The crew has really had to hussle at the Tomlinson Run Railroad's team track today! Just in was Chef Chuck Wagon's new diner building. What a surprise "food delivery"! Not content with a first-rate dining car, Chef decided to expand his culinary outlets by opening a track-side diner. Chef needs to "expand" about as much as the Pillsbury Dough Boy, but there's no arguing with Chef when he gets a bee in his bonnet ... er ... toque. Yes, it's not for nothing that the railroad kitchen staff has dubbed Chuck Wagon "Chef One Toque Over the Line (Sweet Jesus)". Behind his back, of course!
Just last week, Chef wanted to chop off the cab of the tourist railroad's beloved RS-1 engine to create a hot dog stand. For the back story on Chef's inspiration -- the Black Diamond Diner in NY -- and his failed attempt at commandeering the Tomlinson Run Railroad's RS-1's cab, see this post (scroll down to the Footnote for Chef's cameo).
Thwarted just in time by the Conductor, senior management was relieved but concerned about appeasing their volatile and unpredictable cook. He does after all draw a crowd like no pest strips draw flies. And he'll stick with an idea like a no pest strip, too. To distract Chuck from his hot dog obsession, the TRRR's CEO Tina ordered him a used diner building, and she offered the unused patch of land in between the dining car's commissary track and the team track to set it up. However, the procurement department (fooled by the snazzy photo) didn't realize that the diner they purchased had been disassembled and was in storage. Boy, were they surprised when the boxcar and gondola showed up!
Chef watched the men unload the building materials and diner parts from the cars from his perch at the front of the RS-1. He, in turn, was watched by the Conductor -- closely -- just in case Chef had a relapse after seeing the state of his new diner and decided to try and remove the RS-1 cab again. Seriously, how far do you think he'd get with that spatula and oven mit?
The steward ponders how the heck he's going to get the plastic cow loaded onto the truck bed. Chef ordered the cow thinking that a little "roadside" art would be just the thing to attract diners from beyond the rail yard and get more visitors to sample his legendary food when the trains weren't running.
The ever creative Chef also ordered a giant gelato spoon to turn into a sign in case the cow didn't "moove" people. There's Bobby the Boy Scout who helped build the RR's colorful loading dock sitting in the back of a truck trying to keep the spoon steady. Meanwhile, another truck hauls the stools and other interior details to the building site:
Well, the materials were finally unloaded, but =shush!= don't tell Chef this little publicized fact: Who knows when the carpenters will arrive to reassemble his diner? Rumor has it that his new refrigerator and Viking stove just shipped today. Hopefully, when they arrive at the team track, Chef Chuck Wagon will be so distracted that he won't notice that no one's working on his diner building yet! One can only hope ... hot dog anyone?
Tomlinson Run Railroad
I was going to show off my new tanker truck I bought off the Bay. Since I could not make it to York last week, I treated myself to some purchases ( loads, vehicles, and last week's TTT Atlas O pulpwood cars ) from the Bay instead 
