Another Quick Update with More to Come, including the MARPM!

The last time I did a "quick update" was May 24th. At that point, there was only a week-and-a-half left to go with my busy time at work and I figured with the end of legislative session that layout progress would ramp up quickly.

Well, it hasn't quite worked out that way - for both good and not-so-good reasons. On the good (actually, great) side, I got to spend a week visiting my parents in Tennessee. It just so happened that I was able to be there with my brother over Father's Day Weekend and didn't have to leave until just a couple days before mom's birthday. On the bad side, while I was gone, the Missus' grandmother passed away. She'd just turned 96 at the beginning of the month, so lived a good long life. But it's never a good time to lose family.

But while there hasn't been as much layout progress as I'd hoped lately, there's still a pretty decent amount to report. If you follow The Valley Local Facebook group, you've already seen a few teaser photos. But, rest assured, whether or not you've seen those, there'll be more photos and details coming soon.

One thing I can't wait to report though, is that I'll be presenting at the Mid-Atlantic Railroad Prototype Modeler's Meet (MARPM) this September in Baltimore, MD! Friend MikeR (of resin girder fame) suggested attending with him after seeing how disappointed I was at missing this year's NERPM. And I figured I'd try and help out too if I could. Turns out, I can:

Helps to have a last name beginning with "A" :^)

Some of you may remember a similar presentation I gave at the NERPM years ago when it was in Collinsville (the "other" Collinsville), and if you do then you won't miss too much if you decide to attend a different clinic during the same time slot. But there will be many new photos that weren't included the first time around - including all of Old Saybrook - and I hope being in a whole new region I'll see lots of new faces!

I'll provide more details and info as we get closer, but suffice it to say I've heard Bernie Kempinski and his crew do an outstanding job. And I know already that he's lined up a number of amazing clinicians including Tom Jacobs, Ted Dilorio, Dave Ramos, Jim Dufour, and Eric Hansmann - just to mention the ones I've seen before. Click here for a full list of the amazing topics these folks and others are presenting and make plans now to join us!

So that's the latest big news - but stay tuned for posts on the progress I've made over the last bunch of weeks. And thanks for hanging in there despite the dearth of updates. Hope you'll continue to check in!