Fall 2014 in G-Scale Land Garden Railroad Layout - October 25, 2014

(Blog Entry by Bob)

Fall is always an interesting time on the layout.  With the bombardment of walnuts, blanketing of everything with leaves, the desire to finish summer projects and the uncertainity of putting everything away for winter.  Today I did not feel like working, I just wanted to document the accumulation of leaves and run a small train.  Winter's freeze hit last year on November 1st and decided to stay well into April.  I'm hoping we have more time to enjoy the layout, but if not, at least I got to enjoy it today.

Winona Garden Railway "Garnie Day 2014" Open House 09-27-14 PART 3

(Blog Entry by Bob)

Every year Winona Garden Railway, outside Guelph, Ontario, has an open house where you can run your trains, buy new and used equipment, meet new people and reunite with familiar faces to talk about the hobby.

The heat of noon was approaching and I realized that all the hours I had spent in my air conditioned office were not helping me.  I drank all my water and tried to duck under the gazebo as much as I could for shade.  I began feeling disoriented and my dialogue with fellow railroaders was starting to become labored.  More and more, people were bringing locomotives from their cars to run on the layout. I realized what I really needed to take a nap and that I was not going to get the opportunity to run my newly purchased cars.

I began putting away my camera, drink thermos, train remote control and the new tankers cars.  I went back to grab my Switcher locomotives from the car carriers when all of a sudden they were all scooped up and being taken all different directions. I was told that John had decided to sell them after all. With my locomotives in each hand I had to try to chase them down.  One went straight into someone's vehicle and the other 3 went down to the used table.  A gentlemen stepped in front of me and asked if I was selling the locomotives in my hands.  Another car carrier made a u-turn to the parking lot before it hit the table.  I found out my CN NW1 Switchers were rare from a small run of 50 ever made and he wanted to know where I got them from.  A group of people who were also following the car carriers passed by me.  I finished my conversation and half sprinted to the table throwing a NS car carrier on top of my locomotives. The cashier asked if I was taking both car carriers and I looked back to see 3 frozen faces with hands hovering over the last one. "No" I said "I don't want to be greedy".  For $100 each I began to regret that.  The excited look of the young man who grabbed the last one made me feel a bit better.  In the past I too have had deals snatched away from me. I said farewell to everyone and took the long drive home to take a well deserved nap with Mary.

Winona Garden Railway "Garnie Day 2014" Open House 09-27-14 PART 2

(Blog Entry by Bob)

Every year Winona Garden Railway, outside Guelph, Ontario, has an open house where you can run your trains, buy new and used equipment, meet new people and reunite with familiar faces to talk about the hobby.

While I was running my train I had lost track of time and was missing out on the "used" deals!  I pulled my train off onto a siding and ran over to see what was left.  The used track and German trains seemed to have distracted most people and I was able to reach my long arms through the crowd and grab x2 long modern tank cars for $60 each.  The gentlemen in front of me in line was having trouble finding his money as I noticed two other tankers and I became anxious to get back to grab them.  Finally paid and no time to run to the car to drop off my first purchases I set them on a siding of the layout.  I was grabbed and asked  if I would surrender my spot on the inside loop so someone else could run their train.  I said yes and was able to jog to the table to grab the last 2 tankers.  I paid and hid them with the others on the layout siding. 

I finally had time to examine the remains of the sale tables and take some pictures of the layout.  John had put a lot of work laying track, moving rock, building bridges and overall landscaping.  It was a very hot sunny days with no trees in the middle of the yard and I began to feel dizzy from the heat...

Winona Garden Railway "Garnie Day 2014" Open House 09-27-14 PART 1

(Blog Entry by Bob)

Every year Winona Garden Railway, outside Guelph, Ontario, has an open house where you can run your trains, buy new and used equipment, meet new people and reunite with familiar faces to talk about the hobby.

I spent all week getting ready for the open house / used train table.  I phoned the store days in advance to find out what I may expect on the used table.  If John decided to put them out, Mary wanted to add to her collection of tanker cars and I wanted some Bi-level car carriers.  I charged the batteries for both my Road Locomotives and my Switchers even though I probably wouldn't take the Switchers with me. I planned to used my x2 large Canadian National locomotives to hooked up to the x32 ore cars to drag them around the outside loop to show everyone else how it is done. (GRIN)
I woke up Saturday morning at 7am so I would be first in line for the used train table at 10am.  Last year it was crazy with arms and dollar bills snatching everything up before you could figure out what you wanted.  I planned to grab x2 tankers first figuring the car carriers wouldn't sell as quickly because you need wide radius track and no low tunnels to run them.

I arrived in Guelph a little after 9am and wandered around talking to people.  I noticed that someone had hooked his x3 CN locomotives to the ore cars and was already traversing the outer loop. The x4 car carriers I was planning on purchasing were still on the layout (I had guessed John decided not to sell them).  There was an empty spot on the inside loop and I had 45 minutes to kill, so I went back to the car to grab my 2 Switchers to drag the car carriers around.  I was sharing the loop and had to keep pace with the other trains.  I did this for a short while when the unexpected happened.  The used table had opened and the crowd was already buying everything in sight... 

Stay tuned for Part 2 next week.   Enjoy the photos from Part 1.