This wasn’t a very good year.  I had some plans to get things done, but then a minor catastrophe struck: in late May I was diagnosed with leukemia and was hospitalized from May 25 until July 31 with only a four day period being home between the first two chemotherapy sessions.  In August I was declared in remission, so at least the cancer is being held in check.  Another hospital stay in September but only for a week.  The problem is the chemo wipes out the immune system so my diet was very restricted and I have to avoid things that can get me sick, like large crowds and contact with soil.  That last restriction put the brakes on any plans for being in the garden.

Large Scale NW2

While stuck in the hospital I can do research and make plans, so I spent a lot of time reading N Scale and Garden Railways magazines, and making plans for what I was going to do once free.  Getting the large scale NW2 finished was high on the list, so that’s where I started.  Once home I got back to work:

• Changed to LED head/tail lights.
• Switched to a smaller battery.  Had to do a lot of work in the cab to accommodate it!
• Re-assembled; first time in several years it was all together.
• Add custom decals for my layout.
• Weathered.

Right now the initial coat of chalk weathering is on, but I need spring to roll around so I can set up the spray booth in the garage, put on a layer of Dullcote, then get serious about some grimy black weathering!  But the engine does look good reassembled and it’s fun to just turn it on and listen to the sound system while running back and forth on a short piece of test track in the basement.  The CVP AirWire system is a very nice system.

Large Scale Speeder

I’ve had a Bachmann Speeder for a few years and wasn’t sure what to do with it, especially now that I’ve given up on track power and am going all wireless.  There is no room inside the speeder for either a receiver or battery, so it seemed destined to become  static display.  Finally it dawned on me that an auxiliary car could be pulled behind the speeder, presumably with tools on-board, but actually hiding a small battery and a new M15 Micro Decoder.  This project isn’t done yet, but should make the speeder usable again, perfect for someone to play around with.