As mentioned in the first installment, since we had a little, tiny railroad, small equipment was called for. The smaller the equipment, we reasoned, the greater the illusion of distance travelled.
So, we opted for the smallest equipment we could find, which was an LGB 0-4-2 Chloe, some of the little, open Grizzly Flats coaches for our passengers, and some of the four-wheel industrial freight stock that LGB offered. By using this diminutive equipment, we could still run trains of reasonable length-say six to eight cars-without having them look out of place on our minuscule railroad, especially if they were run at low scale speeds. Model railroading in all forms has to do with illusion. We model railroaders deal with the illusions of size, speed, time, and distance travelled, and we need to do everything we can to enhance those illusions.
With our new engine on our new track, we notched up our new controller and-it ran! Everything was as it was intended to be. We spent the next 30 or 40 minutes just running the engine around, up the mountain and back, and congratulating one another on what brilliant fellows we were. But we were far from being finished. We still had the garden and some final details to attend to.
