Mike’s world Off-duty I&StL crew members (left to right) Tyrone Johnsen, Mike McBride, and Rick Woods take a break in Mike’s upstairs living room and/ or “Zephyr Diner” (right in photo) between job assignments. — Mike Schafer photo
room. There simply wasn’t room in a 750-square-foot basement for a crew lounge; besides, with all comfort facilities upstairs, off- duty crews were less inclined to hang around and crowd aisles waiting for their next assignment. It’s pretty much the same story with I&StL–The Sequel. I needed just about all of the new basement’s 28 x 60-foot footprint for the layout. Besides, why have a crew lounge that’s only go- ing to be used perhaps a total of 30 hours per year? Given the choice, wouldn’t the crews (and I) prefer that such space be used for cooler operating venues? An- other yard, perhaps (everyone wants to work yards, it seems)? So, as with my previous layout, the crew comforts are again up- stairs in the “Zephyr Diner” and the living room. In the little vil- lage I live in, we now have run- ning water and indoor plumbing! And you don’t have to stoop over to duck under a main line to get into the commode. My opera- tors can walk right into the rest- room — where there are plenty of RMCs to read, by the way — upright, like modern humans in- stead of Neanderthals.
Further, my off-duty crews now also have the option of watching or photographing 1:1 trains lit- erally in my back yard because I share property lines with BNSF’s busy (30-plus trains a day) Chi- cago–Twin Cities main line. It’s railfan heaven here! Alas, admittedly I simply can- not match Janis Navigato’s cook- ies. Bill’s got me there. I don’t have a wife to wait on me hand
and foot, which he needs; other- wise he’s basically helpless and is only able to open a can of rocks for supper without her at hand. I would attempt to teach my dogs to make cookies, but all were tragically born without thumbs. So was Bill, too, I think. Build- ing a layout out of insulation foam, Bill, instead of manly 2x4s and three-quarter-inch plywood? Really?
Mike’s world For I&StL crews on break, there are plenty of op- tions. One can even go out in Mike’s back yard to watch real trains and perhaps enjoy a snack, such as Lance Wales is doing as an eastbound BNSF freight peels past Zephyr Acres. — Mike Schafer photo
NOVEMBER 2015 81
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