The Winding River Project

[Battlecat]

Nice little teaser!  I'm liking the details around that culvert!  Looking forward to seeing the full update!

[NASCAR_Guy]

Besides I haven't seen any airplanes from the 50's or 60's anywhere. If you know where, please tell me so, maybe I could do something about it.

I'm sure that CRJ can pass off as a DC-9 . plus the default medium rang aircraft, is a Lockhed Constellation from the late 50s

The area (map) is called "Ganoga" (everything on the map) and the Nation is "Simland" (and beyond).

And where on the earth is Ganoga?

I will be posting an update as promissed this weekend.
Fred

[KoV Liberty]

Looking great already!

[lynncanox]

Don't panic,   I used my wife's name (lynncanox) to post this update, because I have problems with my name  to post something at the moment........It's still me, mrbisonm/Fred.



First thanks to those who have lurked and those who left a comment.

NASCAR_Guy , where can I find this CRJ you mention, do you have a linkie?
Ganoga is the marshland that dominates the eastern Winding River Region and it is somewhere in Simland, just fictious. But....there's a real place that is called Ganogalake in Pennsylvania (USA), an excellent fishing ground btw. (nothing to do with my Ganoga)
See the large region picture in the first link below to find Ganoga on the right (east)

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Sorry for being late, but the weekend was a little active with my family. We had some nice weather (Indian Summer we call it here in Canada) and we had a last BBQ outside before winter with my sons and friends.

May29th,1963

We haven't seen the whole region for awhile so, I uploaded the latest updated version of it to the link below. Best to be seen with a program like Irfanview to see the fullsized image. This image is 4000x1800 large and in png. Many details are shown here.

regionpicture
http://www4.zippyshare.com/v/98535451/file.html


In this update, just a little smaller than the last one, we will concentrate ouselves to Access Center only. First to see all the details of the town itself and then the surroundings, the farms, the dam and the airport. This is to get a good knowledge of this town, since the next two updates I will show more of Valmore, Phlox and Sterling, plus we will go back to Grasslake a little while.

We now have two independant official municipalities in the Winding River region, Access and Grasslake, which only lately got their townhall and Mayor (so to say). Most of the other counties are still under the managements of the greater townships they're in.

Access Junction once called is now Access Center as we now know it, and it has reached its 10,000+ inhabitants already. The town has outgrown many parts and services lately and the discussions during the counel meetings are quite intense on these several subjects during the last meetings. Here are some comments that can be heard by citizens of Access:

«««
Mr Paulis:- It is ridiculous how this town of 10K only has 2 firemen and 4 cops (police).
Mrs Mayer:- The townhall can't even hold 2 percent of the population during the monthly meetings, how do we know what goes on in there if we're piled up one on top of another?.
Mrs Dustin:- More than half of the town lives with dust, we can't even open our windows anymore, because most of the residential streets are gravelroads. How is that still possible in 1963?
Mr Danger:- Crossing the highway to get to the east part of the town has become a life endangering and threatening risk.
Mrs Kidpiler:- We have kids sitting on top of others just to get them into a classroom at the elementary school.
Mrs Alsick:- When the Doctor is out fishing, who takes care of the emergencies? A more steady health clinic is needed, more doctors, if possible one or two who don't go fishing or golfing.
Mr Skule:- Highschool kids still have to go to the next town and drive 40 minutes every day twice. Can't we build a Highschool in Access?.
Mr Alkolic:- Restaurants and restaurants all over the place and no place to take a beer quietly. Has Access never heard of Bars and Taverns?
Mr Wanstono:- I have been wrestling for the last three months with other people to get just one copy of the local newspaper, we need a bigger Press.
Mr Gulff- The mayor doesn't play golf and it shows, no golfcourse in Access, I have to travel for almost an hour to play golf.»»»»

...and so on, only to mention a few. But then on the other hand, quite a few good things happend to Access. Electricity is now more than plentiful now and the water is not cabbage smelling anymore, but clear,cold and fresh. Access has its first local town to town public bus-service. And the unemployment in Access is almost zero, not counting Mr and Mrs Lasipum If you live in Access and don't have a job, it is simply because you don't want to work. They're even planning to extend the industrial park.

To make a story short, Access is like most of the towns we know, it can't satify everyone living there. Organizing a town is serious business and most of it has to be balanced out to offer the best services with the finances available.
The first picture is to get a good look of the downtown area of Access with its highway 35 going right through the town. Right there we can see that the town has grown a lot since the last time we came to visit it. Now with the shopping center as the new main attraction, the commercial center of the town is spreading into the residencial areas.

pic1


Here is a closer look of the mainstreet with its church as the center. People now this part the "Old Downtown" ever since the shopping mall arrived.

pic2


In my last update I mentioned that they were planning a new industrial park, well already the access roads were build, now the comitee is giving the farmers the chance to harvest their last crops on these lands, before the bulldozers move in and flatten it out for the constructions of the new industries.

pic3


Where once the drinking water came from has now changed into a small park for relaxation. Although several demands were to fill it up and build new houses on top, the majority of the counsel voted for a park. The watertower was torn down and the pumping house destroyed. In the future there will be some paths that will surround the pond.

pic4


It was on May 15th, when Miss Barby White officially opened her Restaurant and exterior Weingarten. This is the first chic Restaurant in Access Center. The Olsen pub which is just across the street is still running smoothly ever since Olsen's daughter took over.As we know Mr Olsen is in prison for many years to come. Besides Miss White doesn't mind the competition since she is planning to open another hotel nearby the lake of Valmore by next year. Another service for the tourists who increase their visits to the Winding River region every year.

pic5


The owner of the Access Tribune is planning to increase his supply of newspaper by moving soon to another location with a bigger building for more working space and with better and bigger printing presses. He and his crew of 4 can only supply so much at the moment with the space available and it is true that getting a copy is a chance that not everyone gets every week.
Also the townhall just behind the Access Tribune is getting too small, no doubt. Built only seven years ago, it will be torn down next year to give place for a bigger building. Some of the neighbor houses were bought to satisfy the area it will need.

pic6


Tom Kohler finally did it. He bought Lucy's Gasstation, completely renovated it and build a small addition as a busstation where the workers of the sawmill will meet to get a ride to their work and back home every morning and night. The busses also stop in Valmore south to pick up workers from there. In the back of the gasstation, Kohler built a Garage for the maintenance of the busses. He still has his taxi though as we can see it parked nearby. Now Tom owns 6 busses and has extended one bus now for the public transport to exterior places down to Sandom. Probably before fall he will add two more busses, one more for the sawmill run and another one for the external run, maybe to the north to Frampton. The hangar in the back of his Garage belongs to Sterling Industries of which right now I don't know much about. It was built about the same time as the busgarage.

pic7


Much welcomed by the Residents of oakstreet, another road is built to exit faster from the residential area of the east part of the town to the highway. Less welcomed was the construction of the big warehouse that belongs to the Sterling Industries from Frampton.

pic8


Since last fall appartmentblocks have made it to Access Center and more and more are build. This below is the west part of town, the part that leads to the Plateau area of Access High, which we will soon be visiting in another update. A little older than the southpart of Access, the Mayor thinks of upgrading this area to a higher stage. Here the streets are of asphalt, which is not the case elsewhere in Access. Also, two well known people of our story live somewhere here, Alex Puto, our Engineer of Highway 35 and Tom Kohler, the Busman. I don't have their addresses yet but when I will find out, I'll let you know.

pic9


The residential part of the southwest finally got their playground, a baseball field long awaited for. Here live Mayor Steven Bartlett, the Bake n'Sale owner Nethaniel Wellington and the parents of Riichirou Takahaschi, the civil engineer who designed this part of town also,his first official contract in Access btw. Some streets are still on gravel, which hopefully will change as the Mayor promisses to make radical and positive changes in this part in the next year.

pic10


Btw.....while we're in the middle of our little story. Did anyone remark or realize that there is a giant reptile in one of the pictures of my last update? No one has yet commented about, how come? Need glasses? lol

Ok, back to the story. As we know, Access is building houses faster than roads and streets and in this extreme south of the town, close to the airport and the Hydrodam, it is quite evident. Houses are "born" almost every 3 to 5 days and with all the heavy truck and construction traffic and sandyroads, the dust rises into the air. On still days with no wind, the dust stays in the neighborhood and people start to find it very irregating to breathe this sandy and dusty air. Some say that they cannot even see their neighbor in the late afternoon anymore wondering what the neighbors are up to, while others told that the sand gets even into their meals all the time, a good source of calcium though. This has to stop, no doubt. Calcium pills are now available in the drugstore, they say.

pic 11


««"The first serious accident in Access Center was a total disaster in my opinion" announced Mayor Bartlett in his counsel meeting the next day," this is the first and last time that something like this happens in my town. Where were the police and the firemen? It took them more than half an hour to be be informed and get here. Maybe the next time it will be much worse. Glad that no one was killed or seriously hurt, but let's take this as a serious warning that things need to be taken care of in Access and let's make some changes on that part of the street that has become an out of control public danger. Also let's get a new firestation with a 24 hr Emergency crew by the end of the year and not only firemen that are always gone fishing catfish. I don't care what it will cost us, even if we have to increase the taxes a little bit. That really scared the hell out of me this time!!" »»
Bartlett couldn't be more serious than this because he was part of the accident, gotten hit by one of the fueltrucks.
Six vehicules were involved in this accident where a trafficlight should absolutely be installed as soon as possible. Only two people were more or less hurt and treated by the local health clinic, but just imagine if one or both of the tankertrucks carrying high flammable fuel would have exploded in that crash,......oh my..... surely a big junk of the neighborhood including the shopping Center would have moved out of town. The news of this accident spred as far with the regional news as Frampton, Bluebay and Beecher Falls.

pic12


The whole area behind and beside the shopping mall is a little stuck with too much traffic and has to be either organized better or totally redesigned. It is time to put this in the hands of a well known Civil engineer of Access, Mr Riichirou Takahaschi, Mayor Bartlett suggested.
It is here that the first public busstation made its appearance. Owned partially by the municipality and Tom Kohler from the newly founded Kohler Buslines, this is surely not the last of the public transportation system that the town and Kohler want to improve. This first busstop that offers a connection with the town of Sandom and Access was very much appreciated by the westside population.

pic13


This is the new commercial center of Access Center as we have seen it in my last update on the prevoius page. Ever since the Slye sawmill moved out and the shopping mall was built, commerces have either be started here or moved here from other towns outside the Winding River Region. The first Bank in Access is owned by the big finance coporation of Frampton, which Mr Sterling owns. just like Sterling Industries. Mr Rundi Sterling, a Native (aboriginal) from these regions, bought almost half of the Phlox county last year, including the Stoke mountainchain, buying back what once belonged to his ancestors, as he says.
Two Motels now offer different quality stays in Access for newcomers or visitors. One with and one without fleas. An Italian cook from Sandom couldn't resist to take the opportunity to open a Pizzeria here and a business woman from Lakestead had built herself her second Hotel and a first in Access. Then an older fellow from Access wanted to spend his retirement by selling Glassware, everything from cooking ware to mirrors. Need something out of glass, come see Willy.

pic14


Then old downtown, as some call it now, has received a Dentistgroup from a town far away. Having heard about the new and heavy growth of Access, three dentists moved to Access to live their future plans and to be the first in the region. The dental care office was very welcomed by the population, no needed to travel to Sandom before to handle the serious and not so serious toothpains.
Also in this specific area of the town is the elementary school that has become totally overcrowded, with kids of course. The National Minister of Education has planned to build a bigger and better school somewhere else in the town and they are looking for an ideal spot at this very moment. With many complaints of a missing Highschool, the Ministry is also making plans to build a whole schooling complex, now that the town has more than 10-thousand habitants and probably more than 12-thousand by the end of the year.
Bake n' Sale, owned by Nethaniel Wellington is in discussion with the Counsel to find a suitable place to build a bigger store in Access. Clubfoods wants to expand and take control of the town before someone else does. Mr Wellington has another plan that some are mumbeling about, but nothing is yet confirmed. Is he into the Real Estate also? His red Appartment block has almost become a landmark in Access since it was built on the same spot where his older appartment burnt down during renovation. It is photographed by the tourists and known as the "red appartmentbox".

pic15


Now let's travel a few miles to the south right into the hills and visit the newly finished Hydrodam of the Lakestead Hydro Company. This is an overall view of the area, showing the salmonrun creek, the waterpump and the hydrodam that supplies the power to the whole region. Open to the public, these installations are unique to the region, the first and the only underground salmon ladder in the whole country. Visitors can see how the drinking waters for Access Center and Valmore are being pumped and filtered, they can visit the turbines that produce the electricity and see the salmons underground in an Aquarium like tunnel and above ground in a little creek that was created not only for the interested and curious, but also for science and biological benefits.

pic16



The new watersystem of Access is the most advanced one in the country now. For the first time in Simland's history, the idea to filter water through a giant fiberfilter before offering it to the public, was imported from Europe. The pumps are pumping the water through the filtering station and through several fiberfilters layered side by side and then is redirected into the mainpipeline that leads down to the town a few kilometers away. The water is clean, pure and of the highest quality. This is the best technology the 60'has to offer.

pic17


The northsalmon has been spawning in this pond or lake ever since they exist. Building the dam has the spawningrun cut off. It was then decided by the National Park Service and Ministry of Natural Ressources that a salmonrun ladder was to be implanted for the fish to be able to continue their run to their favourite spawning site a little higher on the pond. The ladder was built underground, artifically lit, and sometimes in extreme large Glasspipes visible to the public in undreground tunnels into the above ground pool seen partially on the right side in the picture below, then they take the creek that leads back into the pond a little further up. The creek is under the skylights and you can visit and see the salmons going upstream. The whole was made in a park, where visitors and biologists can observe the details of the run. The underground ladder part is on the right side of the dam itself and partially under the public parking near the parkarea. An expensive 2.- Simoleons is to be paid to see the dam, turbines, waterpumpingsystems and the salmons, which will finance the Salmonrun Program. Funds go to the  "Winding River Conservation Society" which was founded only before the dam was planned, right here in Access Center.

pic18


Having avoided most of the agricultural area, the powerlines from the dam run north beside the town of Access Center and Valmore South and North right into the Phlox county, where the electricity is soon needed by the Slye Sawmill Company and new homes around the area. This is a very costly project, which the Hydropower Company from Lakestead fully absorbs in hope for a futuristic profit one day.

pic19


There was no go around possibility for the airport to fully function without the costly construction of the runway. Some flightcompanies have refused to land in Access for the reason that the runway is way too short to be called safe. The town knew the problem since the airport was bought from Mr Racsan, but it was constructed for smaller planes and not for the giant ones that are now flying everywhere over Simland. So the town has decided to increase the runway's length by more than 40% by adding more space on both ends. It will take a full year to be finalized. How it will be financed is yet not known by the general public.

pic20


That's it again, hope you all enjoyed it and got to know Access Center a little better. I will be back in a week or so for another update. The next time we will see what is new in Phlox and Grasslake, and also see some new counties, like the Stoke mountains and the Stoke flats, where Highway 35 is about to reach the next bridgebuilding project over the Winding River for the last time before exiting the Region.

I am still looking for new characters, if interested pm me with the details.(name, history, future plans etc)

If you like this update, well leave a comment, if you don't, hey I want to know why, so you better leave a comment also. Thanks.

Fred

[KoV Liberty]

Very cool update Fred! Btw, I think I did see a dinosar bone. Idk, though.

[danielcote]

This has been a truely great update! So much has happened in acces its great! I love all the new appartments in downtown and I see a bright future for this town. 

Also when are you going to do replies? they're piling up. 

[RustyXL]

Wow, these past couple of updates have been awesome! That A380 was a bit out of place though, but your right that there arent too many planes from that era for SC4. The only plane I know of from that era is my Boeing 727. Its nice to see that the bus system is working out well. I'm looking forward to seeing the next update.

[lynncanox]

Yes , it's still me Fred, with my wife's account, still haven't found out why I can't post anything anymore. Maybe my browser my son thinks. I have a friend, a real computer expert, come tomorrow to fix this.

Very cool update Fred! Btw, I think I did see a dinosar bone. Idk, though.

So where did you see that dinosaur bone? The pictures have numbers, just above the image, just tell me which number.


Daniel côté, what do you mean by *doing the replies*? Glad you liked that update.

Thanks RustyXL, do you have a link for that Boeing 727?

Thanks folks
Fred

[JoeST]

I think Danielcote means reply to the replies...

and WOW!!!

looking fantastic, as always

Joe

[mrbisonm]

reply to the replies...

I still don't understand, replying what to what replies? Am I missing something here?.....

Fred

btw, got my browser fixed by downloading the newest version of IE.

[Battlecat]

Coming along very nicely.  That dam turned out pretty cool, and I like how you're laying out the roads for the industrial park. 

[rooker1]

It gives me great pleasure mrB to move your MD to the "Classics Section".  Here's to another 500 plus posts. 

Robin 

[mrbisonm]

Thanks Battlecat, glad you like the dam.
Wow, already in the Classics, this is great! Thanks rooker1.

[KoV Liberty]

Okay, maybe pic 26?

[just_a_guy]

I couldn't find you're MD today for some odd reason but then it came to me to check the classics section and there you are. Congradulations! You really deserve it.

[mrbisonm]

Driftmaster07, well pic26 it is! It is supposed to be a kind of an Alligator or Croco, I know bad fotoshopping.......I'll do better next time.

just_a_guy, thanks and glad you found it....lol

I will have a very small update later this week. The surveyors found something in Phlox while planning the powerlines through the forests.......................
too important to let it wait.

Fred

[KoV Liberty]

I think it was pretty good actually. I read about one croc with like a long snout or something and it was really something to fear!

[mrbisonm]

Well, here is a small update as promissed.

««" John," Mike Allheimer said to his boss John Gabber in the usual Friday afternoon meeting at the Olsen Pub, "did you hear about what's going on in Phlox this morning? They said everything is blocked and the army has a checkpoint there."
John: " This morning I went to Phlox to have an early breakfast with Slye at his Cantina and everything was ok, but when I got back, the road was blocked and I had to go through a checkpoint to get through. The army was there, the sherrif too and believe it or not, even the federal police."
Mike," Wow, do you know what this is all about?"
John, " nah, I only have some doubts. I talked to one of the roadworkers there after the roadblock and he told me that the Hydroline surveyors found some weird structures and two skelletons nearby."
Mike, "Don't tell me they finally found the two missing bridgeworkers from last year?"
John, " Not sure, but its kinda strange that he told me they found some sort of strange structures at the same place. .....and why all these military folks?"
Mike, " I don't know, but something fishy's going on there for sure. You said the surveyors found the bodies near some structures, how?"
John, " Yeah, you know they're about to build the powerline from the Access dam down to Slye's sawmill and the line goes right nearby the access road in Phlox county, west river district. These guys probably just marked where the new line is going to be and found the two corpses or skelletons. "
Mike, "I'm sure that there will be a serious investigation going on."
John, " I guess so, but I'm still a little confused what the army has to do with this, and why block the road like this? There's more I think"»»

The conversation between the two went on for an hour and at the exit of the Olsen Pub, they met Richard from the Access Tribune. Richard didn't hear anything about this yet, but somehow got exited and started asking all kinds of questions.

The next day Mike and John met again for breakfast, this time in Bluebay and both had more detailed news about this event in Phlox.
It wasn't the surveyors that found the corpses, but the workers that build the powerline. The two corpses only left with scattered bones were found near some skull-like rockstructures right in the middle of nowhere. John's and Mike's secret of the skull is now not a secret anymore and the government has its hands on it. The whole area is locked off for public access. John and Mike don't know what to do with their secret now, searching for help with Grandpa Henry, John's father.

More tomorrow........





.......and just so you know exactly where this is happening............



Fred

[threestooges]

Wow Fred, nice work. I hadn't realized progress was clipping along so quickly again. I've been a bit preoccupied, but I'm going to have a run through the last page or so and catch up. I can see the lumber company has grown significantly, and is now playing with the rails and rivers a bit. I like where things are going. Also, TS's house and logging office are great choices (particularly the office, the wood siding is a nice touch, heh heh). I'll leave a more detailed comment once I've caught up here. Great stuff.
-Matt

[KoV Liberty]

Cool little teaser there! Could the bodies be of the two workers who went missing? Or are they the skull people's bodies. I couldn't tell.