Boomer Jack was a real live dog who had no home or master. He roamed the rails mostly between Willis and Eureka. Quite a while back I wrote up his story from the “facts” that I learned. We give the story away and my best estimate is that we have passed out some 500 copies to date.
Boomer Jack riding the rails
The scenery at our layout is NOT static. We constantly are moving things around, adding new stuff and tarting up old. The Homestead diorama is a recent addition. That doesn’t mean that it is cooked never to be touched. Here are two recent changesThe two pics show a crane on a flat car added to the front siding. Chuck Whitlock built it from “bits.” The second pic shows the 0-4-0 loco that has turned up to move the crane car.
Crane on a four wheel flatcar
0-4-9 come to collect the crane
I thought I should post this pic before the Pomo Native American encampment was removed as part of the rescenicking of Three chop Ridge in the north west inside corner of the layout. The encampment is going to be moved to the outside north east corner of the layout. The area will be replaced, if all goes to plan, by a shingle mill which will have a flume to carry away the finished product.
Native American Pomo encampment on Three Chop Ridge
The stones on the right are part of the sweat house,
“One over the eight” – an expression meaning someone who has had one over the eight is very drunk indeed. It refers to the standard eight pints that most people drink and feel is enough. Well, that’s what the dictionary said.
In the mini scene created by our Chief Operating Officer, Frank Davis, the main character looks as if he has definitely had enough. Note the cat to his immediate right who looks as if may also have imbibed when he shouldn’t. Shift your eyes left and you’ll see Bingo the dog who is happy to just sit there. Meanwhile, in the back of the winch house the real work goes on under the supervision of Otto, the foreman.
[Click to enlarge the photo to see all the detail.]
The scene inside the winch house