 |
Lee B
Registered
|
The story has long been told and is known by all the locals:
One fall morning, the revenuers and some deputies for the local Sherriff
came to bust up the still for the Richardsons and Ensors.
They pulled up in their cars at the Grindstaff store
at the base of Hurley Hollow at Sadie, Tennessee.
Knee-deep in the Great Depression, most of the locals
were toiling in the fields and apparently paid them little mind.
The old men who always seemed to hang around the store watched
in silence until their rifles and shotguns came out of the trunks of their cars.
The old men started snickering and immediately knew what was going to happen.
"I wouldn't go up there looking for those boys," the men with badges were warned,
"They's all gone across the water."
The old men, of course, were referring to the Great War in France. They had all
served in the trenches and the locals knew that those lessons had not gone unheeded.
The rifles and shotguns were loaded in silence,
and off the men with the oversized badges went, up into the hills.
Over an hour passed and the old men suddenly heard the staccato echoes of rifle fire.
Lot of it. As quickly as it started, it ceased. An hour after that,
the men with the badges came back, all limping and all injured in some way.
The old men noticed that none had serious wounds,
which they all immediately agreed was intentional.
Those boys up in the hollow had learned where to shoot someone without killing them as
they'd had plenty of experience in the trenches of France just over a dozen years before.
That was just over a decade ago. The moonshine stills are mostly quiet now.
You can't get the 'fixings' for them now with wartime rationing on.
All the young men are off across the water again, this time for a war across both oceans.
Once that gets straightened out, the old men sitting in front of Grindstaff store declare,
they'll be right back at it.
The law hasn't come up here looking for moonshine stills
since that day they tangled with those Great War veterans.
Sometimes the highway patrol comes up the valley,
but nobody is worried to see men with badges.
Everyone assumes they'll get right back at it
once this current war is over.
____________________
-Lee
Commanding Officer, 796th Railway Operating Battalion (in On30 gauge)
Photos of my layout: https://www.flickr.com/photos/53587910@N05/albums/72157668176638961
|
|
|
Lee B
Registered
|
Okay, it's not so much layout related as concept related,
but I decided to put together a uniform for the "Commanding office, 796th ROB",
using a reproduction cotton shirt, original Lt Col and Transportation Corps insignia,
and a shoulder patch I'd made.
When I have layout tours for the National Narrow Gauge convention in September,
I gotta wear this one of those days !
Maybe I'll wear my pistol belt and a sidearm at the same time,
as it'll keep visitors honest !
____________________
-Lee
Commanding Officer, 796th Railway Operating Battalion (in On30 gauge)
Photos of my layout: https://www.flickr.com/photos/53587910@N05/albums/72157668176638961
|
|
|
Lee B
Registered
|
Thanks, John !
Over this past weekend,
I decided to re-write my switch lists.
I'd written a 4-position switch list,
for 4-trains to cycle through the interchange,
whereas it'd reset everything, at the end of the 4th movement.
On previous op. sessions, I usually just run 2-trains,
and that takes around 3 hours or so.
And crews generally want to take photos and BS after that timeframe.
(I'm not one of those guys who wants to make people work
for a long timeframe, as that's too much like real work)
I'd gotten some new cars
(the ET&WNC wood hoppers I'd always wanted)
and re-wrote the list, but it messed the scheme up badly.
It took a while to get it right, by placing cars where they should be,
looking around and making notes or changing positions.
By the time I was done, I think I got it all correct.
____________________
-Lee
Commanding Officer, 796th Railway Operating Battalion (in On30 gauge)
Photos of my layout: https://www.flickr.com/photos/53587910@N05/albums/72157668176638961
|
|
|
Lee B
Registered
|
Recently, I scored a 1930 Model A made by Brooklyn.
Normally they're expensive models (over $100 retail)
but I snagged this one for around 40 bucks with postage.
For what you pay in retail,
they're not worth the extra money, IMHO.
Other than no plastic parts other than the wheels,
they're no better than less expensive diecasts.
That said, it really looks great.
Yesterday, I weathered the thing.
I added a 'B card' gas rationing sticker to the windshield,
removed the side windows,
and added a Tennessee 1943 plate to the back end.
BEFORE:
AFTER:
And afterward, placed on the layout:
____________________
-Lee
Commanding Officer, 796th Railway Operating Battalion (in On30 gauge)
Photos of my layout: https://www.flickr.com/photos/53587910@N05/albums/72157668176638961
|
|
|
Bob Westerman
Registered
|
Nice improvements on the car !
It looks good.
____________________
Bob W
|
|
|
Lee B
Registered
|
Bob Westerman wrote:
Nice improvements on the car !
It looks good.
Thanks much.
I like weathering on autos,
especially when you can easily disassemble them.
Brooklyn brand diecast cars are held together with phillips screws,
which came as a pleasant surprise.
I was actually surprised at how they're made,
considering how much you pay for these normally.
I wouldn't dream of paying retail for one of these, as they have no interiors,
the windows are almost made of cellophane, shrink/formed of VERY thin plastic.
But there was something about the overall look of this,
it's much better looking than other Model A 1:43 scale models I've seen.
The wheels, grille and bumpers look very good,
and was well worth what I paid for it
(though NOT for the retail cost).
____________________
-Lee
Commanding Officer, 796th Railway Operating Battalion (in On30 gauge)
Photos of my layout: https://www.flickr.com/photos/53587910@N05/albums/72157668176638961
|
|
|
Current time is 12:14 am | Page:   ... 58 59 60 61 62 63 |
|
|
|
