Tuesday, July 21, 2009

The potatoes have been planted!
(click on photo to enlarge)
The big potato field in Rosedale has now been completed. It is more than five feet wide (that's 435+ scale feet), and has about 120 rows (each of which required an average of about 10 minutes to install). I also scratchbuilt a small potato house along the edge of the field, added a tool shed, and then included a couple of small cabins to house the "potato pickers" that make the rounds in the fall. The accommodations include all of the conveniences--a hand pump for water, and an outhouse.
I attended the national NMRA convention in Hartford earlier this month, and enjoyed visiting many layouts. I also operated on three layouts--the "Operations Road Show" modular layout at the convention, Al Oneto's "Port Sebago and Southern" in Fairfield, Connecticut, and the North Shore Club in Wakefield, MA.
I have been trying to make sure the Carleton Railway is ready for both operating sessions and the layout tour during the MFMR/NER convention in May 2010: http://www.tracksandtides2010.org/