It was 58 at 6 AM as I got into my car this morning to make the trek to Staten Island. But it seems much  like that morning only 8 years ago when manyof us watched the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center being hit by two aircraft flown by terrrists, That event and the related tragedies in a Pennsylvanis field and at the Pentagon is much on my mind this morning as it seems the very skies are crying as part of the remembrance. I suppose for those who weren't there or even for those who haven't seen the videos of the tragedy, it isn't much of anything.

The stuff I ordered arrived last week.

I ordered 5 pieces 24" x 4" x 3/4" Basswood planks from MicroMark. They've been pretty good about filling ad sending orders to me and they kept up the good work with this order. These planks are used for two purposes: 1. the provides frames to hold extension peices that go between the Woodland Scenics stands that hold the Woodland Scenincs Mod-U-Rail modules that form the basis of my benchwork.

The weather is typical for September and it is in the mid 60s and will probably end in the high 70s. No rain is predicted but we always know the US Weather Bureau is a non-prophet organization.

I just took a look at the Who's New section and noticed that member number 9,586 has just made his appearance. I wonder if Joe has something special planned for member number 10,000?

Irv

This afternoon I received an email from a gentleman from this website. He is a member of this site so I won't use his name but he also models NY Harbor railroads. He provided some information including a website URL that describes the kind of railroading that could be found on Manhattan Island up until about 1970. At least three of the major railroads once had a nuber of railyards served by car floats located at various places on the water front of the West Side.

It was 59 this morning as I got into my car. At least thats what the temperature gauge read. But that was at 6 AM. It's now 7:25 and it is only a little bit warmer. I am not ready for this kind of weather but I'll del with it like everything that gets thrown in my direction.

My son has been married for a little over a week and things are getting back to normal. He and his wife got an apartment near us so that means he comes to the house several times a week and goes shopping in the pantry and refridgerator. It's not really a problem unless he takes something I was planning to eat later or the next day. That isn't so bad as I can easily replace what has been "borrowed."

I just looked up my last blog entry and found that I haven't posted one since July 15 so it's time for an update.

While waiting for some glue to dry I dediced to watch Operations Video #4. It was interesting though I think the video could have used a hard copy map of the layout so that one could follow along what was being done. In any case I learned a bit more about operations. I got to see what happens when the dispatcher doesn't consider what could happen in the future. I also got to see how the problem was solved which I thaught was quite innovative.

Aftre reading a few of the notes here about scratchbuilding I find the title question coming to my mind. Adn, if one thinks about it, one has to realize that modelrailroading is a job for most of us.