End of an Era

To all my model railroading friends

 As some of you know, I am moving to the Oregon this summer  to help build a new Ananda Community,  so plan to dismantle the RR by mid June. Before we dismantle and move north, I am offering an  all day Open House and Operations on June 1 and June 8 as well as selected evenings.  (see below) 

 If you want to run trains or even see the layout, you are welcome to come over during any (or all) of the following times.

We will be open for Operations (fun run style with ABS, although if a Dispatcher shows up, we will put them to work)

Full Op session - Saturday June 1 - 10AM-4PM
Half day Fun Run Saturday June 8 - 10 AM-1 PM then dismantling begins

We will be open in the evenings for fun runs  from 5-7:30PM 

Tuesday May 28
Tuesday June 4
By Special request we could be open other times.  let me know.

Future Fate of the OWNRy Layout and What will happen to the equipment and everything?

I do not plan to rebuild up in Oregon (however, never say never...). Several of my long time N scale buddies will arrive Saturday June 8 for 3 days to help me dismantle the layout. Most of everything will eventually be sold off on eBay and future swap meets, except few cars and engines which I can run on other peoples layouts. 

If any of you have interest in any specific cars, engines, buildings, accessories, electronics, or even sections of the layout, let me know and we can discuss this.  

 What we are doing

As you know, I have been living at Ananda Village for past 15 years and before that for several year in Ananda Seattle community.  We feel drawn to the new community that is happening up in Oregon at Ananda Laurelwood which is just south of Forest Grove.  We plan to live in our RV for a while during the first phase, and also travel around the west and perhaps even further east as we have begun doing over past 2 years.  Hopefully within next 3-5 years we will build or buy a home in the Laurelwood area to "settle down".  Will it have room for a layout?  who knows at this time.  I have plenty of places and friends with layouts in the Northwest and other parts west and USA with which to "bang cars around" as Breezy says.

 The past 12 years on the OWNRy have been fun and I hope you can make it over some time to see and run trains with the regular crew.  I do have photos and videos and will post more over next few weeks.

I will keep this website up for a while since I paid squarespace for a year already.  Will post some photos and vids 

Here's looking forward to seeing many of you at future operating sessions in various places as that will be my focus for the foreseeable future.

SP&S Passenger Train to Portland

Last night during our weekly 2 hour "fun run" operating session I ran the new SP&S 750 passenger train which ahuls the President of the OWNRy lines around his railroad.

It was fun.  

Full Operations Today

Today we ran over 30 trains with 13 operators during a full operating session.  Crew arrived around 0930 and departed around 4:30 PM.  We had a few little issues but, all in all, the layout ran well.  

Was this an Earthquake or?Most important, is everyone had a great time.

No injuries, well, no major injuries, however someone did manage to bash the duckunder when they weren't looking.  This resulted in a little earthquake with one car hitting the ground.  

We will clean up the remains next week during the weekly fun run

Special Guest Visit - Mark Bridgwater

About 20 years ago when I lived up in Puget Sound on eastside I met a man recently arrived to the area from Callfornia.  for the next 5 years we worked on my layout and planned and began to build his layout.  Then I moved to California and about 2 times per year would travel up to see him and work on his layout. Never operate as we were always working.  

He finally found time in his busy schedule to visit the OWNRy down here and we ran trains.

Mark Bridgwater is a wonderful father, freind and pretty darn good modeler.  Hopefully he will again resurrect the Feather River Canyon RR in his new home currently being built in in Redmond, WA.

Mark running the Portland Yard. Or is it running him?

Schedule for rest of Summer and early Fall

While I haven't posted much recently we have been operating weekly all summer.

Wanted to give you dates the OWNRy will be operating in "Fun Run" mode For August and September. Please 

Normal operations times are 5-7:30 PM. There is still enough daylight for longer drives so If we get any "out of town" guests from Sacramento, Chico and/or bay area, we could begin earlier.  just let me know.

There are some breaks in the weeks due to travel plans AND we will move to Tuesdays for the fall beginning late August

Here are the dates for your planning purposes.  I know the regulars are having a lot of fun and the layout is running well. 

Full OP sessions will be held

Friday Sept. 28 0900-1600

Saturday Sept 29.  0930-1800 

Please contact me to mark up.

Here are the rest of dates for plannng purposes.  
Note change to Tuesday here for the fall

Regular Fun Runs in October (before we head south for winter)

Tuesday Sept 24 5-7:30 PM

Tuesday October 2:  5-7:30

Tuesday October 9: 5-7:30

Tuesday October 16 5-5:30

Kent Williams

Check out our recent travels at Pluskent.com