Cactus Jack Calder

+1 Just to the right of center, same as I shoot! My GP said cut Sodium from your diet to help reduce volume. I don’t add salt to anything I eat, either cooking or after prep. Of course there is plenty of salt in most prepared foods. It does help. I can always tell when I’ve eaten something salty by the volume of the noise between my ears. It amazes me that less than 5 minutes after I eat something salty the volume is up. Drink lots of water to try and flush it out and it takes hours to attenuate the volume. CJ

Less than I’d like. It is a social hobby. We get together for “Steam Ups”. Kind of hard to do with the current situation. Steam Ups usually are family style get togethers. The wives all and gab, while the men run trains. I’m not a chauvinist, I’ve just never seen a woman live steamer. My wife was very understanding and enjoyed the gab feasts. Then we have a eating fest before heading home. Cleaning live steam engines is just as complicated as cleaning Black Powder Guns. An old live steaming saying: If you haven’t got burned fingers you aren’t trying hard enough. That being said. I haven’t run trains since fall of 2019. CJ

I pull the barrel out of the stock, remove the nipple, stick the nipple end in a 5 gallon pail of hot soapy water. I put a patch on the cleaning jag and pump it until the hot water flows out the top of the barrel. Change the soapy water once do it again. Then I flush it out with clear hot water. When I say hot I mean HOT, I have to use a glove or pad to hold the barrel. It drys quickly and I lube it up and reinstall in the stock after I can touch it with a bare hand. Works every time. That is why the Hawkins have keys to hold the barrel into the fore stock. I don’t have a Hawkin, I have a Dixie Gunworks “Poorboy”. It uses thin pins, which makes removal a little more difficult. Same for the lock, disassemble and scrub clean with hot soapy water then lube. More work than smokeless powder, still worth it to be sure of thorough cleaning. CJ

Pat, Thanks for the heads up. I had to check my EZ9 but I’m safe. Wyoma, It is easier to rack the slide and also load the magazine. They have tabs on the follower that allow you to pull it down with you off hand so you don’t have to force the stack of shells down to accept another round. CJ

This is the layout in running order. It is still an electric RR only. I got into steam after I meet other Large Scale RR's here in NC. This shot is looking back towards the place I took the other pictures. The brown lump with the grey fringe on top is a mountain". This is the face of the mountain and you can see the pass the train will take through the cut. Several of the buildings on this line are built from scale lumber milled from cedar timber (scraps of 1"x4" donated by a local lumber yard back in NY before I moved). There are also plastic kit built buildings. This is an Icing facility to supply Ice for boxcars to ship perishables. Built with scale lumber. They harvest ice from the "Ice Caves" in the mountain behind the ice house. That's the story and I'm sticking to it. Now Comes the confession part. I hadn't realized I only have a couple of videos of live steam engines running on other peoples layouts. Once I started live steam I concentrated on running the engines and forgot about taking pictures. As Pat Riot said Live steam is more than mechanical. It is alive even in scale model size. So all my engines are out in the garage in storage for the time being. I will try to get them out and take pictures, if only for my records. Once I have the pictures taken I will post some here. The engines really are beautiful renditions of the prototypes. CJ

I forgot include the name of the line was: Shawangunk Mountain Railroad. That is pronounced Shumgunk by the locals. The Shawangunk Mountains are part of the Appalachian chain in NY State. When I moved to NC I renamed it: Shawangunk Mountain & Southern Railroad. This is the yard before the RR construction. This is the same shot with the garden box I built. It was filled with soil eventually. I removed the fence on the back and side. I left it in front towards the street.

Yul, It turns out I am a terrible photographer. I started out in what is known as Large Scale, Scale 1, G Scale or Garden Railroad in NY. That is all the same track with different names. I mostly modeled the Mountain Rialroads of the East. Three foot narrow gauge railroads that were primarily used to log off the Mountains. As a newbie I started in with Electric trains just like Lionel or HO, only bigger. The rail is usually brass so that it can stand the weather. These two pictures are from my NY layout which was fairly small. The engine is a "Shay" designed by a man named Ephraim Shay for the logging railroads in the mountains. This is an electric engine. This is my front yard garden.

I’m still looking for the pictures I took as I built it. Once I find them I’ll post a few. CJ

NO once you are declared a SMART ASS it is a life time appointment. Welcome aboard Matey! ARGH!! CJ

Yul, Thank you I love Railroads. I have live steam engines and an outdoor layout 1 3/4” between the rails. Too small to ride so I chase it around the layout. CJ

Freshman year of college, I lived at home and commuted by train to school. That day I had half a day of classes, so I took an early train home, that required me to transfer to a bus. Walking from the train station to the bus stop, a woman came out of a bar and ran down the street waving her arms in the air shouting “They shot the President, they shot the President.” I thought she’s drunk. Unfortunately drunk or not, she wasn’t wrong. CJ

While Doc, Kit and Linn escorted Murphy into the jail, Jack took several of the horses to the livery stable and began to settle them into stalls. Stripping the tack he watered and grained the animals. Just as he was approaching the stable door a heavy concussion hit him in the chest and knocked him on his butt. Being somewhat shielded by the building Jack was not seriously injured. Rising he charged the door again, drawing his pistol eased around the frame to see what had happened. He saw Jacob approaching Linn in the road, Doc was down on the front porch of Miss Kris’s Tailoring Shop and Kit was climbing to his feet at the Land Office. The jail was just rubble. ‘Utah Bob and Miss Lizzy, where were they.’ He thought. Heading for Linn and Jacob he fired of a fusillade of questions.“Is Linn okay? Are you okay? Do you know where Utah Bob and his niece are?” “They had gone to the restaurant, they were NOT in the jail.” Was the response. “Linn will be alright and I am untouched by the blast. Here comes the Marshall and Colonel Flint now.” “Thank goodness they were not in the jail. I was just leaving the stable, the explosion knocked me on my butt. Let’s get Linn to the Doctor, then I’ll check on Doc. I see Miss Abby and Miss Kris are helping him.” Utah Bob approached from the wreckage of the jail, “Murphy is dead as you would expect. Lizzy is in the restaurant. I told her to stay there until one of us came for her. Jack would you check on her and take her to Kris’s shop? She may be able to help with Doc’s injury and the other women will be a calming effect for her. I’ll help Jacob get Linn to the Doctor’s office.” “I’ll see to her Marshall, Miss Abby and Miss Kris will need help until the doctor gets there.” Replied Jack as he headed towards the restaurant. Doffing his hat as he neared her Jack said, “Miss Elizabeth, your Uncle Bob sent me to check on you and ask if you would help one of the injured men over at the Tailor Shop.” “Yes of course I’ll help, I’ve done some nursing. Please call me Lizzy, I want my Uncle’s friends to be comfortable around me, not treat me as a delicate flower.” Rising and moving quickly to the door she said, “Let’s get to it, Ranger.” Jack had to move quickly to reach the door to hold it open. “Such a gentleman.” Lizzy grinned at Jack. As they approached the shop the Doctor arrived and began his examination of Doc’s wounds. “Abby, you and Kris get me some clean water, Slim hold Doc still. This is going to hurt him when I remove the pieces of metal. Jack, good, help Slim hold him steady.” Commanded the Doctor. “Miss kindly help the other ladies.” “Doctor, I am a trained nurse.” Responded Lizzy. “I have assisted in emergency surgeries, and can help here if you will allow me.” “Very we’ll Miss, as long as you can remain in control. If you faint no one will be able to help you.” Responded the Doctor as he worked to remove Doc’s clothing around the wound. Jack huffed, “I wouldn’t worry Doctor, she’s Utah’s Niece. If she says she’s good, she’ll be fine.” “I apologize if I sounded condescending Miss. This explosion rather reminded me of that D’, uh excuse my language, the late War. I was an Army Surgeon and my memories of the conflict are not pretty.” Said the Doctor as he began to remove metal pieces from Doc’s back. Just then Abby and Kris returned with water, basins and material cut in strips for bandaging. “Is Ben going to be alright? Please say he will be alright.” Begged Abby Ward. “I will know in just a little bit, Abby. We have to see how deep the wounds are. Once he comes too we can access his function.” The Doctor said gently. “After that we will have to wait. At this point I believe his wounds should heal well, if there is no festering. Infection may be our biggest worry.”

I looked it up. I had an inspiration that it might be Gilbert & Sullivan . Dad was always singing from HMS Pinafore. He was in Glee Club in college and they performed HMS Pinafore. On Wikipedia it is listed as Composer: Noël Coward, First performed: June 1, 1931. CJ

My father would sing. I remember the tune but don’t know the name. ”Only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the noon day sun!” Dad was a lot of fun! CJ

With the interrogation of Murphy concluded, Jack boosted him into a saddle and secured him hand and foot to his mount. The subdued guards were stripped of their weapons, boots and horses. Left with a warning to leave Wyoming at their earliest opportunity or face punishment. They readily agreed that would be the case. The posse then organized a return to East Fork to confront Cushman. Doc and Linn lead off with Jacob close behind. Kit and Jack, leading Murphy’s mount brought up the rear. As the posse neared East Fork they encountered J. Mark heading in, leading a horse with a body slung over the saddle. He called out, “Doc, Linn looks like your mission was successful. I see my former brother in law is in custody.” “We managed a surprise visit,” replied Linn. “Who do you have there?” J. Mark replied, “I am not familiar with him. However, he seemed to want me out of the way. He dropped four sticks of dynamite through the window of my cell. He left the fuse too long and I pulled it. I chased him but didn’t get to question him. The thing is, I shot at him from far out of range for my rifle. Then he just flopped over off his horse. When I got to the body his face was blown away. There is too much damage for my shots to have done that. I searched the area but could not find another shooter.” “Why were you in a jail cell?” Questioned Linn. “Did the Marshall have enough of your attitude and lock you up?” “No, UB and I are good. There was an earlier attempt on my life at the hotel. A young dove, who had been sent as a decoy, was killed by the attacker instead of myself. UB and I thought it might be safer for the town residents if I was publicly escorted to the jail to await further attempts. It seems that strategy was successful in preventing further damage to innocent bystanders.” Explained J. Mark. “Unfortunately this fellow can not answer questions. So, I am no closer to finding out who sent him than before this last attempt.”