The Golden Spike Ceremony

Big day today. The last piece of Sn3 track has been laid. As well, the last switches or turnouts are in. All track and turnouts are wired for operation. Number 455 was on hand as well as the Division Superintendent who drove over in his Buick Roadmaster. And of course we have a fat guy watching. Slim actually hit the spike cleanly so we are done with this phase. Much applause and the crowd left quietly - to their storage box.

Now I get to run trains for a few days just to check everything out. No strange electrical shorts and plenty of sound from the locos. Then the locomotive and all the cars go back into their storage boxes so that I can do the next phase. 1) I want to install better lighting with an overhead light track. Hate to drop a screwdriver on a valuable locomotive so they all go away. Then 2) get rid of that blue color on the ground. I mean we ain't got no smurfs in Colorado (not sure they made it to the UK). Once that is done, with a base coat of color, I can 3) install plexiglass safety shields along the front so nothing takes a header while operating. Not a good thing to happen. Finally 4) I will print up digital photos of Dolores and mount them on foamcore. I will cut out the hill forms and slip them at the rear of the layout on the three sides. In the past, this step has transformed the railroad immediately.

So - on with getting 455 to Dolores and drop off those gondolas.