New RR Cars Bring Building Supplies to Galville

Thanks to additional railroad cars from my brother-in-law and sister, additional building supplies have been brought to Galville.
The bikers sit on their cycles and watch the supply train go by the Two Wheel Saloon. One looks a little like mark. I wonder if Kristin is inside buying beer.

The train rounds the bend near the saloon.

Over on Sumner Mountain, the Galville Utility District has constructed a water tower. Completion is expected shortly.

The Spaghetti Palace is nearing completion.

Andrew and Kim's New House

Andrew and Kim moved into a new house in Apex, NC, a bedroom community of Raleigh. The house has kitchen, living room/dining area, 4 bedrooms, 3 baths, and 2 large rooms (one for her pottery making and one for his "man cave"). This is the front of the house,

Lots and lots of boxes. They had many friends and family members helping them move all their stuff.

Kim cleaning the kitchen cupboards. The house was a foreclosure and had been empty since July. Thus it needed a lot of deep cleaning in the kitchens and baths. They replaced the carpet in all the bedrooms and painted them also. It took 2 coats of paint in each room, making for a long week-end of painting.

The large shed in the back yard. It came with a new bicycle.

Thew swimming pool. I can't wait for summer time.

The back of the house with the deck off the kitchen.

Two Wheel Saloon is OPEN!!!

The Two Wheel Saloon recently opened in Galville. Now there is a place to eat, drink, and make merry. The mayor and some of his friends stopped by the other night a cool one after the city council meeting.
The left side of the saloon is decorated with an American eagle poster as well as a harley Davidson poster.

The right side has a Harley poster as well as one for Koehler's Beer. That must be an old poster since Koehler's Beer went out of business about 20 years ago. The brewery in Erie, PA was recently torn down.

University of Michigan Solar Car Team

The University of Michigan Solar car Team is racing in the Global Green Challenge Race in Australia. Here is a picture of Infinium and the crew. This is a solar powered car than can achieve 110 KM/hour.

Checkout the daily results of the race at http://solarcar.engin.umich.edu/

HIghway Construction Complete

More of the government's stimulus package has been put to good use in Galville. The city road structure has been repaired and new concrete roads have been laid throughout the city. The Mayor took his Shelby Cobra out to check out the roads.

here the mayor is waiting for the 3:20 freight train to pass at the Swift Street crossing. The train is headed for a siding in Galville to offload the first of several train loads of building supplies. Rumor has it that construction on the Two Wheel Saloon will start shortly.

the train continues to pass along the main line of the Cumberland Railroad.

Here is an aerial view of the street of Galville.

The city has started construction of a gazebo for the city park along Dickens Lane. Another good rumor is that the barber shop quartet, Clear Choice, from Kent, Ohio will be the opening show at the dedication of the gazebo and park.

Stimulus Package Arrives in Galville

The highway construction stimulus package has arrived in Galville. The road crews have laid new asphalt and finished striping the roads in the industrial park. I took out my Shelby Cobra to check out the new roads.

here I am at the intersection of Greenwood Street and Underwood Avenue. The street signs are not up yet but there was no other traffic so I had a safe drive.

here I am cruising down Oak Ridge Road.

The last leg was to check out Tillis Road.

On to Seattle

We left Yellowstone National Park via the West Entrance and had to travel over Montana state roads to get to Interstate 90 and on to Seattle. Rounding a curve on Montana State Road 2 I had to come to a sudden stop because the was about 100 head of cattle being driven down the highway. We followed behind the herd for awhile (needed a car wash in Spokane ,our stop for the night.) We had to pull over into a gas station and let the herd clear the highway.

The herd was being driven by 7 cowboys/cowgirls and 2 dogs.

One of the cows broke away from the herd and came back towards our car. Quickly a cowboy turned around and rounded up the stray dogie and returned him to the herd.

We left Yellowstone National Park via the West Entrance and had to travel on some Montana roads to get to Interstate 90. Rounding a turn On Montana State Road 2 I had to come to a sudden stop. There in font of us was about 100 head of cattle being driven done the road. There were 7 cowboys/cowgirls and 2 dogs herding them along. We trailed behind the herd for a while (needed a car wash in Seattle) and then were able to pull into a gas station for awhile to let the herd clear the highway.

Stop Three - Yellowstone National Park

We entered Yellowstone National Park at the east entrance. We were headed for Grant Village on the shore of Yellowstone Lake. We stayed here for 2 nights. It took almost 2 hours from the east entrance to the lodge at Grant Village. Along the way we saw the effects of various wild fires in the park. Square miles of destroyed trees with various stages of new growth emerging.

While taking a walk around the geyser basin at Old Faithful, we came across a herd of bison. There were 7 bison including several calves.

This is the Grand Geyser. It was bubbling over but did not erupt while we were there.

This is the head bison watching over his herd.

This is the Morning Glory pool. It got its name from the vivid colors of the pool.

Finally Old Faithful erupting right on schedule.

Second Stop - South Dakota

After a long drive, we stopped in Wall, SD, home of the Wall Drug Store. We toured the store area and ate at the Drug Store. On Monday we drove through the Badlands. Beautiful scenery!!!
This a typical view of the Badlands, barren rock and steep slopes. The power of wind and water erosion is amazing.

As we were driving through the Badlands, we saw these flowers all along the road. We thought they were Black Eyed Susans. But after a trip to the visitor center we learned they are small sunflowers. After touring the Badlands, we continued on to Mt. Rushmore.

I had been here when I was young, but this was Barbara's first time. The heads are beautiful. We took a walking, guided tour and learned about the sculpting process.

Barbara is standing at the entrance to the walkway of states.

The final stop of the day was at Chief Crazyhorse statue. His head is finished but hey hope to have a complete statue of him riding his horse.

First Stop - St. Louis

Our first stop on our Grand Adventure was St. Louis MO. We arrived about 8 PM on Friday night and stayed at a hotel in downtown St. Louis. We had a great view of the Gateway Arch from our room. On Saturday morning we rode to the top of the Arch. We went up the North side and down the South side, making a complete traverse of the Arch.
Here we are at the top, 630 feet above the ground. We had a great view of St. Louis and could see both the baseball and football stadiums as well as city center and the state capitol.


The Arch is a magnificent structure and very beautiful.

After the tour of the Arch, we headed for St. Joseph, MO, starting point for the Pony Express. We went to terible's casino and found it not so terrible. We both went home more money than we started with. On Sunday we headed for the Badlands in South Dakota.

Wev are back from our Grand trip to the west coast and Alaska. We had a great time and saw alot of sights - Mt. Rushmore, the Badlands, Yellowstone National Park, the Hubbard Glacier, the Mormon Tabernacle. Will add more details and pictures shortly.

Hot Date on Saturday Night

Last Saturday night Adam, Sara, and Emerson were going to a birthday party for Adam's dad. So Barbara and I were going to keep Carly for them. But, the VFW Post was having a Luau Party that we wanted to attend. Barbara was playing bridge and we we going to meet at the post. So I picked up Carly and took her to the post with me. She was the best looking girl there. We had a great time!!!

Emerson stayed with us last week for a couple of days. he was playing in his room and then he came upstairs to show me sometning. If you look on his shirt, their are a bunch of sticker letters just below OSHKOSH.



Those letters spelled his name. He attached the letters himself, in the right order, and none of them were upside down.I think that was pretty AMAZING for a lad who won't be 4 till next month.

Carly's First Birthday Party

Friday was Carly's first birthday so we had a party for her at Andma and Papa's house. We had 13 children and 16 adults. Everyone had a GREAT time and the pizza was good.

here is Carly opening some of the wonderful gifts she received. She has her birthday taiar one, showing she is someone special.

This is Carly befor she had her birthday cake!

And this is her enjoying her cake. time to enter her in another "messiest baby contest".

A Mountain is Born

Once the track was operational, I decided to add a mountain in the corner of the layout as my first scenery project. The first step was to add support in the corner using some Masonite left over from my control panel efforts. next I crumbled up sheets of newspaper and taped them together. Then I taped all the balls of paper to hold then in place.

Next I applied plaster coated sheets over the paper mound to to provide a hard surface. While the plaster was drying, I mad rocks in a mold using more plaster like material called Hydrocal.

The molded rocks were then glued to the mountain and painted. The first coat was yellow, followed by coats of brown and black paint. I then painted the mountain with earth colored paint.

Finally I added grass coating to the mountain, using several different colors. also added small rocks along the bottom, simulating rock that have broken loose and tumbled down the mountain. I hope to place a water tank and a cell phone tower on the mountain. Then it will look like the hill I see from the house.

My next step will be to layout the road system for the city of Galville and the supporting industries.

Cumberland Railroad is Operational

Here is my new Louisville and Nashville EMD SW7 switcher. I bought it last week at the Tennessee Central RR Museum. That gave me incentive to finish the wiring of the layout.



This is the first operational run of the Cumberland RR. The train is en route to Galville with raw materials for the local industries

This picture shows the control panel for operating the layout. The actual layout is shown at the top with the turnouts (switches in real RRs). I painted the control panel white, then marked out the layout using 1/4 inch tape, then painted the panel black. When the tape was removed you get the layout . The lower left shows the 8 switches for controlling the turnouts. Note that two switches are not wired yet because I ran out of the proper wire. The center switch with the two red buttons control the power and direction to the track because of the two reversing loops. The power pack is to the right. The green light indicates I have power and no short circuits in the layout. WHOOPEE!!! The power pack provides AC power to operate the turnout switches and DC power to operate the train. Everything is pretty calm on this side of the panel.

This is the backside of the control panel and drawer. Its not so calm here. A real rats nest. I will be working to solder and tape all the connections and neaten the wire runs. It really does work, though.