Monday 07/31/2000 (Photo's Below)

Today I was lucky enough to get a seat in the KAM Industries Dispatcher Pro classes. It was a double clinic and they had setup 45 PIII 700 workstations, 3 PIII 800 servers, an N-Scale DCC layout, and projection monitors. Boy was that a serious class. This was the prototype software, adapted to DCC model railroading. They even gave us free beta software, manuals, mouse pad, CD cases, and refreshments.

After the class, and a fine lunch with other attendees, I was herding guests on to my bus for a day of layout tours. I volunteered to be a guide and got a free pass for the tour. Our first stop was Jim Dias's HO Western Pacific.

Jim has modeled the WP in 1938 including the Keddie Wye. There was sound coming from all scenes, and it was fantastic.

Our next stop was MMR Jack Burgess's HO Yosemite Valley.

Jack's railroad is the most detailed I have ever seen. All structures are scratch built to match the prototype, as they appeared in 1939. Even the water looked so authentic, with its ripples and currents, that you were tempted to touch it to see if it was real.