Jim Stapleton's Live Steam Paradise

Here's our host, Jim Stapleton, lighting up his barbecue for the lunch crowd. Notice that he has cleverly disguised it as an Aster K-4, much to the delight of the assembled throng.

An overview of a portion of Jim & Joanne's awesome and excellent elevated railroad. That's Jim's barbecue.....ooops! I mean Aster K-4 rolling along on the mainline. The rolling stock ahead is on the center track, which is a passing or storage track.

And here is the neatest and best built stile I've ever seen! Jim Grummons designed and built this stylish stile, which attaches to the Stapleton's deck on the far end and provides easy access to both sides of the track.

A pair of superb scratchbuilt Shays! The one on the left is by John Ratkowski, and on the right is Jack DiSarro's great looking and great running Shay. Jack's Shay was the subject of an article in a past issue of SitG. John's Shay was inspired by Jack's, and they are both powered by Osmotors and built without the benefit of lathes or milling machines.

It's the end of a perfect day of steaming, and John Synnestvedt's Merlin puffs sedately along at the railroad's midway point with a string of empty ore cars, heading back to the quarry.