Before You Know It...

.... Labor Day will be here.  Not really, of course.  We still have more than a month to go.  But if you plan ahead, unlike myself, you have several good reasons to make sure you get to IRM over the Labor Day weekend.  It's IRM's "Railroad Extravaganza" and there are special events planned.

Such as operating steam!  There should be two, count 'em, two operating steam locomotives visiting us over the weekend.  There will be the 4-4-0 Leviathan, which has been to IRM before, and the Lehigh Valley Coal Co. #126, an 0-6-0, which hasn't.  You can find out more about these engines at the Kloke Locomotive Works site and the Gramling Locomotive Works site ("Have Engine, Will Travel").  Traveling locomotives like these add variety and interest to our operations, and may well be the wave of the future.

And meanwhile, as you should know if you've been following the department blogs as we have instructed you to do, our own Steam Team are working heroically to make the 1630 operational again.  There are no guarantees in this difficult business, but they are making good progress.  So keep your fingers crossed, don't walk under any ladders, and so on.

And the Zephyr is scheduled to operate on Sunday and Monday.  The CA&E wood cars should be operating, along with several other things, so if you have planned to be anywhere else that weekend, you have made a serious mistake.  But we are hereby giving you enough time to correct that mistake, I hope!

P.S.  We still need crewmen for all four days.  You'll have a great time being part of this Extravaganza.