Friday Night 6/4/2010 at Paul's (and Bob's)

So, last night proved rather eventful...

I had been napping for a few minutes, getting ready for a productive night at Keith's, but Donna let me sleep until almost 6:30. So I rushed on out there, getting on the freeway around 20 to 7, at which time I realized I'd left my cell phone on the dresser. I got to Keith's around 10 minutes after 7, and it didn't look good - no cars in the driveway, the basement door was locked, and (insert face palm here) Keith had told us last Friday that he'd be in Flagstaff this week! With no cell phone to call around, I returned home, figuring someone would know something when I got there. And sure enough, Bob and Mark had called a couple times, and Donna had talked with them. I talked with Bob, and some of the guys had gone to his house to paint backdrops, but several were willing to trek down to Duluth to help me out. "Come ahead on," I told them. Bob, Mark, Steve, and Ken showed up around 8:20 or so, and we got right to work.

I had made a cardboard template for the next length of helix roadbed, and Bob, Ken, and Mark marked out where the template would be cut to transfer the lines to my last sheet of plywood. While they worked on that, Steve worked on installing a sliding drawer in the first corner of the lower deck benchwork to mount the Zephyr. And that's what we did. Mark and Bob concentrated on the plywood, and Ken and Steve worked on the slider. I had also installed another section of Masonite around the curved wall of the helix (I decided to call the thing the Roundhouse, because it feels like being in one now), and Bob and Mark trimmed the top edge to conform to the slope of the roadbed climbing up the helix. Steve left early, about 11:40, and Ken, Bob, and mark toughed it out until midnight.

For an impromptu session, we did great work and accomplished several important objectives. This morning, I wired in the Zephyr in its new location, and it works! Today will be clean-up, and next week I'll concentrate on wiring up the Loconet and mounting some UP-5s to plug throttles into, and powering my UR-91 for radio throttles so at least 3 people can operate trains simultaneously. I'll be able to stage a train on the helix (since it doesn't go anywhere, yet), and have trains in both loops and the passing siding.

Keith, thanks for swapping with me!

Paul