Painting cars and test runs

I painted two of my passenger cars Chocolate Brown. I also touched up the paint on my pay car...which I haven't touched in 9 months. Since the real cars were finished with a gloss varnish, I'm going to violate one of my rules of modeling...a gloss finish on my passenger cars. The initial test looks great. Here's a picture of some of the painted car parts:


I've also been working on prepping more link & pin couplers. I have too many cars that need them...so I'm getting them ready. Unfortunately, my bag of links, pins, springs, and microscopic bits has gone missing in the past couple of days. I'll chemically blacken every part (and possibly paint them) before assembly.



And for the first time in a year...service has been restored to my entire mainline...

The approach tracks are temporary.

This is the view which greats visitors...

I just might have to remove that unnecessary guard rail...

My next entry will probably be of the 8 locomotives at Train Festival 2009, plus the 4-6-2 at Durand, MI, and the 4-5 locomotives at the Huckleberry Railroad. If I'm really lucky, I'll also see the 4-6-2 at Jackson, MI. Unfortunately, my 82 year old grandmother is once again in the hospital, so if things are really bad, I might not be in Michigan...