Visiting and Visitors

The Rose Gulch and Portland RR has been very silent lately. With the vacation season over I guess it is time to get back into the swing of things. This first entry of the new academic year will simply bring things up to date. Your friendly friar was able to enjoy a reasonably relaxing vacation which included the fourth of July in Seattle enjoying as much peace and quiet as on can with rockets going off not only in the public displays but all over the neighborhood as well. A wonderful party at my sister and brother-in-law and of course the hospitality of my brother Dominicans. A week in Wisconsin during a series of lightning storms was even more relaxing, not only because of the kind hospitality I received there, but because I had no formal "duties to perform" nor places I had to go. It helped that there were a couple of power glitches to slow things down a bit more. I came away ready to visit with the yard crew and together we headed to Carmel for a couple of very pleasant days indeed. Back to Seattle to attend the wedding of one of my nephews and then back to work ... three wonderful weeks of enjoyable activity and non-activity.

Shortly after the return home, the yard crew came visiting and made some suggestions, one of which may have involved narrow gage work which I declined. The Cotton Belt E-1 4-4-2 Atlantic came back from major surgery and it was discovered that the trailing truck (2) was not original equipment and was probably "borrowed" from something like a Tycho engine as it was not brass, but some sort of light pot metal. A replacement was ordered. Meanwhile the 4-4-2 is now sidelined. Turnouts were ordered for the start of a yard. It will not be a spectacularly huge yard, but should be able to hold most of the rolling stock. Peco turnouts are the preferred version at this time. As possible (time/finances) the atlas turnouts will all be replaced with Peco. When our economy settles down, I might even think of installing electric turnout controls. For now the finger method works just fine.

Details of the scenery are moving very slowly as I gather together things I think I might need. I have created the "gulch" of Rose Gulch and need to add turf, trees and, of course, roses. The mountain that will provide the "water" source for the gulch also needs to rise in the corner and cover the track, leading to the need to create tunnel portals and the supporting elements. As this is supposed to be fun, I feel no need to turn it into another job. I already have three, two of which are not money-makers in any way but still use up time. So you can see that this is going to be a long-term project. The next thing that might actually get finished might be the yard as I do want to clear the rest of the layout on random rolling stock. Then there is the steady repair of existing curves and track joints. This particular person has not always been careful in planning and execution of details. Rushing forward to something useable requires, all too often, a huge amount of back-tracking.

For now I wish you all a most wonderful beginning of the academic year. May the Holy Spirit guide and keep you close to that source of life and truth, Our Lord Jesus Christ, until we all meet in heaven to join in the eternal praise of teh Father.