On the way to the Southern Railway Historical Association convention I stopped in Saltville, VA, and learned more about the chemical companies that had been there. Olin chemical operation had raw materials of salt from the ground and limestone coming in on cable buckets and output was soda ash, caustic soda, carbonates, chlorine and dry ice [the largest such plant in the world]. The other Saltville company produced plaster. In the nearby area was the Holston River Lumber Company which had Shays feeding the mill. Later trucks brought logs to a smaller mill but output still included rail. Even though much of the manufacturing ended in the 70's, there was a lot going on in my modeled timeframe of the mid 50's. Output from these industries will feed other businesses on and off the layout. This background information forms a basis for the type, and to a lesser degree, number of the cars to serve these industries.
And there has been some progress in opening up space in the train room. Cleaning caulk and ballast from the used Peco track is more than half complete and the switches, of which there are almost 50, is complete. Once completed the closet will be open to start "cutting wood". In the train room itself, other track and switches are being put in one easy to find place. The same goes for tools, out of the UPS and USPS boxes and into the storage containers, with labels, that had been bought for them.
