Well, I'm all set for model train ops (other than a few minutes of "beat to quarters" furniture moves).

My wife is not.

The dining table is straining under too many magazines, too many Walgreens receipts, her computer, all that stuff. I keep telling her she needs a system, something where things don't end up piled a foot deep because she hasn't gotten to them. But this is one of these "minefield" discussions. Married guys know this - I just went out to look at 10:13pm, she's been at it (supposedly) for two hours and I don't see any difference. What is she doing  - reading some of them? Moving things away and then back?

Of course, before ops, I don't need any more tension. I'm already wired enough, what with 10+ people coming over and me depending on miles of wires, dozens of small motors, a revamped computer system, many many things.

So I go out and nervously eye the trash heap as the night advances.

"You making any headway?"

"Yes"

Uh huh.

I remember back when I used to fly how rusty I could get if I didn't get up into the air every couple of months. I'd get "behind the plane" as they say.

Happens in model railroading, too.

Tonight on the L&S, I took out the Hunt Club Local, a late little run that sorts around the main, hitting a team track and a couple of industrial spurs. No big problem. On the way in, I worked one double ended spur, setting my caboose so I could pick it up (with the car) on the way back to the yard. That's because I'm clever.

Once I got into Hunt Club, I realized I wasn't as clever as I thought. Every car was a brown box car, and more than once I got a car spotted on a siding, only to realize I'd dropped off the wrong one. The high point of the night was when I got to the end of the line at Hunt Club where there is a facing point switch with two industries (say, A and B). But the cars in my cut were organized as A-B-A-B, meaning push the train into A, drop a car, back up, push into B, drop a car, etc, etc. Worse, there was a rogue empty car bouncing around on the spurs, meaning I had to get it off one track and onto another before I could spot the car. So, each switching move took something like 35 shunts to pull off. I figured that empty was beat to hell by the time I was done with it - must have moved it a dozen times.

Then, on the way home, I stopped at the siding to pick up my last car and caboose and found out I'd set it up with the wrong car - essentially it was a total cockup. Again, something like six or so moves to get everything on the train that was supposed to be there, and to get back to the yard.

Got into the yard, dropped off my train, and headed to the bean house for a cold one. What a night...

According to my records, my last operation's session was back in May of last year. After that, time slipped by as I worked to get the club's traveling layout up, my book out, and my parents faced some medical issues. Time just moved on.

With twisted guts, I decided to get this thing running again. Time to host. I hate getting ready but generally love the sessions. Getting ready involves cleaning all sorts of track (some of it in difficult-to-reach places), cleaning engines, checking paperwork.

But really, its gone pretty well. My helper Mikado really didn't want to go - talk about a cold boiler. I just kept the power on him until his little motor shook out the corrosion and coughed its way back to life. And then, while advancing trains out of Watsonville for cleaning, I accidently moved the second freight too far forward, so it coupled into the tail of the first freight deep in hidden trackage (and on a curve). So, of course, when I backed the second one up, I got a momentary hesitation, then the crash-crash-crash sound of six boxcars clotheslining off the layout and onto the floor behind the tool boxes. And I'm standing there making groaning noises, not paying attention to the second freight, still backing into Watsonville and up the passenger train lead where it planted its caboose into the face of the standing passenger with a solid thunk.

Great moments in model railroading.

But the lower and mid decks are cleaned and ready. I just need to take car of San-Luis-Obispo proper and we're ready to run.

LINK TO PICTURES.