This is exciting!

I'm sure some of you are thinking, "It's just a turnout in the furnace room. What's the big deal?"
Well the big deal is that this is the turnout for the Pinedale branch and the last bit of of track and benchwork required for this layout.
I took the time on the weekend and built the last bits of benchwork for this branch.

Space is tight between the furnace and the water heater, but I managed to squeeze in there. And I did plan ahead and there's a removable bit should the water heater ever have to come out.

We have this bit of narrow benchwork before we got to the actual peninsula.

On this peninsula will be an important customer on the branch, The California Cotton CO-OP  better known as CAL-COT. From what I've been able to determine large amounts of baled cotton was shipped out of this facility.
And it was quite a large facility in it's day, as can be seen in this wartime era photo;

 The CAL-COT buildings are the ones at an angle to the camera. As a matter of historical interest, the buildings closest to the camera are barracks. Built as temporary holding facilities for Japanese Americans before they were shipped inland to internment camps.
I've been very fortunate in getting a large number of photos of the buildings from a Jeff Johnston is is modeling the same buildings in a different era. Early in the 20th century the buildings were built to be the sawmills for  Sugar Pine Lumber Co.
Here's a view of the exterior of the planing mill;

Big, long, sprawling buildings.
And here's another fun fact I was recently told.
One of these buildings was the first home of Cal-Scale. Cool, no?



Now all I need is half a sheet of Homasote, however due to Covid 19 , the supplier is closed for the duration.