Definitely better. I associate steep slopes with woody plants and vines that root deeper than grasses.

Looks like you're protecting the photo mural backdrop with plastic?  In my experience, New England and NY steep slopes rarely have bare dirt; either it's in the process of washing away, or the ground cover will grow back in weeks or months.  Steep rock often gets moss.

Nice finish work, Vagel. The operators, photographers and LPs aboard won't care if it was built on the other side of the Date Line.

Good afternoon, all. Metro Boston got up to the mid-80s on the highways, a couple of degrees cooler on byways and quite nice at Waushakum, in a low-lying patch of woods.  The usual source of corn on the cob provided it in crates this year, making me wonder if it was from away, but it was fresh and tasty; A good start to the season.  On the way home we stopped at the Bedford (MA) Depot Park to see the family of a late HUB member. He and his wife were involved in getting the park started, restoring the passenger and freight stations and bringing B&M RDC-2 6211 to the site.  I'd followed their progress but never visited it till now. I talked to his sons and grandsons, who all picked up an interest in model railroading from him, and was pleasantly surprised to see the 6211's restored interior - just like I remember from the late 60s.

Good morning, all. I'll put another basket of Yellow Transparent apples on the counter. Sunny, headed for 78F in the lower Merrimack Valley this morning, all the vegetation looks happy with yesterday's rain.  My wife and I are off to the HUB Division cookout at Waushakum Live Steam after breakfast; that's always a good time with old friends.  Kid will be out looking for jobs (the restaurant slots he had got refilled during the hiking trip).

Rick, Great Sand Dunes sounded familiar so I looked it up: I've been as close as Alamosa but our plan had us chasing the narrow gauge train out of Antonito and sleeping in Chama. I note it's an International Dark Sky park, so I hope you have time to check out the stars after dark.

Good evening, all. I drove up to Conway NH this morning for a Flying Yankee work day. Sunny and warming from 60s to high 70s, but then clouds came in. Rain started about 2 PM and it rained on me all the way home.  We pretty much filled the dumpster with stuff from our containers that had been put there during the shut-down clean up when contractor work last stopped almost 20 years ago. 

I stopped in at the Heritage Park & Railroad Museum in Union NH on my way home. I had a good conversation with RIch B., who was staffing it with a friend.  He's an experienced modeler who's done a lot of work on their layout.  Dave contributed a bunch of boxcars to their fleet a few years back, but that may have been documented on RR-Line.

Good evening, all.  Karl, our sky looked that orange Wednesday. Luckily for me, I've never seen smoke as thick as your bridge cam shows, even driving Oregon-Arizona during the Summer 2015 fires.

The Gulf of Maine coast had Interesting weather today: 60s F at dawn, high 80s under bright sun around noon, strong winds blew clouds and then a sudden rainstorm out of the NW mid-to-late afternoon. I got pretty soggy putting our more delicate track tools away, the chickens' food dishes will probably need dumping when I shut them in tonight; nobody at home thought to bring them in when the rain started.

No modeling today, but an important turning point in my 1:1 double slip switch project: we decided we'd gotten the rails where we wanted them and began the spiking process. We'll continue tomorrow but I'll be lucky to finish much before month's end.

Good morning, Rick, Curt and later arrivals. The NH Seacoast got down to the 60s last night, sunny today with a high in the 80s (phone) or low 90s (NWS) forecast later. No Canadian wildfire smoke at the moment, but I seem to be coughing up some of yesterday's.  Off to the Trolley Museum again today & tomorrow: Yesterday I got the two joints we've been working on into decent shape. I expect we'll make some progress on supporting them today.

Good evening, all.  The Canadian wildfire smoke came and went a couple of times while I was working at Seashore.  Didn't bother me then but now I find myself coughing.  Good progress on getting the rails to fit, hopefully my job will stand up to my partner Dana's scrutiny tomorrow.

Jim, are your pickle vats going in the sheds you mocked up with card and blue tape?  The only small-scale pickle works I ever saw close up was in the Roxbury neighborhood of Boston, next to the New Haven's 4 track elevated RoW from Back Bay towards Providence. I wish I'd expended a few shots on it, but I was on a budget in 1981. The tanks were in an open yard enclosed by an 8-10 foot high brick wall. No tops or shelter at all.

Quote from: KentuckySouthern on July 14, 2026, 02:38:18 PM"but bad weather closed the high trails on their last day, so it ended with a train ride."

How sad, have to settle for a train ride.  

He didn't seem sad at it ending that way. The plan was 5 consecutive days hiking, 1 day off, then another 5 hiking. He missed the last day, because of a lightning storm, but I don't think they had any doubt they could have done it had the trail been safe.  He had a lot to say about the different countries and cultures, the people they met on the trail and in the hotels/huts, and how his next hike will be a Presidential Traverse. He may have to do it in one shot as last-minute AMC Hut reservations are scarce in high summer.

Good afternoon, all. My NH Seacoast forecast has been revised to the high 80s. My phone thinks it's sunny but an hour or two ago our sky turned overcast, rather orange with smoke apparently from fires in northern Canada.  Reminds me of a rather horrifying flight in 2023 where the smoke was up to 40,000 feet NNW of Hudson Bay with flames visible on the ground.

Off to the airport in a bit to pick up the returning hiker. He and his friends made it almost all the way around Mont Blanc, but bad weather closed the high trails on their last day, so it ended with a train ride.

Good morning, Jeff, Jim, Greg and crew. This morning in the lower Merrimack Valley has been pleasant and cool, but bright sun is supposed to get us up to 87F later.  I'm home today, bills, gardening and meetings on the agenda. Modeling work probability is low.

Had an interesting drive in the Bolt yesterday northeast to the Sebago Lake area of Maine.  Got off the highway and onto back roads much earlier than the robot hoped, saw some farming areas that reminded me of what my town and its neighbors once looked like. And our Bolt delivers 50% more miles per KWH at 45-55 MPH than it does at 60-70 MPH: Air drag increases as the cube of speed, which is why most of us remember 55 MPH.

Good morning, all, and the very best of luck to ACL Tom. Tom O, that sounds like a flight to forget.  Also, the Museum of Transport in St. Louis has a number of interesting items, but most of their collection is either outside or stored under an open-sided shed.  One can do some railfanning at the back edge of the property, where the UP (I think) main line connection is.

Good morning from the Trolley Museum.  Weather in York County, ME is as Dave reports. The rail joint I couldn't move Thursday is now open about 1/8". Before I leave it's going to get ground out wider, lest it affect the gauge on future hot days.  Layout time is unlikely till maybe next week.