I'm back after a crazy year-to-date. Vaccinations were finished up in March which coincided with the Orthopedic Surgeon confirming a partial tear in my right shoulder's rotator cuff. Since the PT wasn't helping it get better (and in fact put me in more pain), the decision was made to repair it arthroscopically as an outpatient. That happened on the last day of June and the recovery is underway as this is written.
However...lots happened before that. In March I presented a clinic on my steel stud benchwork for the JRD meet; It's on the JRD website at: Steel Stud Benchwork . Since then, the vaccine has allowed some things to get underway again. I was able to visit my Mom and brother, we had an actual family gathering for Easter, a year-postponed wedding celebration for my younger daughter, and some work sessions, meets, and Op sessions have resumed IN PERSON!!!!
The layout timeline chart shows what has been accomplished so I won't rehash it here except in broad-brush perspective. About 2/3 of the rolling stock is on the layout with car cards. Active work is underway to complete the database modifications to better track the waybills (I never knew what car had which waybill or vice -versa). Scenery is being restored, and essentially all structures have been repaired and restored to the layout, not necessarily where they were. The tunnel liners had been damaged in the deconstruction of the old layout, and were a clearance issue while running test trains. All the old ones are gone, and 2 of the 3 needing repairs are complete. Once these are done, the mountain scenery can be restored and modified as needed to fit the new geography. Trains can run; loconet and the additional booster have been running with no issues, as well as JMRI Panel Pro and all the interfaces. Power-operated turnouts can be thrown locally, by throttle command, or from the JMRI panel. Where needed all hand-thrown turnouts have had their caboose stands restored. The final track in the expanded Florence Yard has been laid, but not yet wired. All card boxes needed have been fabricated and painted to match the fascia but not yet labeled. We will soon be running test schedules/trains to test interactions; most of the bugs seem to have been squashed until my friend Mr. Murphy brings them in with operators!
So I'm in a little lull right now while recovering. I "volunteered" for another clinic in November at the joint JRD/Potomac meet so that will get some attention now, and also working on computer stuff in preparation for Ops. Soon...
If you like scenery, kitbashing, making resistor wheels, or virtually any other facet of building and operating a layout (and want to try out something or work on someone else's), let me know. I'm currently doing "impromptu" sessions whenever anyone says they can come, but I will most likely be working daily on some facet.