Just thought I’d give a quick update. Very little has gone on on the layout for the last several months. My wife and I were expecting our firstborn this fall. She was supposed to come in early December, but decided to cause us all a bunch of stress by coming in October. My wife spent several weeks in the hospital over in Missoula before finally giving birth. Our little girl ended up coming 6 weeks early and had to spend several weeks in the NICU before we finally got to bring her home in late November. Momma and baby are both doing great but it’s was pretty terrifying at the time. Between now being a dad, work, and the never ending chore of feeding cows, I’ve had very little time to work on the railroad.
I have been able to sneak in a few small projects here and there. Theses projects mainly entail weathering rolling stock, working on my next engine, CMR 1810 and installing a few switch machines.
On a sadder note, the small farming community of Denton, MT which is the main area of my layout was devastated by a wild fire in early December. 20+ homes, several rail and highway bridges, and three of the grain elevators were destroyed in the fire. The state of MT has banded together to help this small town rebuild and I have faith that they will see through this time. I had originally planned on modeling all the elevators in town but without adequate reference to do so, it will be a tough task.
After the devastation of the fire, I’m not sure if I will continue down the path of modeling the CMR or switch back to the Montana Rail Link as I have a mountain of rolling stock and engines for it. So if you’re reading this, please keep Denton, a small slice of heaven in your thoughts and prayers.
-Matt
