Specifically two-tone green, with a dash of perhaps gold or yellow stripes to match! Winter is setting upon us here in the Bay Area, and I find that my mind is wandering as I try to entertain myself with the (steadily more boring) internet. I can’t find my focus! What with the holidays, family moving, car troubles and et cetera there are things that could better use my attention than reddit and Trainboard (blaspheme! LOVE Trainboard and the guys & gals who lurk those forums).

This year, Christmas was spent with family (both on the eve and the day itself), giving gifts and getting them was certainly not the focus of the time we spend together. In fact, some of us had asked not to receive gifts as we take pretty damn good care of each other year-round! Now, while everyone got a chance to open up something nice, I find that the most enjoyable moments of Christmas were clear to me. First, during our little unwrapping session, I had directed my brother-in-law Todd, who is a rabid train nut and a recent N scale convert, to open the bag I had assembled for him. The tag contained a simple little riddle, directing him to open the wrapped boxes within in a vry specific order. His initial unwrapping was a standard Con-Cor Northern pacific coach, followed by a diner and a dome and finally an observation car, all bearing the two-tone Loewy green colors I love so much. The fifth and final unwrapping was something I am very proud to say is as good as it gets- an Intermountain Northern Pacific FP-7 locomotive, brand-new in jewel case. Quite a fine piece, indeed! I happen to have two, one of each (prototypical! they only owned 2) road numbers. Todd was, needless to say, quite excited to get them on his tracks!

The second, and notably more poignant, gifting that I was excited about was a gift for my father. He is moving back home, to New York, in a matter of a couple weeks. Something he had mentioned some time ago that would be a fitting present, would be a photo album of the family (us three kids) and our lives…. something for him to remember us by on those days he misses us most. Of course, my brother Jason spared no effort in collecting and refining a gamut of family photos (embarassing candids and all) into a wonderful archive of our own lives’ joys and accomplishments. Apple offers an “iBooks” bookbinding service that offers a striking amount of flexibility and customizability for your photos, holding the book I felt as though I was reading an archival manifest of fine art, rather than some digital photos and text-laden borders. Quite a piece of art. Of course, dad was very happy with this….. that’s an understatement, but I need not go into great detail about how emotions rose when confronted with a gift that is tied so closely to someone so wonderful moving so very far away.

Now back to the topic of holiday hauls- there is a stack of new boxcars and reefers (all ~1940 style, see my previous “wish list” post! haha) sitting on my workbench, and a partially finished string of classic Northern Pacific “Butterknife” scheme cars receiving a hand painting. Of course, due to scarcity of proper decals, this shall be a “foobie” train (mock-up) to give me something coordinated to drag behind my multitude of Intermountain EMD F3’s and F7’s in NP’s handsome 1947 scheme…. there’s a preview of my (admittedly rough) handiwork below! Perhaps I’ll finish this thing up this week, a nice evening project while I rest up in anticipation of the coming of 2012. Yes the paint is a bit shoddy but eh, I like it….

in-progress, missing a final stripe….