were able to have a tour and while it needed heat and water, the clear span interior offered great layout design possibilities. Negotiations were entered into and a deal struck. The furnace from the Wallace building was moved over and hooked up and the water also hooked up now that the building is heated. We are tenants as of Febuary 1 with key in hand. With everything in pandemic lockdown, we can't move in until things open up but we can seriously plan what is going where for both building and layout. Stay tuned as we start a new chapter in the Woodstock Model Railroad Club.