Winter is past, at least that is what the calendar says (cool temps here on the South Rim), and I have returned to Grand Canyon National Park and the El Tovar Hotel for a third season. Why wouldn't I work at the El Tovar? It was built by the Santa Fe Railroad! Just as important, I'm once again near mainline railroad action. Last week for my first foray of the season I returned to one of my favorite train watching sites, Parks Road. I managed only a couple hours and saw only two trains. It was a long wait for the first train, an eastbound intermodal, also the most commonly seen train in this territory on the BNSF mainline. It was late afternoon and the light all wrong for photos of eastbound trains. After another long wait I was more lucky. The train was westbound and I had moved to the other side of the tracks for better light. I expected another intermodal train, but this was a unit train of an entirely different sort. It was a long string of loaded woodchip cars. As evidence of how long this train was (no, I didn't count the cars) and the heavy load, it rated both mid-train and tailend DPU's for a total of seven big locomotives.
I do not recall ever before seeing so many cars for hauling woodchips. Although this was a unit train, i.e., all cars carrying the same commodity, the cars represented a variety of owners. It is always interesting to find locomotives from an eastern railroad, like the Norfolk Southern unit, so far out of their home territory.
Sunlight slices between the venitian blinds of my company dorm room waking me early nearly every morning. Last Sunday morning, while still lying in bed hoping I might somehow get more sleep, my thoughts somehow drifted to an account of a recent biking trip by a Mississippi Valley N Scale club member. After peddling down the Katy Trail he climbed the hill in Augusta and peeked through the windows of the now closed Augusta Station. He observed the Missouri Kansas and Pacific layout still appeared after nearly three years as if he could flip a switch and start running trains. Now there would be no more sleep, only daydreaming. Since the announcement Augusta Station would be closing, I have always thought the Museum of Transportation in St Louis would be the appropriate place for the MKP layout. With the MKP theme of "from the Mississippi to the West" I believe the layout is a good match with the Gateway City.
But my Sunday morning dreaming was taking me beyond just the MKP. There is a close connection between transportation and many forms of modeling. Not only trains, but planes, ships and automobiles all have avid followings of modelers. What could be more suited to a museum devoted to modes of transportation than displays devoted to modeling forms of transportation? Modelers fly, sail, drive, and engineer their models all across the country. I wish the Augusta Station layout could be the kernel for dynamic displays of model aircraft, boats, automobiles, and trains. The modeling communities could be a significant source of grass roots support and public enthusiasm for the Museum of Transportation.
Displays should go far beyond housing collections of models. People should not just see model airplanes. The planes should be taking off and flying from an outdoor airstrip. Model ships could sail lakes and rivers in a garden with trains crossing those rivers and climbing mountains. A garden where cars and trucks roar over miniature highways and bridges. Could there be any lack of persons desiring to take the throttles or man the helms? Unlike the static display of prototype vehicles, these displays would move and soar. The MKP need not be the lone layout. Perhaps there might be persons wanting to build a layout in a different scale depicting trains rushing from Saint Louis to the East. And why not a Lionel and American Flyer layouts to show the history and appeal of toy trains? Maybe trolleys could once again ply the streets of Saint Louis if only in miniature. Such displays coupled with the existing Museum displays of the full-sized trains, planes, cars, and boats would make the Saint Louis musuem unique. It would surpass other museums of which I'm aware devoted to either the prototype or to the model but not to both.
So that was my Sunday morning dreaming. Hope you're having a good day. Now back to the more mundane life of everyday living. - - - But if someone were to find financial support from one of those transportation companies residing in Saint Louis (Boeing, the former ACF, etc.) it might not be just a dream.
