Thursday, March 20, 2014

Road Trip to the Maricopa Live Steamers Spring Meet, March 13-17, 2014

For years, the family has gone to Arizona to visit and play trains for the Spring Meet at Maricopa Live Steamers. the first time I went was 1980, they're on their third track since then. The current track at Adobe Mountain Recreation Area is big to say the least. Or Meet is always planned so as not to coincide with theirs so people could hit them both or at least plan it that way. This year the moons must have aligned quite well is there were 27 people and five engines that made it to both tracks over the two week time.

 The weather was most enjoyable for us not used to the heat and the clouds that they had kept the edge off of things for the weekend. The Narrow Gauge was well represented and they had fun at the same time.
Three 2-8-0's, a 47 tonner, a Davenport and a 4-4-0 pulling narrow gauge cars kept the rails shiny. Those of us that had been there before had our usual good time and the new ones marveled at the choices of direction and the vastness.
 They have had rains to this Winter and it is shaping up to be a green Spring for them too. Out around Far Flung Flats the wildflowers had just about taken over.
Rumors of Golfing at Far Flung and Parties at Pardee Point had to be witnessed to enjoy fully. The Swap Meet on Saturday is worth the price of admission to check for rail related bargains in the smaller scales.  It is always good to visit other places and see how they do it, it also puts the bug in their ear to come see us. I didn't take a whole lot of pictures as I was enjoying running the 4-4-0 around three days. The water tank plumbed into the tender worked like a charm and I could run for hours without the need to refill.

We'll be back out at JT for Easter weekend. going to try to move a few rocks and boulders on the High Line, the stakes are in and we need to move material out of the way instead of bringing it up the hill. Last week in digging on the High Line we found an old remnant from the days when we could do a little blasting. Things have changed since those days, but that was the way it was done. Hope to see you out around Easter, enjoy the Spring in the High Desert. Brian
 

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