The End at Last for Texaco in Clarksville?

One of the remaining structures from the days of the railroad is a defunct Texaco dealership located just south of Clarkesville, currently found on the side of Georgia Highway 385, also called "Historic US-441". At the risk of sounding like Grandpa Simpson, when I was a kid this was THE road to Rabun County... now its "historic".

Here it is in a photo of a photo taken in Dess Oliver's TF museum in Rabun Gap, followed by a current photo of the same place where the old tanks have snoozed in the bushes for many years.











































I have definitely been planning to model this facility with Clarkesville thanks to its simplicity and charm - a couple of pineapple juice cans will make great tanks, and I've already found an inexpensive Texaco tank car by Bachmann and a set of cool 1:25 scale Texaco gas pumps for the retail side of the operation .







































So I was saddened the other day to come by and find one of the big horizontal tanks gone and the remaining tank strapped to a low-boy trailer - destined I suppose for sale or the scrapyard. This may be a one-off sale of these tanks, or possibly the first step is dismantling this little relic of the TFRR to make space for a burger joint, or perhaps a shop where the citizens of Clarkesville can buy lottery tickets and beer. You know, something important.






Here's the "before and after":

Fence Line Timbers Complete!

Over the last couple of weeks I have been working on building and installing the arms that will support the rail bed on the big posts along the east fence. From the standpoint of the railroad, this is the southernmost section of the line - from Cornelia to the outskirts of Demorest, or about five miles. In the real world this will support the first 55 feet or so of track and structures.











This last photo shows the crossbeam that will support the rail beds in place. The carriage bolts allow exact adjustment of the the beam to correct height and to keep everything level. I expect this to be helpful as all of this wood ages out, with the inevitable twists and torques and warps.

The goal is to have all this in place and the track laid before the end of August so that we can be certain the track is at its maximum length when considering thermal expansion.