Tag Archives: #mercitrains

Conjunction Junction – A Digital Daytrip

Three Little Blooms, 4 x 6 watercolor on Arches 140 lb. cold-pressed paper. © 2020 Sheila Delgado.
Three Little Blooms, 4 x 6 watercolor on Arches 140 lb. cold-pressed paper. © 2020 Sheila Delgado.

Grab a cuppa and a muffin, this is a long one. 🙂

It’s time for Jennifer Belthoff’s Love Notes postcard exchange. Woo Whoo! This takes place four times a year. For this round, the option was given to use snail mail or email. For three weeks my postcard partner and I will exchange emails based on a writing prompt. But you know me, I want to send painted postcards. I plan to send the originals when it is safe to be out and about.

I sent an ecard greeting to my partner earlier this week, the prompt was, “Together”. This is what came to mind.

Good Morning!
Together we can welcome Spring,
All of nature’s pretty things.
The plants, the animals,
the sun, the sky.
The birds above,
as they fly by.

Wishing you a JOY filled day!

The tree in front has buds. I swear they were not there yesterday, and today they are. Bright green-gold buds!

BudsBuds
Buds

Big Train, Little Trains, Cows and a Starship

I’ve been meaning to share this, but as it turns out this is the perfect time for it. Are you up for a mini-virtual day trip?

Early in March, we visited the Scottsdale Railroad Museum. We walked through the Peoria Depot and learned about the Merci Trains. The Presidential Roald Amundsen Pullman Car was next. Below are a few of the photos I took. Follow the link to watch a very interesting video on the history. It’s a short one.

Bedroom Roald Amundsen Pullman Car
Bedroom Roald Amundsen Pullman Car

They have a glass partition in the dining area for protection. Here is a floorplan. It is for the Ferdinand Magellan, but the layout is pretty much the same.

Roald Amundsen Pullman Car
Dining, Roald Amundsen Pullman Car
Sitting Area, Roald Amundsen Pullman Car
Sitting Area, Roald Amundsen Pullman Car
President Roosevelt
President Roosevelt

Next up was the 10,000 square foot model railroad building. WOW! I never knew there were so many different sizes of model trains! I took lots of photos until my phone died. But somehow I managed to get only one good shot of a moving train. Haha. Most of my images were of the miniature cityscapes.

First up a huge globe.

Globe
Globe
Cows
Cows
Big train, little train
Big train, little train

Had to laugh at the lego cacti.

Cacti
Cacti

Throughout the exhibit, there are orange hands you can touch to activate the displays. The spaceship rose out of the crater. Cue the Twilight music. Do do do do, do do do do.

Spaceship
Spaceship
Ready for take-off.
Ready for take-off.
Saturday,-in-the-park...
Saturday,-in-the-park…

Goodbye Santa Fe!

Santa Fe
Santa Fe

My photos don’t do justice to the displays. There was so much to see. In every direction. There is more information here and each gauge group has a link to better photos and even some videos as well. The whole time I was writing this post, the Conjunction Junction song was in my head. Anyone else remember Schoolhouse Rock?

I hope you enjoyed the trip! And if that isn’t enough to fill an afternoon, take a look at the world’s tiniest model train! WOWzers!

Spring unlocks the flowers to paint the laughing soil.
Bishop Reginald Heber

Wishing you JOY and good health!
Stay safe friends!