The world as we know it is still here, Our wallets may have suffered the only real apocalypse. Did you sneek a few hours away or were you involved in the Holiday shuffle? After commiting my Saturday to last minute shopping and wrapping of gifts, I figured I had all day Sunday to work on the layout. Sunday was good. I got the work shop cleaned up and the layout cleaned and ready for track work. I also replaced a plastic window in my spray booth that I had lost durring the last move. It was about this time Angela told me she had to go get the last Christmas gifts. Ok I thought, have fun. I'll stay here in the nice quiet house and work on the layout. 20 minutes later I was in the car and heading to the stores. Our girlfriends, wives seem to do that. So in the end, another weekend was devoted to Christmas and little was done to the layout. Hopefully next weekend we can resume to a more normal schedule. So how about you? Did your weekend involve track work or tracking down last minute gifts? Scenery or tree trimming? Whatever you did or not do, tell us about it. We'll do it all over again on Friday the 28th. Until then, please have a Happy and safe Christmas time. Enjoy the real gifts in life, our loved ones. Indulge in laughter, eat plenty, love much. Remember our Soldiers near and far. From DeLand Illinois, here is a High Green to you and yours... Merry Christmas!
D&RGW Genesis GP9! My accomplishment was buying the 5913... The big brown truck had just dropped them off at the Hobby Stop in Orem, Utah...and I paid my monies for her. I have another one behind the counter, waiting for a few more dollars...
We were up skiing the latter part of last week, so my "accomplishments" should include coming home with all body parts intact. We left a bit early so we came home in daylight, and Penny drove part of the way, so I got to look out the window. It's a true "Rail Fan" trip, as the St. Lawrence and Atlantic doesn't run trains on weekends, so all you get to see it the rails. Still, we drive alongside the right of way for quite a few miles, and I like seeing the old rail-served paper mills, along with a trestle with the tracks up on a high berm as they approach from either side. If I were to model a short line, that would be it. A couple of weeks back I did some ballasting, but when running trains I found I had issues with a couple of turnouts. I hadn't properly cleaned out the loose ballast, so that bit of maintenance got done over the weekend between putting up ornaments and brineing the holiday turkey. (For those not familiar with the concept, soaking a turkey in salt water overnight prior to cooking softens the meat and causes it to absorb moisture, counteracting the drying effect of baking and giving you a juicy bird for dinner. I added cardamom, cloves, allspice and some cayenne pepper to the brine to make it even tastier.)
