As I sit here, listening to the rain pounding on the roof, I can't help
thinking "Thank goodness for the roof".
We were pretty snug yesterday, too, with the door shut and the aircon
pumping out warmth. Good to have a healthy Geoff the Pres back with us. He and
Dale have made very visible progress in fitting the fascia trim around the
inside of the layout. Geoff the Sec continued with his mission to fill the
store room with shelves. Grant was there, dropping pearls of wisdom and bits of
fascia hither and yon. Derek was dropping droppers, fixing the dead spot we had
found and ultimately creating a short. I was beginning to despair of that ever
happening.
Paul came with photos of a mockup he had made, to show his vision for Port
Gary. Then he innocently asked what colour droppers he should attach to the
tracks on the wharfs (the tracks will be flush with the wharf surface, so we
cannot just solder them on later as we generally do). This provoked a howl of
anguish from Derek, because there is no plan drawn up for the branch line and he
did not know the answer. We did sort out the answer but I won't repeat it here
because I have already forgotten it. Looking at Paul's photos, I feel that the
gauntlet has been thrown down to our regular scenic specialists - David, George,
Grant, Martin, Simon, et al (Al always turns up), not forgetting our tree ladies
Helen and Judy.
This absence of a plan for the branch line put me in mind of the creation
of the universe. We started with a great formless swirling mass of dust. This
has now started to take form and gather around discrete nucleii (called Geoff,
Paul, David, George, Martin and Dale), all in orbit around the main line. The
next step has to be interplanetary travel, hence Derek's anguish.
Meanwhile, I do have a plan for Stanley Creek and continued to lay tracks
in that yard. Should be finished next week. Which brings me to the yard at
Sayer. The passenger facilities are already sorted, with a main line carriage
siding and branch line parking bay for railcars at the south end. To the north
lies the freight yard - another swirling mass of formless dust. We have said
that it will include loco facilities - water tower, coaling stage or tower, ash
pit, turntable, oil tanks. What else - looking for suggestions.
At tea - thank you to Nancy for the cake, and to some one for the chocolate
snowballs - we spoke a little of the seniors open day (October 14th) and agreed
that a few of us should come in on the Friday afternoon to set up Bald
Mountain. And Geoff the Sec has promised to send out a formal notice reminding
members that our AGM is set for the 20th of this month.
The rain has now stopped and the sun is shining - maybe the dust is
settling at last.
And I noticed that every one who drove to Club was driving a diesel.
Peter
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