Weekend Update 8/27/23

[up1950s]

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/carnegie-railroads/

https://www.rjcorman.com/

https://www.thoughtco.com/effect-of-railroads-on-the-united-states-104724

https://americanhistory.si.edu/america-on-the-move/lives-railroad

https://www.aar.org/chronology-of-americas-freight-railroads/

http://wsrr.org/ws/

http://bridgestunnels.com/location/henderson-railroad-bridge/

[peteski]

Hey Richie, how are you healing?

[basementcalling]

Looks like Kudzu. Calling Dr. Hot Ballz.

Ritchie, hope you are healing up. 

[up1950s]

Thanks , guys . Healing ok enough to drive , mow , and go up and down stairs with mild pain and every lessening limp . Not bad for so soon .

[DiggerDownUnder]

Ritchie.  Greeting from the Land Down Under ( not to be confused with our two Far Eastern States) glad you are on the road to recovery and you are out and about. I still have 3 weeks before I am allowed to drive following an op to remove a Grade 4 Metastatic Melanoma from the brain. No pain from the op just was not allowed to drive for 3 months.

All the bestj

[C855B]

Thanks , guys . Healing ok enough to drive , mow , ...

Weren't you able to get a doctor's note so you could beg off on the mowing?   

[John]

Ritchie.  Greeting from the Land Down Under ( not to be confused with our two Far Eastern States) glad you are on the road to recovery and you are out and about. I still have 3 weeks before I am allowed to drive following an op to remove a Grade 4 Metastatic Melanoma from the brain. No pain from the op just was not allowed to drive for 3 months.

All the bestj

Wow .. hope you get well soon and that they got it all .. thats nothing to sneeze at.  Did it spread from an untreated skin cancer?  In the 70s, I spent a year on Diego Garcia - that sun down under can be brutal ..

[bbussey]

With my basement water problem seemingly resolved, I’m getting back into the mindset of moving forward on the layout. Worked on the initial weathering of the Shaw’s Cove structures. The abutments need more sealant before applying more weathering.

[dougnelson]

My article on the L&N baggage car is in the new Railroad Model Craftsman issue (September 2023).

[towl1996]

Working on the Keystone Detail's PRR H21D conversion kit. The kit is very well designed and those latch holes are pushing the limits! Going to be a cool car. Great kit @Lemosteam!

[Tjack757]

Working on the gravel quarry.
I started the basic plaster work over the foam base and gave it a coat of paint. I also started the Walthers Glacier Gravel company kit, which is going to require a lot of weathering. I also built a Railway Express 100 Ton Lectra Haul Mine Truck.
[ Guests cannot view attachments ]

[Lemosteam]

Working on the Keystone Detail's PRR H21D conversion kit. The kit is very well designed and those latch holes are pushing the limits! Going to be a cool car. Great kit @Lemosteam!

Looking good! I hope the drill worked well, and that the instructions are clear.

The decals are from Australia thanks @Teditor . Can’t wait to see it finished.

Did you purchase a shell from Bowser?

Soon I will have an interior brace kit for your empties!

[DiggerDownUnder]

@ John. I had a Melanoma removed from my left elbow in 2016 that was a nasty one. This one came by fluke. I had an appointment with an ENT on a Friday when a Lymph Node in my neck became swollen. On Tue a MRI with a recall to the ENT 1200 next day followed by a PET scan on Fri and a visit to a Neurologist that afternoon. Oncology had me booked in for a Lung Puncture Biopsy for two weeks later. Woke up on Monday and could not move my right arm without help. Of to the docs on Wed and admitted to Hosp that afternoon for more tests, suspected stroke, turns out the small cancer on the LHS ofmy brain had grown so 30mm piece of skull removed, 25 x 3mm lesion removed and the piece replaced and pinned. This lesion was sitting on the nerves that control movement on the RHS. I have regained approx 95% of movement on the RHS that at least lets me do some modelling but not much as we were smack in the middle of Winter.

The big thing with this was no symptoms in the preceding 6 months that would indicate the potential of a serious disorder. This is possibly due to my 40+ years of service in the Army Reserve.

[Dayliner]

Continuing to prepare for an upcoming invitational ops meet, BCR 570 and a few other friends came over this morning to put the layout through its paces.  The layout continues to perform well, and the chief learning for me was the importance of the operator/layout interface, particularly for people unfamiliar with the layout.  I can always do a better job of teaching and presentation, and this is the continuing challenge of model railroad ops!

Part of the fun is "real-time" interchange with BCR 570's layout, replicating actual traffic between Dawson Creek and Vancouver Island in the 1970s.  Top Shelf Feeds, in Duncan, received grain in 40-ft BCR boxcars.  Here, the twice-weekly "Mill Turn" shoves into the feed mill.  The PGE and BCOL cars left Dawson Creek on Tim's layout the previous evening.

[BCR 570]

Some of us have a triple header this weekend with an op session on my layout last night, another on Michael (Dayliner)'s this morning, and Gary Hinshaw's tomorrow evening.  As Michael mentioned, these are warm-up sessions for Vanrail in September.

My sessions start with the arrival of the Vancouver-Peace freight in Chetwynd at 2:00 A.M.:




As mentioned in the previous post, two boxcars of wheat at Dawson Creek were destined for Top Shelf Feeds in Duncan on Michael's layout.  Here they are awaiting pick-up:






Michael started as dispatcher for my session and this was a trial in the walk-in closet, where I hope to locate my dispatcher's desk in due course:




The summer yard job at Dawson Creek collects the two grain cars for Duncan:




The Dawson Creek Switcher is seen on its way to Dawson Creek, and will bring the boxcars east to Chetwynd on its return trip:




Tim