An Alco 424 spots a car in front of Sleepy Eye Milling Company in Sleepy Eye, MN. I'm currently building a segment of this fascinating line in the shop. Walthers Greatland Sugar was used as the basis for the mill.
Running east to west from Winona, MN to Pierre, SD was CNW's famed "Alco Line". It drew its nickname from the unusually high percentage of Alco power pulling trains. Currently in the shop is a project modeling the section of the line between Waseca and Tracy Minnesota. The first segment of the layout is now complete and centers on the town of Sleepy Eye.
Here's an aerial view of Sleepy Eye today. (west is to the left)
The station is a Walthers kit. The namesake Sleepy Eye monument was scratch-built.
Facing east down the layout. Sleepy Eye Milling is in the distance, and the freight house is in the front. That's First Avenue crossing the tracks foreground.
Facing north down Second Avenue. Farmer's Elevator was scratch-built from three Walthers Valley Growers kits. The structure on the left was scratch-built using Walthers Williams Electric as a starting point.
Standing in front of the layout facing southwest. Farmers Elevator sits on a small bumpout extending out a few inches from the fascia.
Here's the design for the Sleepy Eye section of the layout. (Dimensions are 12' by 2')