Large Scale Central

2022 Edition of Jan and Ric's Great Adventure

Other Hobbies
#1

2 January, 2022 - Ridge Live Steamers, Dundee, Florida

WARNING! - I ramble on. Jan calls them “Sea Stories”. Please stop reading now, if I offend you or waste your time in anyway.

Yes, 2021 is out here! It left on a sad note with the loss of Stan and less than two weeks earlier, Ken. Like Bruce said, its like a gut punch.

This has become my unofficial journal of our travels and adventures. Its under “Other Hobbies”, because we do it for fun. We are very fortunate to be in a camper on the road, or near a layout, or an event, or on the property of a scale railroad track. What fun, what an adventure!

The year started with planning and talking to a very experienced machinist and friend, about work on my 1.5 scale live steam “Tram”.

This fraternity of the railroad hobby, no matter what scale, is just wonderful. People are always, willing to help. Just look at this Forum, its full of advice and skill and people to share what they know and learn.

I’ve always heard, vertical steam cylinders do not need cylinder cocks. I accepted it and I guess hardly thought more about it. Yesterday, a guy said, “You want to know why?” I’m not one to say, “no not really, I like being ignorant”. So he explained. On a horizontal cylinder the water that can cause the hydro-static lock, settles at the bottom of the cylinder and can cause uneven pressure on the piston, as it tries to compress it. On a vertical cylinder the water is seeking its own level and is even over the entire piston head. Therefore, it gets equally pushed past the piston and out the stack or out around the piston rod.

Yeah, I know. You guys are all saying, “everyone knows that”. Okay, I now know it, also. And if I really put time in to thinking about it, I might have come up with that on my own.

Hey, earlier today I saw my first Ontario license plate in Florida since March of 2020. Maybe things will start getting better. Here’s hoping and praying.

Great hobby, great adventure. Stay safe, my friends.

3 Likes
#2

Keep on trucking you two the adventures are a joy you so kindly share. :sunglasses:

#3

There are quite a few around. Our pals from NB are said to be coming down next weekend.

Any idea when you might be leaving Ridge? I ought to get the Hudson out and run it sometime this year!

#4

Odd, we never saw those out here… :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

#5

Hi Peter,
If you are going to DiamondHead, there will be a gentleman there looking for you, David Hovarth(sp?). David kind of runs the #1 Gauge and Live Steam Garden Railroad track at Ridge.
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Our plans are to be here until around April 1st. We have a family vacation planned at Orlando for a week and a week at Cedar Key, but certainly we are around here most of the time. It would be great for you to visit the track.

#6

No Diamondhead for me this year - certainly not with this variant running around.
Not sure we’ll ever get to Ridge, as the new boat (33’ Antares) arrives at the end of the month and that will occupy us for a while.

#7

Understand, stay safe!

#8

So; where is Jan Golding hiding her hat these days, along with her troublesome side kick, and best friend, Ric ?
Fred…

#9

I presume they’ll be at Ken & Bev’s next Friday to Saturday (29th-30th).

Any chance of coming down for the last KOPS, Fred?

#10

Cliff…If I could, I’d be there now…but there is no chance that I can get there…I’m VERY sorry…Ken was a GREAT friend to us all…
Fred Mills

#11

27 April, 2022 - Lancaster, PA.
Yes Cliff and Fred, we are at the KOA in Lancaster and plan to be Bev Brunt’s to meet with her and Dave (Hollywood) Marconni tomorrow morniong to see what she actually wants done and how we can help. All decisions are totally her’s and we will do our best to assist her.
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It has been a very busy later Winter, early Spring. We had a great time at Ridge Live Steamers this last Winter. Lots of work done and we took possession of a 2.5 inch scale Buckwalter 2 cylinder 20 ton propane fired Shay and riding car, built by Rollin Patrick. Fantastic machine and its been keeping me quite busy. There was also the week with all of our family in Orlando to celebrate our 50th year of marriage. The oldest grandchild graduates from high school this year and their lives are all getting busier. We let the younger families decide when we could make this happen. The actual day is in September and yes, I’m surprised as anyone she has put up with me this long. I always say the first year was love and the others have been her trying to get even. We got home from Florida at the end of March and started the immediate process of taxes and doctor appointments.
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Both exams, feel very much the same.
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This was followed by a quick trip to Grand Rapids, Michigan to leave the trailer for completion of items included in the purchase, but weren’t available last year because of Covid delays. The trailer was picked up Monday and we headed east. Stayed at the “Ye Old Grist Mill Campground” in Burnt Cabin, Pa. at the exit of the East Broad Top Railroad, but no time for a quick trip. Recommend this campground to anyone traveling to the EBT. Get’s you in that Pennsylvania Mountain spirit right away.
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Look forward to seeing lots of friends this weekend.
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All is well on this side of the confuser screen. Still working to enjoy every day we are blessed with. Life is good!

2 Likes
#12

A nice place for sleeping, but not much in the way of entertainment except the mill tour. A little close to the highway, but with heat or AC running it just blends in. The owners are great people. We’ve stayed there half a dozen times.

There is a new campground opening this spring in Three Springs - a bit closer, but in the flood plain, so watch the weather!

#13

Sounds like my kind of place, as long as i bring my earplugs. I’d love to do the mill tour. I mean, how could you not want to stay in a town named “Burnt Cabin”?

#14

Actually it’s Burnt Cabins. I believe the name dates back to before the American Revolution.

#15

Just make sure you’re staying in a tent, not a cabin.

#16

Unless you bring marshmellows! :yum:

#17

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More HERE.

1 Like
#18

It’s been great to see Ric and Jan and Bo today.

#19

9 October, 2022 - Carlyle, Illinois at home.
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Wow! It has been awhile since I’ve updated our adventures. After the weekend at Ken’s, we really got serious with Jan’s knee, or should I say it started getting really serious with us. Jan began therapy before the surgery, because she was told it would really allow the recovery to go faster if she was in shape. The therapy was 3 times a week and by this time Jan was not able to drive herself. The knee surgery had to be delayed for our Grandson’s High School Graduation and induction as an Eagle Scout. Jan set the priorities. Surgery was June 22 and she was home 2 days later. Many thanks to our daughter and daughter in law, plus the rest of the family for lots of help and moral support. Around the 4th of July, Bo developed a gall bladder problem. Yep, dogs have gall bladders. We almost lost him, but he has recovered without any continued concerns. Yep, it has been an interesting Summer. I will say the HO/MRS switching layout has gotten quite a bit of attention. The 1:20.3 Timesaver/Inglenook Switching Puzzles is in the garage and Summer is not the time to be in a garage without air conditioning.
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September finally got here and with Jan’s surgery being 10 weeks past, she was given permission to travel to the Michigan Central Railroad in Metamora, Michigan for Bill Hay’s Operating Session. Jan played cards and I helped work the Detroit Yard. Great Railroad!
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Give us an inch and you might as well give us a mile or a few hundred miles. Jan’s 11th week of recovery found us in Paducah, Kentucky for the beginning of the Fantasy Tours “The Kentucky Bourbon, Music and Moonshine Group Tour”. Weeks 11, 12 and 13 of recovery were easier. Learned what “rolled ice cream” is. Wow! Good stuff! The tour included a lunch in Frankfort, Kentucky. Lunch was interrupted by a diesel horn and an R. J. Corman led empty consist of bulkhead flats, streets running right down the main street of town. Strange that Roger Caiazza and I were the only 2 that rushed out of lunch to see one of the more memorable parts of the tour of Frankfort. Seems it happens twice a day as ingots of aluminum are delivered from Lexington, Ky. to a Ford Assembly Plant in Louisville. At the end of the street running is a tunnel that begins the climb toward Louisville. You can “Google” the Frankfort Railroad Tunnel for more info. Hard to see much of the right of way outside of Frankfort, because of the vegetation. Roger and I tried, as some of the people on the tour went to some Chocolate Candy Factory. Yeah, we had more fun. The Tour also included the “My Old Kentucky Dinner Train”. You can also “Google” this. It runs out of Bardstown, Ky. and we got to ride it one evening during the “Bardstown Bourbon Fest”. Great prime rib! Both of these trains were on old L&N trackage and now operated by R. J. Corman Railroad Group of Lexington, Ky. I think many of us are familiar with this company. While in that part of Kentucky, we visited the Kentucky Railroad Museum. Sad. Lots of equipment, but they are begging for volunteers and so much is just rotting in place.
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End of September, first of October saw us back in Illinois for the Bluestone Southern Ops and some rodeos with our grandkids. October is a great time of year in this part of the World.
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No promises, but I’ll try to check in here a little more often.
Thanks for reading.

1 Like
#20

Glad to hear that your wife’s recovery went well and that it seemed to hardly slow either of you down a bit as you traversed the country!

Aloha,
Eric