Once again, we have brought unusual weather to Arizona.  The last two days, it was sunny and breezy.  Today, it was 34 degrees and snowing.  So needless to say, we didn't get anything shot.  Instead, we just packed up and headed down to Phoenix.  It was still cool in the Valley, but at least it was dry.  I'm hoping that the weather holds for tomorrow, as we have three garden layouts to do.

We once again brought unusual weather to the Phoenix area, as it rained and hailed for a bit this morning.  But eventually the weather cleared, and we spent an enjoyable day today with Brian and Rebecca Casull.  Their Snort, Bear & Widget Railroad is located in Scottsdale.  Brian is a pediatrician and loves kids.  And the railroad gives him and opportunity to play.  He is a JRR Tolkien fan, and so has incorporated a lot of that fantasy into the layout.  You'll find the Gap of Rohan, as well as Hobbiton, and other fictional areas from the books.  Of course, old Phoenix is also featured, as well as moving water, steep grades and plenty of Arizona rocks and scenery.  Rebecca is actively involved in the raptor center, and loves birds, as evidenced by Poppy, her cockatoo.  Brian named the railroad the Snort, Bear & Widget, which are the nicknames of his three children.  We interviewed Widget, and she was really proud of her father's accomplishment with the layout.  It has been and continues to be a big part of their family experience.  The layout has a fictional history, with the politicians in the Big City wanting to take over the mines which are owned by Gimli.  The go between is old Fezziwig.  So the railroad equipment is a bit rundown, but continues to make money in this politically charged climate.  Built on concrete blocks and steel supports, the layout backs right up to the mountain foothills.  So it gets it share of quail, javelina and cougars.  Unfortunately, (or fortunately) we didn't see any wildlife other than a few quail.  We finished up late in the afternoon, and headed south, to our next stop.

John returned on the hottest day of the year so far - 99 degrees - and we finished the layout to date.  Of course, it still isn't complete, but what there is certainly is amazing.  I ran trains all days and the whole thing is a lot of fun.  The pumps for the pond and one of the mountain streams was operational, and you had trains running past cascading water, across the lakes and through the colorful flowers.  It was really pretty.  The cars are large enough that running long - as in 40 cars - trains just looks normal.  It is a large layout, and having one person control it can be a challenge, even with the remotes and battery power.  One slight item that will make audio crazy is that the sound chips all come programmed for diesel.  So some of the steam engines had diesel chips, and some of the diesels had steam chips.  It was confusing.  John had to get into the water for a couple of shots of the trains on the bridges.  I think he chose the angle just so he could get cooled off!  Dennis had a lot of structures out, and a lot of cars, as there was an open house for the National Garden Railway Convention the next day.  So the whole thing was pretty impressive.  Dennis has the loop completed around the formal garden area, and today was the first time that I had heard that he wants to expand to an adjacent two acres with a mountain railroad.  This one is spectacular. I can only imagine what a new one will look like.  Dennis has a lot of skill and experience to bring to it.  It has been a real pleasure to see this develop.

We were out and off to the last layout of this trip.  This Dan Hoag's Wild Eagle Railroad in Phoenix.  Dan runs Eagle Wings Iron Works, and makes bridges and trestles primarily for garden railroads.  He also sells an indoor modular system so that trains can be run around he ceiling of a room.  So in that regard, he has a nice layout inside the hose, which features a great crossover section so that the trains can cross from one room to another.  But the railroads aren't all inside the house.  There is an extensive outdoor layout that fills the backyard.  It is complete with waterfalls and lots of plants which his wife, Patience tends to.  Of course, there are a great number of bridges and metal buildings, all built by Dan.  The layout has a semi-Arizona look, but is really detailed on much of Dan's Ohio boyhood.  So one sees Bedford Falls and the town of Spotsylvania.  Overhead awning shield the railroad from the direct sunlight, which goes a long way in preserving the plants.  Dan also runs an annual charitable open house, with the proceeds going to the Make A Wish Foundation of Arizona which benefits children with life threatening illnesses.  So there are open houses all over the Valley for this event.  We also went to Dan's shop where the buildings and bridges - along with other metal work projects - are constructed. They use 16 gauge steel sheet and have a plasma cutter that makes the initial forms.  Then the material is smoothed, welded together, and has details added.  The final step is a powder coat and then the item can be painted and detailed by the customer.  Then it was back through traffic to the house and the last portion of the layout, that by now, was in shade.  All the little scenes, coupled with the colorful flowers, make this quite a memorable layout, and a nice way to end the current Arizona trip

          

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