I just hope we all don’t get yelled at for all the mud we tracked into the house. Thanks to Martha for letting us back in. 
YOU TRACKED MUD IN THE HOUSE!!!
I’m a little corn fused. Its over and its still Saturday, right? Hmm, different description of a weekend to those of us in “flyover country”. Sounds like it went well, hope people had fun.
In the above pic by Ray you show the tail of a ladder in front of the barn. Noticed the same last night in chat, but didn’t see it connected then either. Did that stay and finally go some place or was that removed?
The overall pics Bruce showed looked great. Looking forward to more.
Ric Golding said:I showed up Thursday about 5. Sean had already done two man-days of work by himself (in 5 or 6 hours) and Ken, Bruce and Bob had a real good start on the mainline. Friday AM Ken, Bruce, Bob and I split into two teams, but we kept rotating team members. First Bob and I, then Ken and I worked on finishing the spline roadbed from one end, while the other team worked the other direction. We had the mainline roadbed done by lunch break then went to work on track. By about 4 PM we had the Golden Spike ceremony and the first train circled the railroad. Late afternoon was spent adding two passing sidings and fixing a few track issues.
I'm a little corn fused. Its over and its still Saturday, right? Hmm, different description of a weekend to those of us in "flyover country". Sounds like it went well, hope people had fun.
Saturday AM we started early and were joined late morning by Stan Ames and Ray Shoup. Our first task Saturday was to re-align the curve on the large loop to relieve a problem. We then enlisted Stan’s skills in track troubleshooting to solve several more derailment problems. By lunch we had a trouble-free main line.
After lunch we started on several of the industrial sidings and got track down on one and some structures into place on temporary foundations. By mid -afternoon there was nothing left to do but enjoy the nice weather and watch a few trains run.
This morning I slept in until 7 and am now packing up getting ready to check out of the campground. A very nice place that I didn’t do much more than sleep in 
Thanks Bob for coming up with this idea. It was great fun, and just a little work. Maratha’s cooking added to the great hospitality we all enjoyed.
I’m looking froward to coming back for an operating session, although some of Bob’s switching puzzles will be darn right evil.
Dave Marconi said:Dave,
In the above pic by Ray you show the tail of a ladder in front of the barn. Noticed the same last night in chat, but didn't see it connected then either. Did that stay and finally go some place or was that removed? The overall pics Bruce showed looked great. Looking forward to more.
That piece you see in the pic is just a siding that hasn’t been completed yet. Bob has all summer to work on it and a few others.
Like Ric, we were a bit surprised to have trains running on Friday. We found some trouble spots but got the major ones fixed on Saturday morning. I’m sure some more will pop up before long but the major work is done.
I’ll have some pix here shortly as soon as I get them uploaded.
Friday afternoon, Bob and Jon are madly scrambling to get the last couple of sections of track laid while RGS #22 waits patiently nearby.
(http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh58/rgseng/Bobs%20Weekend/bobs03.jpg)
No 22 had the honor of being the first train over the new layout. That was quite an honor for me too.
(http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh58/rgseng/Bobs%20Weekend/bobs04.jpg)
While not historically accurate, this was where it was decided the “Golden Spike” ceremony would be held. Bruce fashioned a gold spike from some brass and this area was a bit more scenic than where the actual joining took place.
(http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh58/rgseng/Bobs%20Weekend/bobs013.jpg)
The “Golden Spike” ceremony…Bob drives in the Gold Spike and the mainline is “Officially” open.
(http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh58/rgseng/Bobs%20Weekend/bobs014.jpg)
Ceremony over and the Jackson & Burke railcar heads back up the grade to Burke Yard.
(http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh58/rgseng/Bobs%20Weekend/bobs015.jpg)
Meanwhile Bob tries out the K on the raised loop. We found a spot there in the turn a bit tight and made plans to get that fixed in the morning.
(http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh58/rgseng/Bobs%20Weekend/bobs016.jpg)
The next morning after realigning the curve by Stan Bob and Jon, the K makes a successful journey around the loop with a close watch by Bob.
(http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh58/rgseng/Bobs%20Weekend/bobs017.jpg)
Overall view of the southern end of the layout.
(http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh58/rgseng/Bobs%20Weekend/bobs02.jpg)
The approx. middle part of the layout.
(http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh58/rgseng/Bobs%20Weekend/bobs07.jpg)
The northern end with Burke Yard.
(http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh58/rgseng/Bobs%20Weekend/bobs08.jpg)
Saturday afternoon and Bob’s wife Martha takes RGS #20 out for a spin. I don’t know who was more excited about finally having a RR Bob or Martha, but we all had fun building it.
(http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh58/rgseng/Bobs%20Weekend/bobs020.jpg)
(http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh58/rgseng/Bobs%20Weekend/bobs022.jpg)
I was on the road a 5 am this morning and got home before lunch. I had a great time and Bob, Martha, Greta and Sophie were all great hosts. (and sorry about the messy house Martha…;))
Bob, approximately how many feet of track in your layout??? Regal
Great pics Ken. Thanks for the update. Railroad looks good
Sounds like a good time was had by all.
Jean and I drove up Wednesday, leaving sort of early (6:30) to avoid most of the DC rush hour. We were almost successful, and didn’t encounter any other delays in route…well, until we hit NYC. It was backed up solid before the GW bridge, so we got off at the Palisades Parkway and took the Tappan Zee bridge across the Hudson. We checked in early and headed over to survey Bob’s layout and went out to dinner with Bob and Martha. Friday, we first had to take on some donuts and coffee at Bob’s before we started working on the main line approaching the coal yard. Jean took on the job as recording photographer; she took most of these shots.
(http://jbrr.com/Pics/Events/BobsRREvent/IMG_7856.JPG)
Sean showed up just a bit later and was soon constructing platforms for all of the yards that Bob wanted. I quickly found out he worked faster when I didn’t help. 
(http://jbrr.com/Pics/Events/BobsRREvent/IMG_7859.JPG)
Once that yard was complete, he went to work building the platform down by the coaling station.
(http://jbrr.com/Pics/Events/BobsRREvent/IMG_7868.JPG)
Sean had all of the right tools - and the right t-shirt…
(http://jbrr.com/Pics/Events/BobsRREvent/IMG_7869.JPG)
We decided that a leaf blower was MUCH better than a rake, so Sean and I got to pose with his blower - track powered!
(http://jbrr.com/Pics/Events/BobsRREvent/IMG_7881.JPG)
Not only is Sean an engineer, but he’s also great at trimming the shrubbery; he made a proper looking tree out of this Alberta Spruce
(http://jbrr.com/Pics/Events/BobsRREvent/IMG_7885.JPG)
Ken and Bob working on the loop
(http://jbrr.com/Pics/Events/BobsRREvent/IMG_7886.JPG)
By late Thursday, Bob was putting the final coats of primer on the ladder/spline trying to cover up all the bright white of TufBoard. I was putting the finishing touches on the passing siding and Ken was coming over to inspect my work, while Jon checked the track from his side.
(http://jbrr.com/Pics/Events/BobsRREvent/IMG_7896.JPG)
I was amazed at how fast everything came together. When I built my layout single-handed it took months. Having more people seemed about 20 times faster than doing it myself. The other good thing is having extra sets of eyes to detect little bumps in the ladder or tilts to the sides.
(http://jbrr.com/Pics/Events/BobsRREvent/IMG_7898.JPG)
Here Bob and Jon work on the upper siding - installing the ladder and setting it to the right grade. Ken and I work on re-doing the grade on the main. It was much too steep, but we quickly got it corrected. Again, just doing that part by myself might have taken me a couple of days.
(http://jbrr.com/Pics/Events/BobsRREvent/IMG_7906.JPG)
Jean took this shot through the window giving a great overhead view of what we were working on in the previous shot.
(http://jbrr.com/Pics/Events/BobsRREvent/IMG_7912.JPG)
Greta (the beagle/basset mix) thought that Jon needed a few ear licks to help him work…
(http://jbrr.com/Pics/Events/BobsRREvent/IMG_7913.JPG)
I cut some brass rod in an attempt to make a “golden” spike. Bob pre-drilled a hole for it.
(http://jbrr.com/Pics/Events/BobsRREvent/IMG_7916.JPG)
One very happy camper!
(http://jbrr.com/Pics/Events/BobsRREvent/IMG_7919.JPG)
We had to leave fairly early on Saturday morning - about 9:30. Just before I left I took these shots. Here’s the left side of the layout. You can see the platform that Sean built just in front of the main yard; I got to prime it. Bob will be putting some code 215 switches and track there to complete it.
(http://jbrr.com/Pics/Events/BobsRREvent/IMG_7925.JPG)
The main line goes down the hill on the right side of the layout. At this point, we were having some tight spots on the loop in the back of the layout. In just about an hour’s time, it was fixed. That meant moving quite a few of the posts and relocating the ladder on about a quarter of the loop. We also raised the track a bit as it crosses over the coal yard.
(http://jbrr.com/Pics/Events/BobsRREvent/IMG_7926.JPG)
We left just about the time that Stan showed up, so we didn’t get any pictures of him; and we missed Ray entirely. I really wanted to stay and work some more, but we also wanted to get back home. My daughter ran her first half-marathon - the Marine Corps Historic Half - in Fredericksburg 7 AM Sunday morning and we had to be down there to cheer her on - making for an early drive. She did well - 1:43:21; 340 in a field of over 5,000. #48 in the female side.
Congrats to your daughter, Bruce. More pics always welcome, nice overview pics
Thanks everyone for their synopsis of the event. We got a LOT further by Friday than I was really expecting, or prepared for. If I had known we’d have a working mainline and sidings by then, I would have had more 215 track ready to go onto the sidings.
Thanks again for the help. Looking forward to having an ops session sometime in September. Pencil me in.
THAT’s AWESOME!!! Sean seems like the kinda guy I could work with! I do find this picture humorous and thinking bronze statue material here!
(http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh58/rgseng/Bobs%20Weekend/bobs03.jpg)
Was the platform top plywood, or dimensional wood?
That looks great!
I’m having a similar party on this Saturday. Film at eleven.
The first platform is covered with 2" thick PT…salvaged. It was “dry” enough to prime.
(http://jbrr.com/Pics/Events/BobsRREvent/IMG_7883.JPG)
Sean told Bob he needed new lumber for the coal yard platform. So Bob took his truck and got some 2x4 and some 5/4" x 6" stuff.
Looks like you all had a great time… Railroad looks good…
Thanks Andy. Once I get the sidings in place, I can start scenery and running some trains.
Looks like the guys did a great job.
Ralph
Bob is it done yet?
Sean