East Tennessee & Western North Carolina RR ("The Tweetsie") branchline in On30

[p51]

I have WW2 Jeeps on the layout, I think at least 4 of them on the layout normally at any one time:







One is hidden in the trees in a far background; no visitors have noticed it yet. It's a 1/48 scale Ford GPW (yes, I CAN tell the difference between a Ford and a Willys Jeep even at a distance so long as I can see the front end well) with a Solido 1/50 scale CCKW GMC 2 1/2 ton truck.

Yes, I have a REAL one; a 1944 Willys MB:

This is why the Jeeps on my layout have to be correct, with proper markings for a stateside unit.
On Saturday, I took the MB out for the first drive around town since right before the pandemic started:

Just as the pandemic started rolling (with the first lockdowns and outbreaks occurring in my state), the Jeep's fuel pump had leaks and the battery had issues once I did it's annual 'spring check' before the show season, and never got back to it as all the shows and events to which I'd drive it were cancelled for a very long time.
I'm a second generation WW2 Jeep owner, as my Dad's first car was a 1942 Ford GPW. I have two snapshots of it. Grandpa sold it out form under Dad when Dad went into the USAF in the late 50s. I'd love to know if it still exists somewhere but the serial number is lost to the family.
Now, the question might be asked; I've developed a very detailed history for the fictional 796th Railway Operating Battalion on the layout, so why not put those markings on my Jeep? That thought HAS crossed my mind but I have decided to get new markings for the public relations section of the 12th Army Group HQ, which was responsible for the transportation of civilian war correspondents (another interest of mine) from the Hotel Scribe in Paris to any place in the European Theater of Operations which had something of note going on.
I'm also going to replace the hood markings with the serial number for the Jeep personally issued by 5th Army to cartoonist Bill Mauldin. That should happen at some point this summer before the show season ends.

[johnb]

so want to see you and some buddies driving through town in period correct uniforms with M1 Garands!

[p51]

so want to see you and some buddies driving through town in period correct uniforms with M1 Garands!

Here you go, but we're far off in this shot. We're all wearing the correct stuff at the time, my Jeep in the lead:

And others...

[p51]

I'll soon need to make sure everything is cleaned and dusted off where it needs it, as it'll be on the layout tours for the 2022 National Narrow Gauge Convention in September...

[p51]

I put together a ET&WNC coal train ready to roll on the layout last night and placed some extra ET&WNC cars on the Junction track.
[ Guests cannot view attachments ]
I also dusted everything.
It's as ready to go as it can be for the narrow gauge convention layout visit which goes from noon to four.
Beats me how many people will visit considering in the second furthest layout from the convention hotel and I don't think any of the other area layouts are showing today.
If anyone visiting today is a regular here, please let me know when I talk to you, as I probably won't recognize anyone by face...

[Dave V]

I put together a ET&WNC coal train ready to roll on the layout last night and placed some extra ET&WNC cars on the Junction track.
(Attachment Link)
I also dusted everything.
It's as ready to go as it can be for the narrow gauge convention layout visit which goes from noon to four.
Beats me how many people will visit considering in the second furthest layout from the convention hotel and I don't think any of the other area layouts are showing tomorrow.
If anyone visiting tomorrow is a regular here, please let me know when I talk to you, as I probably won't recognize anyone by face...

I'll be very interested to hear your experiences hosting tours for the NNGC, as my HOn3 RGS (and by extension the N scale Colorado Midland) will be on the convention tour for next year's NNGC when it's in Denver.

[p51]

Dave, it went pretty well.
My layout room is small so the only issue was people who REALLY didn't want to wait until the room wasn't filled.

[p51]

ET&WNC historian and author Johnny Graybeal, along with George Riley and Chris Lane from the On30 Annual just left after visiting the layout on an off day when I wasn't scheduled for tours for the narrow gauge convention in Tacoma.
Like I told them, I was just fine with them coming on an off day as I really wanted them to see the layout.
So glad I was available to accommodate them.
Real nice guys, too!

[p51]

The National Narrow Gauge Convention officially ended Sunday, but there were tours scheduled for me and a few other layouts yesterday morning. Once the last visitor left after 2PM yesterday, I was DONE and had a great time. The only thing I was slightly disappointed at was losing in the model photo competition to someone who submitted three D&RGW themed photos and took all three prizes, but I already knew that for many of the attendees of these conventions, it’s ALL about the Rio Grande stuff and nothing else.
As for my own tours, I set up a table at the front door, manned by my friend Robert Scott, the best qualified to talk about the layout aside from myself. I had a double-sided flyer about the layout for future reference:


Inside the room, I didn’t see one look of disappointment (I thought I would as I know many people want to just see the biggest layouts they can).


My tours were for Thursday and Monday (yes, Labor Day). The last day, I was asked to have tours the morning after the official event was over so that anyone driving south could swing by on the way home. Oddly, several of the visitors weren’t doing that and were instead heading back to Tacoma afterward.

Later at the end of the event, Chris gave me a suggestion for an article for the 2023 Annual, which I’m already working on!
More photos are here from the venue, including several of the contest entries here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/53587910@N05/albums/72177720301823993

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I'm so glad it went well!

It's scary letting randos into the inner sanctum. It's not just that they're invading, but they're seeing your artistic vision with no filter.

That's scary.

[p51]

It's scary letting randos into the inner sanctum. It's not just that they're invading, but they're seeing your artistic vision with no filter.

That's scary.

That's exactly how I felt about it.
I was really worried I'd be dealing with some messed up folks, and was really worried people would pick up/steal/break stuff on the layout, or spend all their time looking under the curtains (only one wanted to and he asked as he wanted to see how the Blue Points were hooked up. I was fine with showing him that as there's a spot next to where the power switches were that I didn't mind showing, but there's a lot of stuff stored under the layout that isn't expensive or embarrassing but I just don't want people looking).
Thankfully, the fears were unfounded.
Don't get me wrong, a couple of folks were a little sketchy (like the guy who just wouldn't leave for a while and of course that happened during the one lull I had that first day, my friend at the door said cheerfully, "So, where you going next?" and I thanked him for that as the guy took that as a cue to leave.
There were a couple of guys who I swear hit tours so they could have a captative audience to talk about how awesome their layouts were (ironically, both had mediocre layouts at best as they showed me photos). And there were a couple of times when the room was really filled and the next bunch barged their way in anyway.
I also didn't want anyone using the bathroom, but it didn't stop some.
But all in all, the negatives were very light and I had an overall great experience.

[p51]

Not long ago, a museum in NC completed restoration of one of the very few East Tennessee and Western North Carolina railroad boxcars, number 434: http://www.tarheelpress.com/etbox/
Today, one of guys who assisted just sent me a piece of siding from the boxcar. I can't get over that I now have a piece of a real ET&WNC freight car!

I am already in the process of scratch building a boxcar from a bag of older parts, so I'll be making it into 434 for this reason.
Now, I just need to figure out how I'm going to hang this piece on the wall.
Better still, I also have a piece of caboose 505 coming, from the external siding, from the guy who restored that for the Avery County museum at Newland, NC!

[davefoxx]

Dude, you’re totally going to have to name me in your Will.  😉

DFF

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Not long ago, a museum in NC completed restoration of one of the very few East Tennessee and Western North Carolina railroad boxcars, number 434: http://www.tarheelpress.com/etbox/
Today, one of guys who assisted just sent me a piece of siding from the boxcar. I can't get over that I now have a piece of a real ET&WNC freight car!

I am already in the process of scratch building a boxcar from a bag of older parts, so I'll be making it into 434 for this reason.
Now, I just need to figure out how I'm going to hang this piece on the wall.
Better still, I also have a piece of caboose 505 coming, from the external siding, from the guy who restored that for the Avery County museum at Newland, NC!

That's really f'ing cool!

[jargonlet]

There was a bridge that stood near Grant Town, WV that was destroyed in a flood back in the 1980's. My stepmom has part of one of the boards from the bridge. She painted the build date and the date it was destroyed on it and has hung it on their back porch. Might be something to do with yours.