Have we had a few good months of steaming lately or what? Ardenwood in April was the usual good time. Hanging out with the BAGRS Short Line module group is becoming a theme because we also had a great time with them this past weekend up at Roaring Camp for the Father's Day Celebration.

Gary Broeder and Tom King took the track up on Saturday morning and with some help from Frank Russo and a few BAGRS Short Line members set it up outdoors under the trees. Frank had his Aster GS4 Daylight which put on an amazing show (great sound effects), and Gary and Tom also brought a full contingent of road iron. Gary's Schools and rake of Southern coaches got a lot of attention. Ray Widener ran his Frank S. and I took my Hemmens Porter project with me. Tom sent Gumby and Pokey careening around the track behind his Cricket powered train. We all pitched in to get the track loaded back into Gary's Suburban, but when we were all done it was hanging out about 2" too far. Tom and I were engineering all sorts of elegant solutions to solve the problem including stomping on the brakes, disassembling the door, applying a hacksaw and such when Gary walked up, eyeballed it for a few seconds and slammed the door. Sure took all the fun out if for Tom and me, we'd just barely found a saw.

Frank Russo poses with his Daylight. That's the Roaring Camp Shay "Dixiana" in the background under full steam as it heads up the mountain.

We had a steady flow of visitors of all ages.

You can see the park-like setting that Roaring Camp has established. A Frank S. overtakes an Argyle SPC #3 simmering on the siding.

Gary demonstrates proper steamup form.

Ray Widener answers a few questions while operating his Frank S.

The business end of the layout. Several locomotives were available for inspection while both tracks were kept busy all day long.