“First” OGR Layout Tour and Fishing Trip

LaKeeta and I were so excited to meet these great guys!!  This past Friday evening started out with me not remembering that Curt had told me that the fishing guides had arranged for a big fish fry for lunch....so where do you think I took them for supper?....yep, the best catfish, hushpuppy, and homemade coleslaw joint in town!  All four of them ordered something other than fish...LOL!!!  While LaKeeta and I enjoyed our catfish dinners, the guys enjoyed a variety of other specialties of the house...from a pancake breakfast to a burger and fries!  I will pay better attention next time...but we all enjoyed each other's conversation and company.  Off to the layout we went right after our meal and of course "Murphy's law" was in fine form!  I had put on a train of K-line 21" Santa Fe hi-level cars with an A-B-B-A set of F units.  I ran it several times over the days just before the guys arrived and it ran fine.  Then....I added 4 more hi-levels that I had just received from a friend who was selling off his trains.  It made a beautiful 19 car hi-level passenger train......BUT....the problem was I did not test it with the additional cars.  Well.....of course the weight of the train through one of the curved switches was pulling one of the cars up just enough to derail it.  AND...this was under a tunnel opening which made it even more "fun" to get to!  We got that train around one time and did that twice...both times it derailed!  So....I decided to leave it be and was thankful that the other 6 trains we were running were doing just fine including a freight train that was almost 60 cars long. 

Can't tell you how impressed and appreciative I am that we would have visitors from so far away ("Captain John" being the first one to do so) and am very happy to say that I have made some new best friends!  Hope this becomes an annual event!!

Very nice.

Looked awesome!°

It looks like you all had a great time. Fantastic photos, inspiring my imagination. I really like the night scene at the roundhouse and the Esso industrial area. Phenomenal. Keep me smiling.

We really enjoyed this bunch of great guys to visit our layout. It was our honor for them to visit our layout. I cannot put into words what I really feel, but this is one of the greatest thrills that I have had in building and enjoying my layout. And I think that this is what the hobby is about. I made 4 new friends that have the same interest that I have and they appreciated the work that I have done. I think all of us have "that Neighbor" in our neighborhood that will not even come close to viewing what we have in our layouts, and for some one that lives out of town,,,,even out of the state to come is really a wonderful feeling.

I now want to go to Georgia to see their layouts. I hope you all enjoy this hobby as much as I do.

This is a perfect example of what's so great about this forum - bringing together hobbyists who otherwise would never have known about nor met each other!

-Greg

Greg Houser posted:

This is a perfect example of what's so great about this forum - bringing together hobbyists who otherwise would never have known about nor met each other!

-Greg

Greg...you are so right about your statement.  Some of the best friends I have are because of this forum.  What a great place!

Super nice layouts and a terrific fishing trip. Doesn't get any better than that.

Great pictures and a great story!

Peter

I can attest to what Gregg just stated about the forum and how I have been able to see some awesome train layouts as well as making  many new friends through out the country.

Here is the thread that some of you asked about....

Yup, I do remember seeing this back in 2019. I do know you all had a blast.