First work session at the Richlawn Railroad

Friday, Feb. 19 was the very first work session at the Richlawn Railroad. In attendance were Coalfinger Ken, Glue Bob, Steve-bay, Mark (nickname yet 2 b determined), and of course, Popsicle Rick. The purpose tonight was to get acquainted with the railroad and to do some general planning on the expansion into the balance of the basement.

We started by looking over the railroad and showing the layout to first time visitor Mark. Here Steve & Mark are in deep discussion about ??? That apparent "growth" on Mark's arm is Bob's camera. He brought it and his tripod along to take some time exposure pictures of the railroad.

Speaking of bringing something along - Ken brought one of his steam locos to check out the track as I've got some problem areas that derail the sensitive many-wheeled steam units. That's why I bought a 4-4-0 unit.

The only thing I like better than running locos on my railroad is watching others enjoy running there locos on the layout. All are welcome to "run what they bring" anytime.

Bob's getting down to business of picture taking and made Ken duck a few times so he wouldn't appear as a time exposure "ghost" in the pictures. We viewed some of his pictures on my laptop and I must say they are some of the best shots I've ever seen on the railroad, including those taken by the Piedmont photographers! Thanks Bob!

Bob's apprentice Steve gets into the act here and does a great job of capturing a few shots. Notice that he is using my tripod now as they needed a higher reach. Bob ended up wanting to take my tripod home - it's always available for loan!

Ken's loco looked and sounded great, besides finding a very bad track spot where my thru plate girder bridge is connected to the trackwork. At that point there is a "bump" and a turn right out of the bridge. I'll see what I can do to fix it.

Oh yeh.... we're supposed to be doing some planning. We did some brainstorming and Mark came up with a great idea of removing a section of the wall between the trainroom and the expansion area in what is now the closet. It will be easy to install the header and give a nice 7 foot wide opening between the rooms. It's kind of hard to explain - you'll have to see it to understand.

Here's Mark putting his gray matter to paper. Did I see some smoke there?

All this activity works up an appetite. Here Bob partakes of the goodies which included Girl Scout Thin Mints, assorted cookies, fruit, soft drinks, and water.

Near the end of the evening we had some nice time to just chat in general. I really appreciated everybody making the long trek all the way up to Cumming (thank you Bob for providing the car pool) and look forward to the next session at the Richlawn Railroad.

Ideas for future session include the removal of the wall after moving all the shelves, a weathering clinic held by Bob on rolling stock, a "spec" clinic on my rolling stock (checking wheel gauge, weight, couplers, etc) and a tree clinic.