I Got the Last Laugh

Yesterday was the monthly NMRA meeting in our Division.  It was at Darren’s place.  We had quite a lot in attendance.  At least 37 at one point when I asked.  I had prepared a couple of items to position on Darren’s layout.  I had previously planted a seed in his mind that I was working on a sign for Darren’s layout.  So when I entered the layout room, Darren was distracted showing his layout off to many of the visitors.  I took advantage of that fact and installed the first section of the demountable classroom for the Wattle Flat Public school.  The second section was on the back of a semi-trailer nearby just waiting for the installation by a road crane that could sling the classroom into position next to the first section.  The third section for the classroom’s verandah was also nearby along with the roof.  The worksite was adorned with a modern safety sign about hardhats and other equipment being mandatory to be worn while on site.  A sign for the school was also present.

The Wattle Flat Public School location had been previously pegged out by Darren, and the land cleared by a contractor towing a wood-chipping machine behind his land rover.  This scenario had been in place for probably 3 years and the school had not been started.  So I took it upon myself to remedy that fact. 

So about 3 years ago, I had read an article for work, that had said that the NSW Department of Education advised that Wattle Flat Public school was being connected directly to the NBN.  As Darren was modelling Wattle Flat, I could not see his model for the school on his layout.  So my discussions with him, lead him to place the four builder's posts around the location that he had set aside for the school’s construction. 

So now his Public School is now being delivered.  What he does to finally address the details around this model is up for him.  While the external cladding of the school is corrugated iron, the insides of the school can be painted his own colours.  The ground posts for the various sections of the building can be driven through his scenery base at his leisure.  I was not going to deform his scenery, just place the components on the ground.

During the day, Darren never saw the building, just some of the signs that I had located on his fascia of his layout, where he keeps his uncoupling picks etc.  That was all he was looking for.  Once he saw the school, he had a great laugh.  I think it also brought a few laughs to other members there on the day. 

There may have also been a couple of other distractions on the layout, like a couple of couplers, and maybe a mutton bird or two.

Today I might have assembled two real lifelike lights from a level crossing flashing light unit.  Ask no questions – tell no lies.  They are however legal.  I tested one with a 12V power supply and it lights up brilliantly.  I now need to try and make an assembly where the lights can be attached and I can control the level crossing signal from an Arduino.  So that seems to be December’s job when I will be on Holidays again.

I have spent some time today working on our itinerary for the trip to the NMRA convention in Sydney in September/October.