A Christmas family tradition

Every family has their own Christmas traditions which are so very special. 

Rather than shop for gifts we might personally exchange, our family instead goes crazy for a family we will most likely never know nor meet. We only know the age and size of our mystery family members. Each provided Through a local church, a short wish list to guide us.  It is always a long but fun day finding everything they have wished for and a little more. Along with toys and cloths were the makings of a Christmas feast. 

Little Juniper's job was to make sure that grampa stayed out of trouble for the entire day. It was no small task for we covered many miles along the way.. 

HMMMMMMMM

It's not often we make multiple copies of anything but when we do I sure appreciate the convenience of the MultiCam CNC router. We need more than thirty shields for the NEBs bowling alley. We built three versions of the file and then sent them to the router. Because they are detailed they take a couple of hours to mill. The great thing about the computerized router is we can set it in motion and then forget it until the file is done. It even changes tool automatically. The first batch is ready for paint and tomorrow morning the next one will be ready as well. The machine works steady on it's own, humming away in the dark, without breaks nor sleep.

Almost ready to roll

The Pirate train for Trinidad was pushed back into the shop one last time today. We built two shipping pallets for the components and bolted on the train engine body pieces and one rail car. I then cut the components for the cab bulkhead and welded them into place. Tomorrow we'll finish the sculpting up to these new pieces and begin the final painting. Next week these pieces will be sent to Hillcrest Shops in California to be mated to the operational chassis. We can hardly wait to see all this detail running down the tracks!