Eric, the cane cars look great ! Thanks for posting. I have memories of the cane fields in Queensland, Australia, from 40 years ago. The cane went on for miles and miles! Not the first thing you think of about Australia, but QLD is very tropical climate. I have some pictures somewhere. Look in' great !!
Paul
idea: processing mill !!
Eric,
The whole journey of the Triple O so far has been a delight to read. I found it really heartening as a beginner just to see how much progress can be made in ~four years which happens to be the amount of time I have to get my railroad really running.
I'll try to take a page from your book and involve my family in the railroad too, though I think it won't be easy to get my fam super excited about the trains.
You and the Triple O have helped me to adapt my mindset too and now I'm thinking about my railroad less in terms of expansion and more in terms of bringing life to the track I already have.
Your cane cars make me want to begin researching ore cars in order to build my own since copper ore is the blood of this state.
Thanks for the inspiration and I look forward to seeing where the Triple O goes next,
Holden
Holden,
Mahalo (Thank You) for your kind words. I wrote the blog as a means to ask questions, record answers, and to commit myself to action. I am flattered to find it can serve as a way to move another's railroad into being!
As for getting family involved, see if you can integrate the railroad into their interests. Does someone cook? Find herbs that will grow where you plan to run tracks. Is someone into fish? Try an easy "tub pond." Do they use the yard to entertain? Make sure the trains can carry appetizers (It's a great party shtick you only need for about 20 minutes as guests arrive). As someone once told me, to be successful, if "Someone in the family wants a pink one or something with dopey googley eyes, just do it. It'll pay off later." Be flexibe, and incorporate their needs into your vision. They may never become active in the hobby, but, if you let them see a bit of themselves in your railroad, they will actively share in your pride for whatever your ultimately create.
Eric
Well, we did it! After 6 years of questions, answers, college tries, and actual successes, we made it! Yep, right there above the table of contents and spread across pp. 17-18 of the Fall 2020 Issue of Garden Railways, stands proof that the Oberammergau, Ogden & Olomana RR - a.k.a. the Triple O - has come of age! That photo represents a culmination of years of work....
Where we began when the trains first rolled in January 2015...
...has become the oasis we enjoy today:
The labor, much of it documented over the course of this blog, is ours. The ideas, the concepts, the corrections, the prods, the encouragement belong to the community. We have been privileged to serve as the instruments to bring the collective wisdom of 35 years into new form in our backyard. I hope the editors and staff of GR, its many contributors, and the guiding hands in this forum will see echoes of their own journey through this hobby in that photograph, too, as well as my resounding "Mahalo! Thank you!"
GR's future we know, and I have decided to let this blog, too, come to an end. I don't know if it will have a place in what becomes of this site, and, like all things, it has served its purpose, and it, too, must come to a close. The Triple O has become a center point of our entertainment, a lifeline in COVID isolation, and a source of inspiration always. Skills learned here have helped me maintain our home. The kids, while not always involved and, as they grow older, increasingly less involved, have taken a love of creating, doing, crafting, gardening, researching, applying trying, failing, and trying again with them from the Triple O into their own endeavors. As a parent, I could ask for little more from any hobby. The Triple O carries in memories, linking Past to Future via Present on brass rails, weaving together in its miniature right-of-way four generations, three land masses, and two cultures. There is still much profit to be hauled along this line, and the riple O will serve on for years to come as a common carrier of memories and dreams.
I have thanked the staff for their part in this journey. I need to send a special thanks to Greg. I can now safely troubleshoot a DC circuit without risk of damage or injury! Another personal "Mahalo!" goes to Bill, whose patience and creativity continue to nudge me ever futher from "just running trains" to "modeling a railroad." Others, I have thanked at the time of their assistance. My final thank you before closing this thread, goes to Tom Trigg. Without him, there would be no Triple O. Period. When the Wabash Cannonball thunders over the Ko'olaus, I hope he periodicallu looks down from the observation car and notes...
We are still outside.
We are still getting dirty.
We are still having fun.
All Aboard!
congratulations on your photos in GR! This stands testament to your years of great work, and fun along the way! Amazing contrast from first shot to current.The tree has grown tremendously. Your layout shows all the care and love you and your family have put forth!
Fantastic job!
Outstanding work! It's nice to see the day by day progress and lessions learned along the way. What issue of Garden Railways was your layout featured in?
Gents,
Thanks for your kind comments. Seeing the Triple O in in the Fall 2020 issue's Readers Gallery - as well as over the table of contents - provided a real validation of our work over the years. It is a tribute, too, to all those who helped along the way.
BLT_BY_LIONEL What issue of Garden Railways was your layout featured in?
What issue of Garden Railways was your layout featured in?
That's quite the honor if you ask me... and well deserved. My Lionel Super O layout got one picture in CTT and I was ecstatic haha. It's a shame to hear about GR being discontinued by the way.... I'll have to go looking for old issues, including Fall 2020.
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