When Charley Lix invited all of us up for a steamup on his 32mm gauge line in Sparks Nevada I have to admit that it seemed that the inertia to get there would be a little too great to overcome. Then Charley let me borrow a photo album of the construction and current photos of his Excelsior Ditch Company. That was the clincher and it was well worth the trip. Charley has shared a few photographs of his line that I've posted to the site earlier, and the actual thing is as stunning as the photos would have you believe. Charley comes from a rich background of scale model railroading and the Excelsior Ditch Company shows the same design aspects you'd see in the best benchwork model railroad layouts. From almost any angle or position along the line you will find a complete "self contained" scene. Instead of being able to see the entire railroad, the viewer is treated to seeing the train appear from behind a rock, bush, or hill and then meander back out of the scene to who knows where. The yard, complete with steaming bay, is very functional and the routing of the tracks makes for different operating possibilities. Perhaps best of all are the scarce but very unique railroad structures that give the impression of an under capitalized railroad hard at work. I hope the photographs give you some idea of this.
Steamup attendees included Mike Martin with his Billy, Mark Rose with an advance copy of the National Spring Steamup 1997 Video that he and Mike put together, Reg Stocking with his Billy, and me with my Meteor and MCRR SOB (Sort Of Baldwin). Pete Thorp also dropped in (he says all is in place for a great steamup in Paso Robles in September). Charley's line is 32mm and while Reg is a die hard of the same ilk, Mike Martin and I had a great time running our Roundhouse engines in their "natural" gauge. Many thanks to Charley and his wife Toni for their hospitality.
