I spent a few hours this morning with fellow forum member and Newtown Pa native Joe Altivilla, aka Joey A. We met for coffee at a nearby Duncan Donuts for some introductions, background, and some local history, train and people related. We headed about a half mile south west to see the Ashley Miner's Park and memorial, a work in progress. As we walked around the grounds a bit, I gave a little background about the park and memorial, and some of the projects under way, and those planned for the future.
Next stop was a visit to The Wrong Way RR in my back yard. I gave Joe a brief tour of the house, and ran a small coal drag around one of the loops on the suspended layout. We talked about folks from my neighborhood we both know, and Joe took a few photos. I gave him the two penny tour of the workshop, inside and out, along with a description of the neighborhood in the past compared to the present.
It was a great morning, and it was nice to meet another fellow forum member and former neighbor from a town literally a few hundred yards away. I had known Joe's dad for years, but until this morning, hadn't had the pleasure of meeting Joe.
We also talked about some of the structures Alex Maliae and Alan Graziano made for his soon to enter the construction faze layout. While we were at the park, I showed him the switching shanty that we're both familiar with, in its new home. Andre Garcia has detailed measurements and photos of the shanty, and has plans of producing a model kit at some point. Joe and I are both interested in the model, as he is tayloring some of his structures to the local area mining heritage, and I will be restoring the life size shanty in the near future.
I hope I put this post in the correct forum?
Happy Thanksgiving,
Don
