P5se Camelback's 2010 Summer Structure Challenge GERN Plant

[P5se Camelback]

... looking forward to more of the build - with all of the structures you have planned for this GERN facility, you better keep her in high gear for awhile to get finished!

I was planning on taking this step, and now seems to be the perfect opportunity since Gary brought it up ...

I must 'fess-up, here and now, and take this opportunity to be brutally honest ...

There's no way on God's Green Earth that I will come anywhere close to building all of the buildings that I had envisioned as the Lehighton GERN facility for this Challenge! My absence from the hobby for twenty years has put me in the same league as the small child whose eyes are bigger than his stomach! I had totally forgotten how long things take, especially when you are me, someone who, as my daughter’s mother used to say when we were still married, “BiL gets mired down by the minutia … he’ll spend hours looking through that goofy magnifying thing that he wears on his head, that always makes me laugh out loud when I see him wearing it, getting something perfect that no one else would even ever see!”

There are only so many hours in a day, and I’m here to tell you, there are not enough months in a week for me to be able to complete all of those buildings by the end of this Challenge! I got caught up in planning out the whole product production process and the buildings that would be necessary and I put them into the site plan. Now, that’s not to say that I won’t keep plugging … that I won’t continue to build all of those structures for my GERN Industries facility. GERN has come onto the scene and become what will be the largest buildings and largest traffic generator on my layout.

You see, despite the fact that when I first arrived at what I thought at the time was to be the track plan for the Lehigh Susquehanna and Western in one half of my living room, I was unaware of Big Blue at The-Gauge and I had never, ever heard of GERN Industries and it was not a part of my plan.

But now, thanks to a chance meeting on one of the Model Railroader forums with the good doctorwayne, where I had PM’ed him with a question about modeling technique, and he graciously answered my question and then suggested I visit here. I am now able to be a part of this great group and I am thankfull that I took doctorwayne up on his invitation. But I am no Superman … just a retired guy practicing to be a curmudgeon, who enjoys model railroading, and looks forward to building this one last model railroad.

So now because of Big Blue, the Challenge and this bunch of enjoyable guys who all share a passion for the same hobby, I must rework what is the larger town, Lehighton, Penna. on my layout, to accommodate the GERN facility and all of its large buildings. For sure, I will continue this project build to completion … just not by the end of this Challenge.

I apologize for inadvertently overstepping my ability to produce, but that is the situation.

If that disqualifies me from the Challenge, so be it. I’ll keep building and photographing and posting … and I promise I’ll have at least ONE of those buildings completed by September seventh!

Thanks for your patience and understanding!