Columbus Day weekend is finally here! I took some extra days off to make for a nice long weekend to work on my layout. So far so good… My oldest kid and I have been working all day on the layout room doing some prep work I’ve been putting off-- moving a couple of pipes and building a wall around the sump-pump area. Tomorrow my goal is to finish up the layout-related (mains) wiring, getting everything ready for the layout lighting, re-doing some of the overhead lighting, and relocating existing wiring so that switches and stuff will be more accessible. Then, if my luck holds out I have a little bit of drywall patching to do and then I’ll be ready to go on the layout. I’ve torn out my temporary layout and I’ve rearranged the benchwork a bit to get a more organic and flowing feel to the layout. As I contemplated everything I figured it was probably a better idea to go ahead and make sure that all of little “layout room” projects were done so that I wouldn’t have to do it over top of the layout later on. As I’ve been working sawing pipes and boards and building walls, I’ve been wondering what everyone else is going to do with their time this weekend…
So, My Question for Today Is:
– What layout / model-railroading stuff are you planning to get done this weekend?
Well it’s Thanksgiving up here in the Great White North. Sunday, Monday are write offs as the house will be full of friends and family for thanksgiving. Also Monday I’m taking my son and three of his friends to the Canucks game against the Florida Panthers. Saturday is train day and I hope to get more of the landscape done on part of my “Alberta” section. Mountains and rolling Ranch/Farm land are in the works. I might get the kids making trees if all works out. Have a great long holiday weekend everyone.
COLUMBUS day? About the only place around here that celebrates that day is San Francisco, about 100 miles to the west, and a three-hour drive even on a GOOD day, LOL!
Now, if we were to have a Lief Erickson day instead, when the Vikings landed in Greenland (which I believe is a little north of Boston,LOL,), I’d get out my gear, put a little Viking helmet on my Norwegian Forest Cat “Uff-Dah”, rent a rowboat and go out and raid the shipping on Lake Natomas, LOL! [:P]
But as it is, this weekend is Homecoming at the high school at which I teach, so I’m foregoing much work on the model railroad, donning my Pirate Costume (GO, JESUIT MARAUDERS!!![8o|]) and acting like a Total Testosterone Idiot at the football game.
No holiday weekend here. I am in grad school. For every Monday, I have to read a 250 or so page book on historical theory of popular culture and write a book review analyzing the author’s thesis, arguments, evidence, strengths and weaknesses, so that occupies every Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Except I take a little time off for Philosophy Friday.
I have a “directed independent study” which is actually my donation of a couple thousand photographs taken over a 50 year period to a South Texas regional historical archive in Corpus Christi. About 30 to 40 percent of the photos are railroad, or industry and achitectural items I documented for possible modeling. I spend Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday putting together bundles of organized materials. I need to track down identifications, dates, etc. Lots of research in Sanborn’s maps, old city directories, Google earth etc to ascertain locations, owners and occupants of places which was not part of my modeling notes.
Have had to put off work on the layout until probably Christmas break, and pull stuff out from storage under and around the layout, disrupting it somewhat in addition to neglecting it.
I found photos of Union Pacific’s corporate train visiting Corpus Christi in 1995 behind E9s. Went through the picture set to identify specific cars and write a caption about their heritage and/or use. Discovered several cars are on the “Missouri Eagle” steam excursion running this week. Sorry, I don’t have these pictures uploaded to railimages where I can show them. In fact, I have turned the photos and negatives over to the archive already.
I am documenting pictures of a collection of historical railcars that were in Corpus Christi from 1969 through 1983 and subsequently moved to Galveston when suitable exhibition could not be financed here. I turned the historical society’s written records over to the archive six years ago, and went back t
Well that is an easy one that doesn’t require any philosophy thought at all. I am going to mow the grass around the layout building. All two acres of it. The hard part is that it is 450 miles away, so takes 14 hours of the weekend just for the commute.
I’m in the moving-the-layout mode this weekend. I sold my house, so I’m packing up. I decided not to start over from scratch, so I’ve dismantled it into two sections and the layout is coming with me to the new house.
I’m finishing up moving some sections of the upper level down to the right. This means inserting a new module at the left and a short section on the right end. Moving them was required because the main operating position for the upper level was right above my main yard on the lower level. By moving them, there will not be an operator conflict anymore.
Columbus Day marks the beginning of the end of layout season for me. No, I’m not upside-down in Australia, with summer approaching. I’m a skier, and so are my wife and daughter. I’m typing this from Sunday River in Maine. No, there is no snow yet, but this is the Fall Festival weekend, and the mountain has already fired up the snow guns and is hoping for cold temperatures tonight to help them begin laying down a base.
Those Vikings? Well, I saw a couple. In fact, one was carrying his significant other in the annual North American Wife-Carrying contest. This helmet-clad contestant had his lady upside-down on his back, with her legs wrapped around his neck and her arms clutching his waist, as he ran through an obstacle course which had a steep hill to start, followed by a log hurdle, a 30-foot run through knee-deep water, and a short sand hill. The first-place entrants got 5 times the wife’s weight in dollars, and the first and second places each got their wife’s weight in beer.
I’ve still got a few more weeks before ski season starts and the trains take a back seat. I’m building structures right now, trying to finish up the commercial district on Beaver Street. After that, I’ll probably start on the swamp, where those beavers have built a dam.
Well, I started working on some ATSF ExactRail grain cars I managed to find thanks to a certain dealer. That consists of renumbering and then some dirty stuff. Got a thing this evening, then church tomorrow with some hospital calls following. Monday looks quiet now, but I know better. I just haven’t been told yet. pretty much it.
Business is still booming for me. Monday will bee just another day at theshop since I’m not a teacher or banker. If I do anything for the layout I may go pick up a table saw. If work keep up this pace I may not get to do anyhting on the layout untill the big holidays!
Course by then money may be tight but aleast I have the materials already. But the wife wants her truck fixed so who knows.
Being the last project on the list is a major pain.
Headed to northern Michigan to take in the color, drink a little wine, eat some good food, and just enjoy what promises to be some beautiful fall weather. It’s way too nice to be in the basement.