Bad News

Oh well
I just got an Email from Hog Trainz along with a full refund. they were out of Ann Arbor locomotives and I will not be getting my GP38 #7771 I was counting on. If anyone out there knows where I can get one, Please let me know.

New Agreement Opens The Door To New Locomotive

My wife Sandy proposed a new agreement today which I jumped all over. If I attend a gym 4 or 5 times a week I can earn money toward train cars and other stuff. She was kind enough to advance me enough money so I could order an Ann Arbor GP38 #7771.

Currently the Ann Arbor Railroad shows 3 GP38's on their roster, they are #7771, 7791, and 7802. I currently have #7791 and 7802. Now I just ordered #7771 so my collection is complete.

What your looking for is sometimes in front of you

I have been searching frantically for Tuscola and Saginaw Bay Locomotives for a while. I got lucky about a month ago and found one on the internet # 389 The City of Traverse City. It was a great price and I was sure that the other Locomotive was out of my reach. About a week ago I was in Mountain Town Hobbies in Mt. Pleasant Michigan and there on the shelf was the locomotive # 394 The City of Clare. Needless to say I had them put it aside for me. This is the locomotive that Athern misspelled the name of the city as Clair. this makes that locomotive somewhat of a collectors item.

Church and Gas Station Join the Layout

The church is set near the city park and the preacher is standing outside waiting for the Bride and Groom to start the wedding service. I plan to add a lot of benches and people on the grassy area in front of the preacher to observe the ceremony. they and the bride and groom are waiting for me to pick them up at Mountain Town Hobbies in Mt. Pleasant Michigan.

Every town needs a Standard Station to service the vehicles for the town. This one is a full service Gas Station on the edge of the downtown area. the gas pumps are for regular and ethel color coded for easy identification. All I need is a few vehicles and the station will be hopping with business.

Slowly the layout is coming to life.

When the weather clears up my attention turns outdoors. The garden railroad layout will undergo some changes this year. I plan to expand the track to include a larger area of the yard. before this I was running 2 tracks, but I think I will limit it to one large track area. I will start out by repairing the damage the weather has brought to the buildings and the track bed. I will, however, continue to work on my indoor layout through the summer as well.

The New Swamp

It has been raining for a few days now and watching out my window I got the idea that a swamp would fit well in one of the blank areas of the train table layout. so with a little glue and some plastic water, I set to work on the swamp. I added about 4 bare trees and some bushes. I think I really like the way it turned out.

More Enhancements to Layout

I have added The prison as a background building and a gatehouse. Work is set to begin on the parking lot soon. I have 2 Michigan State Police vehicles on hold at Mountain Town Hobbies in Mt. Pleasant Michigan I am still looking for a prison bus I can use.

I put in a beach area just off the tennis court. To serve both the tennis court and the beach I added a hot dog stand. I also added bleachers for people to watch the game of doubles that is going on. The line judge is making sure the game is played according to the rules and the ball boy is ready to retrieve the loose balls. I have another set of bleachers I have yet to put together and place on the layout. Also I have ordered people for the beach area and a few outhouses.

All in all the layout is developing a character of it's own. There is however a lot I have yet to add and it will be years before the layout is complete.