Think now… remember what the train layout use to look like….I’ll wait…OK well here is a picture 
now its time for the transformation…first I need to move everything so that the transformation can take place 
as you can tell I have a lot of help…(shes on the phone) 
now that looks better…Caleb has been asking when I was going to finish it, well little man its now…now to put the turntable back in place 
now that wasn’t so bad…fan track is next 
yeah all those wires have to be run through the table and wired up…like this 
yeah the diesels are the most trouble free runners and I needed one to test the alignment of all the fan track and inside the roundhouse…I did move it a little to have more clearance for the addition 
hey wait how did that get there…oh well her name is Fufi …aint she cute 
um OK back to work…now that all the track is wired its time to park the motive power 
I also add a couple more spaces in case of the possibility of the arrival of more motive power…here is the addition in all its glory 
now to make a way on and off the new table… 
now that works…now to lay track around the new table and get back to the other…I was gonna make two bridges side by side and use the turn table as a route of traffic but that is not at all life like and I would like some realism so I decided on this 
FYI to go from the existing to adding the new and also moving 5 switches to accommodate the additional 15 cars from ebay…parking aka freight yard… 
took me every day after work till 1-2 in the morning for a week. Now we just have to populate it…oh boy!!!!
Here are a couple of pictures of the progress so far… 
just a sample of the Acela Express at full tilt…Caleb is afraid to run it like this…150 MPH scale speed…
I have decided to increase the size of the train layout. I’m gonna add another 4X8 sheet…its gonna get attached to the existing by a couple of bridges. You can see all the room I have in this pcture… 
yeah where the ladder is…it will fit and leave enough room to get to the controls.the 2 bridges will be behind the roundhouse close to the wall and close to each other and close to the building…really close… one track will come from existing parking and the other will come from the turntable…. 
SHHHHHH don’t tell Caleb but Santa is bringing a 4-8-8-4 Big Boy steamie for Christmas. It is suppose to fit in the roundhouse and on the turntable and take all but the inner loop on the table , so we shall see next week.
Well its been a while so here goes… Oct 21 Caleb had an outing with the cub Scouts…it was a camping trip to the Spookeree. So I went and picked him up that morning and we headed to the campsite. The campsite was at Fairview Christian Church Youth Camp in Concord Va. They have a small playground there with a little pond , we arrived a little early so Caleb got to play a little before registration. Here are a few photos , the first is a ship clubhouse. 
After registration we set up the tent…which has been set up in the backyard for several months. 
I also brought an air mattress to give us a little cushion from the ground…Caleb thought it would be a great idea to use it as a trampoline as this short video shows. There were several activities that day that keep him quit busy. First he went to crafts where he built a pirate ship. 
The last picture is the screenshot on my phone. After building the boat Caleb wanted to know if it would float so we went to the pond and here is the result… Next up was bow and arrow of which I didnt get a photo because I was helping him shoot. Then we went to the BB gun range and Caleb hit the target 16 out of 20 times…I’m so proud. 
The target is stuck up on my fridge and its kinda hard to see the holes ….you’ll have to trust me… 
Then we went to the giant slingshot where he pulls back on the pouch with a tennis ball and tries to hit the wooden ships … see below 
Then there was an obstacle course in the woods but my phone was dying ny then…it was fun watching all the kids go through it. Then there was fishing…didnt catch anything but Caleb had a blast casting the rod in the pond. Then there was a treasure hunt that was kinda drawn out and a little long. Dinner was next…hamburgers and hot dogs. About 8 o clock we went to the campfire and heard a few jokes and a coupe stories …by the end of that Caleb was ready for bed so we headed for the tent…the low that night was about 35 so I got us a couple of sleeping bags and brought a couple blankets. We stayed toasty ward and Caleb even said Charlie was almost sweating lol. It was a lot of fun.
Here in this little town we have two rivers, one is the Smith and the other is the Dan. Two years ago on my birthday my present was to float the river and Caleb has wanted to do it again ever since….well this weekend was the deal. The trip we took was the same as last time, about 8-9 miles on the water in a canoe. Caleb got a paddle like dad and had fun doing what he calls hitting the brakes. Hitting the brakes is defined as putting his paddle in the water and not paddling, which worked pretty good to slow us down and help us turn and to be honest he really helped when it was needed. I didn’t get many pictures as I have a non water proff phone…not for long tho as my next will be. We also stopped at what Caleb calls rock island and it is named correctly as it’s an island of nothing but rocks in the middle of the river. Rapids are not bad at all as the river is waist deep or less most of the trip and at a couple of spots you have to get out and push off the rocks bit anyway here are a few pictures of the trip…
Please note in the last picture Caleb is holding a big rock…there is one like it in the floorboard of my explorer and this seems to be starting a tradition.
O O O ice cold milk and an Oreo…. cow???
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