First Operating Session?

I sometimes have a hard time with delayed gratification. I often buy models that I hope to some day have running on my layout. I bought a used System One DCC system but it sat in a box for several years before I had an opportunity to use it.

I had a portion of "L-girder" benchwork along the south wall which I had built for the erstwhile Carpinteria Cambria and Northern. It had a plywood and homosote "sandwich" on top so I layed down some flextrack and put in one switch. I then proceeded to hook up the System One equipment and ran a couple of engines that had decoders in them. It was fun but I still had a long way until I could have an operating session. Or at least so I thought.

On January 23, 2007, I had some members of the local model train club, the South Coast Society for Model Engineers, over to my house. We were going to look at some videos and I was going to explan my plans. Some of the thin walls were already in but not the rest of the bench work. As we went into the garage, I got a phone call. When I got done with the call, I joined the crew and to my amazement, they had grabbed a couple throttles and were switching cars off a train into the single stub track. I am not sure I can really count it as an operating session but everyone was having fun.










First Operating crew - L to R, John Ryan, Walter Naumann, Art Aldritt, Paul Gannaway, and Joe Heumphreus, Tuesday evening about 8:00pm, January 23, 2007