Narrow Guage Day - Pine Mountain GA 2010

 

Packrat Paul, Coalfinger Ken and myself got up early Saturday morning and drove down to the Narrow Gauge Day Event at Callaway Gardens in Pine Mountain, GA.  It was held at the Mountain Creek Inn where Ray Montgomery works.  He's the host.

Here's Ray chatting with Larry about the upcoming scenery clinic.  The room was spacious.  Very spacious since most of the modular layout guys that said they were coming didn't show up.  Turnout was poor, mostly due to the weather and the economy.

There were still a bunch of models on display.

Steve Austin from Jasper, GA brought a ton of very high quality models.  His work is just off the chart.  I love seeing his stuff!

Steve's loco and derrick combination is very unique!

Here are some more of Steve's On30 cars.

And still more of Steve's rolling stock.  The saw filer's car is excellent!

Steve's log loader is spectacular.  No photo can capture the detail.

Here's some Austin steam!

Tom English gave me a sidebar on how he built these great looking trucks out of a shiny plastic toy.  Just amazing.  Said it was his first attempt as he's an N-scaler.  Welcome to On30, Tom!

The before and after version of Tom's car...

We were treated to several great clinics.  One was on the Maine Two Footers which I enjoyed immensly.  Another was on Scenery by Larry Smith, MMR.  I played Vanna White.

The Bald One took some spirited pokes at Mayor Rick Perry, formally known as my cousin Rick.  The good thing is that you can write anything you want about The Bald One...and he will never know it because he takes great pride in telling you he doesn't use computers.

Ray makes a great host.  I loved the facility, although you have to bring your own coffee.

This is Master Model Railroader (and good friend) Larry Smith from Birmingham, AL.  I took a great deal of time with him drooling over his fine HO sawmill.  He is a top modeler and fun guy to hang around with.

 

Messrs. Rankin and Stinnette enjoyed a fine lunch at the nearby Pig pallace.  The food is so good I grabbed a card.

After lunch we sat down at the weathering table with the notable Thomas A. Yorke, who is an expert model builder.  For several hours we learned advanced techniques for weathering cars and painting structures.  I'd love to publish his hand outs but they were copywrited.  I learned a lot from him.

We also learned about the upcoming National Narrow Gauge Convention coming in 2011 to Hickory, NC.  Nobody will miss that one!