Hey, it's still Tuesday in my neck of the woods ... but just barely. I want to dash off this post quickly so that I can go back and enjoy everyone's pictures and stories today!
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The Tomlinson Run Railroad was suffering from low esteem. Well, it *is* a carpet layout and you can't get much lower than that ... except, well, maybe the basement. Anyway, Little Bobby, the engineer's boy, overheard his dad talking about how the TRRR doesn't have a ramp for its team track like all the other fancy railroads. Well, Little Bobby is a Boy Scout and he got to thinking. Bobby went around Tomlinson Run asking various store owners and other likely generous patrons for supplies so that he and his buddies could build a ramp for the team track at his dad's RR. What a great idea! What a great kid! (That Bobby'll make an Eagle Scout in no time!)
The turnout from the "Bricks and Mortar" stores that Bobby contacted was amazing. The trucks from all the local businesses arrived at the team track so early in the morning (like, 11:00 AM), that the RR photographer wasn't up yet. Here's what she found when she arrived. Yup, bricks from the bricks and mortar stores:
With Bobby and his band hard at work with the donated materials, putting the new unloading platform together was a "snap"!
And what great timing, too! Chef Chuck Wagon had ordered a shipment of fruits and vegetables for an upcoming business excursion and the REA boxcar was spotted on the team track that very morning:
That's Little Bobby in the right hand corner (below) , savoring the moment, while the workers start to unload the Express car. Don't tell the boys' teachers, but it looks like some of them were a little geometry challenged when it came to building the ramps. Or maybe it was a limitation of the free supplies? But hey, it was built on their own time before school, and they more than made up for the steep ramps with those fancy railings. Nice job, boys!
Jed directs "traffic" as the men start to unload, and the REA truck moves into position to take the vegetables to Chef:
Chef had the goods delivered via REA because the railroad's refrigerator car is still on order, so once everyone complimented the boys on their great accomplishment, unloading started in a hurry! "All hands on deck!"
Chef makes a quick appearance to give special instructions to the REA driver. Chef wants to make sure that the vegetables are delivered to Chef's secret location ...
Now that the boxcar has been unloaded and the boxes are on the new team track platform ... Hey! Where'd everybody go?! Ah, the canteen truck must have arrived -- even Chef is gone! Stedfast Jed continues to light the way. Save him a hotdog somebody, please? 
Once loaded, the REA truck drives off to Chef's secret location not far from the team track and dining car siding. Meanwhile, the 80-ton switcher picks up the empty REA car. Jed's knee deep in the shag grass:
At a top secret location, not far from the tracks, Chef sets about preparing the fruits and vegetables. Some chefs add a touch of MSG to bring out the color of their produce. Not Chef Wagon! Our Chef is a gifted experimenter. When he's not experimenting with molecular cooking, he's fiddling with his new toy -- an industrial-sized irradiator. Chef has just loaded it up with all the produce from the REA shipment.
Standback! Cover your eyes! Chef's flipped the switch!
And, viola! Chef's vegetables no longer look listless and like they've been sitting in an hot unrefrigerated boxcar for hours. They are literally bursting with color! And, hopefully, flavor, too!
Chef calls this process "Ted Turnerizing" his produce (all layout work should be so easy, says Tina the RR CEO). Technically it's super complicated but it's kinda like that scene in the Wizard of Oz that goes from black and white to color.
Mission accomplished, Chef and his assistant load the irradiated produce back into the truck and deliver it to the dining car where it awaits further transformation under Chef's skillful hands:
Yes, it's been a great day at the team track at the Tomlinson Run Railroad:
Disclaimer: No dinosaurs were harmed in the filming of this event. Hey, wait! Where are the dinosaurs and who took this aerial photograph? Oh, right ...
TRRR
Very creative post!! 
