Rob is in the back while Michael is at the throttle working Job 322, the midnight trick switcher for the Patch.
They’ve just returned from the Seventh Street Alley in the heart of the Patch with a cut of cars and are beginning to classify them according to destination.
Two PFE reefers, equipped for banana service have come up from LA Harbor on the Tuesday banana train and have been spotted at the Western Banana Distributor in Seventh Street Alley. Two more reefers sit on the Nabisco track, waiting to be spotted when the others are unloaded.
The brown backdrop is not LA smog, but the unpainted hardboard which needs a coat of blue and an LA skyline.
The second session that day (after lunch) was handled by David Barrow of Austin and Steve Barkley of Houston, Texas. They did a great job, too, but I neglected to take photographs!
I spent most of my time going up and down the stairs, making sure that the guests were having fun operating the layouts. They did, and I did, too. Thanks to all who attended.
Michael pulls a cut of cars out of First Street Yard to spot at the First Street Warehouse. The modeled structure is over 300 scale feet long.
Michael celebrated his birthday the next day and then was off for the U.S. Army’s Officer Candidate School at Ft. Benning, Georgia.
Third Patch Session 04/23/09
Kansas City hosted ProRail this year, the premier invitation-only operating event. Seventy operating layout owners from across the United States flew or drove to this four-day event. Attendees operated 19 layouts in the KC area and spent the evenings attending presentations, visiting and a drink or two in the lounge.
I hosted eight people on Thursday, April 23rd. Six opted to operate the Surf Line in the basement and two wanted to operate the Patch, two stories up. For the morning assignment, it was Rob Spangler from the Salt Lake City area and Michael Spoor, Jr. from Houston, Texas.
