More News and Pics From Marcel

 Marcel Is Enjoying His Time In the Southwest!

We thank Marcel for this next allotment of pics from his travels around his hometown in the south.  He definitely does not need to rely on the good old snow shovel!

Remember, you can enlarge these images by clicking on them.  You can return to the default look of the page by clicking outside them.

Here is Marcel's e-mail message to me.  "Hello Mike. I attended my second meeting of the Arizona Big Train Operators group on Saturday.  Each meeting is hosted by one of the members at their home and layout.  Here are some pictures from Kelly and Cheryl Snow's home and layout.  Enjoy and share."

Lovely scenery and an incredible backdrop!

And...if it gets too hot...! (Big grin!)

The meeting place.

Some beautiful looking trains.

What appears to be the staging area.

Detailed information for the meeting.

Thanks so much, Marcel, for sharing these lovely images from a masterpiece of a layout!

Thank Kelly and Cheryl for allowing us to visit "virtually" as well.

Marcel then sent a second e-mail with these next two photos.

"Hello again Mike. Here are a couple of shots of the location Eveline and I received our first shot of the Covid-19 vaccination on Feb 13th."

Marcel went on to say, "Our second shot will be at the same place on March 6th so I hope they will allow us back into Canada without all of the B.S. we are hearing about. The $2000.00 hotel stays etc. Oh! Canada?"

We certainly do miss our good friend, Marcel, up here in Canada.  Actually, we all miss each other as we continue to socially distance and keep in touch via on-line computer meets and telephone calls.  So...what have you been up to with all of this "down time?"  As you can see, I've been making progress on the machine shop build for Doug.

Yes, all of the machines are now complete and glued to the shop floor.

They are also attached "up to the rafters" to their respective pulleys on the countershafts.

This was a rather tricky aspect of the build as I had to "thread" the pulleys onto the main drive shaft along with the drive shaft bearings ensuring that I got everything right in the correct order as I went along.

Tyvek material was used for the belts as it will not "warp" over time.  I painted the belts a suede leather colour similar to the colours I found in many shop images.

While I still have many details to add to the shop, including the scratchbuilding of the vent hood and vent piping to be placed above the blacksmith's hearth as well as the painting and placement of a few human figures, the installation of the rafters and roof will have to wait for the time being. 

You may recall this earlier shot with the rafters in place.

I knew all along that I would have to "dismantle" these rafters in order to scratchbuild and locate all of the upper paraphernalia in place.

The project is nowhere complete.

Once the machine shop is finished, it will be on to the multiple-based diorama Doug and I are designing!

The above image was taken from a slide in a power point presentation both Doug and I gave to the NMRA a couple of years back.  Doug had already built the two machines to the right and the boiler to the upper left.  I completed the four remaining machines and a few others not shown in the image.  Teamwork is so rewarding!

In other news, Garry sent me a link to the amazing centre down in Florida which houses a number of well-known layouts.  Some of you may know of Dave Revelia, one of the founders of PODS, those personal on-demand storage units we see in so many driveways throughout North America.  He is a wonderful modeller who has amassed this collection of some of the finest model railroads including the large scale Sundance Central.

  Copy and paste the link below into your browser to view the layouts.  Thanks for the "heads up" Garry!

https://www.finescalemodeling.org/visit-the-center

Also, thanks to Mark for alerting us to this great looking National Garden Railroad Convention official convention car, a limited run.  It is our group's hope to have this beauty running along the rails of the IPP&W this coming season...and, perhaps the car from the year before!  Great spotting of a car with a very apropos meaning! 

We leave you with this four second video Marcel sent from Kelly and Cheryl's lovely outdoor layout.  Check out the flame coming from the exhaust at the factory!  Too cool!

As our fearless leader, Fred,  has reminded us..."Spring is on the way!"

Have a great day all and stay safe!

Mike Hamer, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Happy Valentine's Day From Moe

Happy Valentine's Day Greetings From Moe

Hi everyone! Moe sends along this lovely Valentine's Day collage of images for our enjoyment. 

Moe tells us, "This week as a winter project I captured a series of images in the house and produced a Valentine's Day presentation. It is not my usual subject but I thought it might add some brightness to our day."

Copy and paste the Youtube link below into your browser to view.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJlUpUsMw6A&feature=youtu.be

Thanks, Moe for your beautiful photography and your amazing presentation.  Your efforts certainly brighten our day!

Here's Moe with a big red CP diesel helping to create that Valentine's mood...all dressed up in red!

And...here's a pair of boxcars having donned Valentine's colours.

Finally, to round things out...our Drovers' Caboose with the crew enjoying some Valentine's chocolates hidden away inside! 

On behalf of Moe, Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

All the best, Mike Hamer, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

More From Marcel

 More From Marcel

Marcel has been gracious enough to keep in touch with our group from his home down in Arizona.  Recently he made it out to a club meeting.  Here are some pics sent our way.

He recently visited some friends at the ABTO.

(Remember, you can enlarge the images by clicking on them and return by clicking outside them.)

As the shirt reads, ABTO stands for...

...the Arizona Big Train Operators group.

And...what a glorious operations they have.

Lots of fine structures.

Nice shade which reminds us of St. Helens.

Creative colours with plants.

Multiple trains running simultaneously.

Marcel tells us that this is a scratchbuilt bridge.

A mound or a mountain?

Hard at work...

...on hands and knees.

Back at home, Marcel snapped this shot of the woodpecker doing what woodpeckers do best...creating holes in plants of all sorts...this time...it's Marcel's prickly cactus he's working on!

One of the many inspirational messages Marcel sends our way.

Holy oranges Batman!  Check out the size of these ones!  Marcel tells us, "These are Navel oranges. I have a tree in my back yard but mine didn't get enough water this summer. I didn't set the sprinkler on long enough for the hottest summer on record down here. Thank God for neighbors (American spelling) HEHEHE who share everything."

While Marcel was happily playing trains...

...we up here in Canada...

...were merrily...

...shoveling our driveways clear...

...in our "winter wonderland!"

Below is Marcel's note to me from the other day outlining his activities.

"Hello Mike. All is well here. Temps are 10 to 15° above normal for this time of year. Getting a little 'cool down' starting Tuesday with a slight possibility of showers. We have only had one day of rain since Nov 13th and since August the 20th before that. A nice shower would help the fruit trees but that's all. I joined a group called the Arizona Big Train Operators last week and attended their first meeting of this year yesterday. They move the meetings every month to someone else's layout. Most of the layouts are in Southeast and Southwest Phoenix but we hope to have a meeting up here in the Northwest sometime to show off our accomplishments. We'll see if we can get the old timers to move around a little. 

I am playing softball three days a week and sometimes tournaments on the odd weekend. The music arrangement sounds good for you. I couldn't bring a guitar down this year because we were flying down and I miss it. Hopefully by the time we get back things will be better to get together and play. I am registering for the vaccine on Tuesday and should get the first shot by mid February or so and the second shot 21 days after that. The Governor has permitted Snowbirds to be vaccinated free of charge also. Arizona doesn't mess around with things like that. Everybody is treated the same. Makes sense so we don't infect others. 

As I am writing this a large woodpecker is trying to enlarge a hole in my Saguaro (pronounced Sawaro) (little bit of Spanish lesson) Cactus. I think he's gonna have a bad headache. LOL. I'll send some pictures of the layout from yesterday later this afternoon. Take care, stay safe and keep in touch. Marcel. Say hello to Lisa and anyone else you see from the OVGRS.

Thanks, Marcel, for the wonderful images.

All the best, Mike Hamer, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada