The annual Highland Games festival was held at the Loon Mt Ski resort. Scotsmen of all kinds, (real, synthetic, and American) come to wear their kilts and watch dances, games, caber tossing and the like. It's a slow weekend up here, summer is over and the autumn leaf season hasn't started, so anything to draw the tourists is a good thing. Weather was perfect, warm and cloudless and sunny.
Next door classic American roadside tourist attraction, Clark's Trained Bears, opened to take advantage of the tourist traffic. By noon the parking lot off US route 3 was full of happy tourists, there to ride the steam railroad, watch the trained bears perform, and savor the lovely Fall weather.
The Ammonousic Valley Railroad Association was invited to set up the big portable HO train layout and run it thru the weekend. Setup was Friday, a simple two hour job. Saturday we brought down the HO model trains to run for the fascination of 12 year old children. All day crowds flowed past the layout and ohhed and ahhed as the tiny steamers whirred around the track. For providing the entertainment, we got a free lunch.
Clark's collection of antique equipment was in beautiful repair. They had an 80 year old railbus with fresh paint smoother and glossier than a new car. They had three steam engines steaming, brass all polished, pulling carloads of tourists around the property. Rich clouds of wood smoke rising from the stacks, white clouds of steam from the whistles and pop off valves. Diesels just don't put on the show that steamers do.
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