Hi Everyone:
I wanted to take the time to thank all those of you about advice for purchasing the Vision Line Hudson. I received it earlier this month (May) from Western Depot and finally got it to my layout in NC last week. I love it! The Hudson negotiated all of the 0-36 curves in my yard (thanks to Lee Willis and others for their expert opinions - dead right on all accounts!) and ran beautifully on the layout. I liked it so much that I bought some older (ca. 1997-8) Lionel NYC heavyweight passenger cars to be pulled around behind the Hudson to make it look good.
I also must admit to having an extremely good time for the past two weeks, to some extent a "dream" trip: I had a professional meeting in Boston. We drove up (in an RV) and rented a car. A visit to Charles Ro Supply was definitely planned and executed. Economies both here and abroad were liberally stimulated, with the acquisition of a UP Mikado (unplanned) as well as viewing of Southern Crescent and Alton & Chicago Pacifics, and general browsing for three hours! The wife loved it (truly) and encouraged me to buy more.
On the way home (to NC), we decided to bypass I-95/NYC/DC with the RV (we went that way going up, ugh), so we took I-84 to I-81. For those not Interstate-savvy (I wasn't until this trip), this route via I-81 goes through Scranton. An obligatory stop was planned at Grzyboski's in Moosic, PA, right off of I-81. A Blue Comet was acquired (I later "poisoned" Lee Willis by showing it to him, so he had to get one
), as well as many other items and scenery, further stimulating economies here and abroad. By this time, my wife, although still encouraging financial abandon, was worried I didn't have enough space for everything. On the layout. Because we had an RV with virtually unlimited storage. So my wallet was lighter still.
Finally, after returning to NC, I went to Todd's Train Depot in Wendell, NC, where Edna Todd had received my Santa Fe Northern, which I acquired in addition to a couple of other things (including buying the NYC passenger cars).
By the way, I got to visit with the proprietors of all three establishments for a while. They are all FANTASTIC people. The Grzyboskis spent an hour after posted closing time talking with my wife and me, after I had decided on my purchases within 15 min. The Charles Ro folks showed my wife and me their breath-taking G-scale UP Big Boy that they were tuning up in the workshop for a California show later in May. It's always nice to visit with my friends at Todd's Train Depot.
So to recapitulate: Got credit for a business trip. Had a great time with my darling wife. Went to Charles Ro. Went to Grzyboski's. Went to my favorite LHS (not too shabby in comparison to the "big boys" IMHO), all within 7 days. Acquired: VL Hudson, Santa Fe Northern (3751, for those keeping score), Blue Comet, UP Mikado. Got to run all on my layout. Dream Trip. Can't imagine this ever happening again.
Then I got to visit with Lee Willis. Fantastic to see his layout, his impressive locomotives and all of his inventive details in person. Hope to return the favor by inviting him to make suggestions on my layout in the very near future. Suitable icing on the proverbial cake to a great couple of weeks!
Appropo of nothing: the Northern made it around my 0-45 (Atlas) curves easily (even though it is rated for 0-54), except for one switch/turnout: this turnout was "against the points" (I guess that's what you call it, in other words, merging rather than diverging), and I think it was because the drive wheels were contacting some of the "hot" third rail and shorting. I cheated and put some small bits of electrical tape of areas of the rails, and voila! no shorting and the Northern sailed through without a hitch. I guess I should acquire some non-conducting paint (is there such a thing?) and judicially apply some to this turnout, which will be hidden in a tunnel but easily accessible, so that my beasts don't acquire electrical tape bugs.
AND then the insult: I had so much fun I DIDN'T TAKE PICTURES! I was busy figuring out how to enlarge my empire in the small space I have by building more yard storage, and ran out of time. So kick me when you see me. I will take many photos and post a few when I go back up north to NC later this month.
Bruce
