Dear Diary

February 14th

Well, Valentine's Day.  I got everything for later, but now I need to get to class... Still can't miss it.  If I don't write anything later, hopefully I will tomorrow.

February 14th (cont.),

Well, I've got it all ready, and she's coming soon. Wish me luck!

(Just before she comes)

Ok Robert, just calm down.  Remember not to take things too fast.  You've seen enough movies to know what happens

(After she leaves)
Thank goodness she also likes Disney/Pixar movies... Having 14 cousins younger than 10 back home, I rarely see movies pg-13 and higher (not counting WWII movies).  I'd write more, but I didn't realize that it's 1 a.m.; I should go to bed now; good night.

(Just before bed)

Oh, and remind me to put a fire extinguisher near the oven.

February 15th;

Back to school today; hopefully I can do some advertising for the model train club.  Need one more member in order for the club to stay. Any members after that would be great, "but not required" the board said

And I'll tell you what happened this afternoon.

February 16th,

Nothing yet; maybe at the next meeting they will show up.  Been watching tv episodes to see if any engines there are worth adding.  Haven't found any.

But I'm thinking about adding Bertie, Terrence and Trevor. To project Awdry.  Should make some scenes really come to life

February 17th:

OK, I can finally tell you what happened on Valentine's Day. Well,

She came over, we had a nice dinner, and we watched a movie; good thing I had Netflix.  She went home after a while, she said she had a great time.  Huh, I thought I had more to say.  Oh well

Anyway, trying to see if I can interest females in the model train club.  I keep getting one of the same three responses:

"Model what?"

"Sorry, totally not my thing."

"Sounds boring, no thanks."

Maisie really is special.  But she can't be the only one, right?  Ugh, I gotta get another member though so the club can stay.  Maybe I'm looking at this the wrong way.

(Later)

Guys are saying similar things!  Why is this so hard?  I think I'll go lay down now.

Hmm... it seems that splitting days caused the story to "stall".  let's try and get it moving again.

February 18th;

Thank goodness today is Saturday.  Can finally work on the project again.  Keeping things simple.  Today, I am making plans for the important Knapford area.  Not going to actually build anything; just make plans... a blueprint, if you will.  I wonder what the dimensions will be?  better start doing research.

(Just to clarify: RWS or TVS? The dimensions earlier were for a TVS plan.)

(Blend of both; TVS to incorporate Brendham Docks, RWS to incorporate Culdee Fell. But with regards to Knapford specifically... whichever you think is best)

(TVS, I think. He can kitbash a Bachmann kit or two.)

February 19:

I'm so tired right now... probably shouldn't have stayed up all night planning. I had to sleep all day to catch up. Nothing to report.

February 19th:

I found this site called ttte.wikia.com, and it is quite helpful! They even have forums, and I'm considering signing up.

February 20th:

Was reviewing my list of engines... I had a great idea.   So I have this class 40 engine that I wanted to use for a character from the movie... but the claw I custom built makes him too tall for the tunnels.  So, here's my idea.  I'll recreate that sludge barge scene at the end. The viaduct is going to be intact, but in the river below it, I'll put said class 40 in the barge, and it will make a great Easter egg on the layout.  However, if I find another way to incorporate him, I'm open to ideas.

So now that means I gotta build two barges... one Bulstrode and one Sludge barge.  Looks like I was able to incorporate that Class 40 after all.

February 21st:

I came up with an even better idea today. I'll use the Class 40 as one engine, then I'll take another Class 40 (which I just found, silly me) and attach the claw to it, redesign my tunnels, etc, and have him on it. I think I'll call it Diesel 12, and the C40 w/out the claw can be Diesel 1.

As for Sludgy the Barge, I'm still going to make him.

Welp, that's all. And it looks like Mazie's calling on the phone...

(Wait, now I'm confused. What's the plan for Diesel 10 and Diesel 12?)

February 22nd;

I was talking to Gilbert about my idea with the class 40s; he liked the sludge barge in the river idea, but was iffy on the original character. He's the only one of the model train club I've confided in about Project Awdry, so he's the only one I can really talk to about it. He said this:

"I appreciate your willingness to include some of the characters from the TV continuity, but do you really want to create original characters? Remember, this is about paying tribute to the good reverend, so let's keep that idea in mind for now, but I think this other class 40 you have, you are better off using for either D199 or D261."

He may have a point; one class 40 is definitely going to be Diesel 10... but should the other be D199 or D261?

Later:

I've decided to tell Mazie about this, and she said it was a very good idea. (She loves Thomas.) When I asked her about whether to make 199 or The Diesel, she said she always liked The Diesel better. So, well, there we go!

February 23rd

I told Gilbert about how I settled on D261... man I should have chosen my words better:

"Guess what, I decided that the remaining Class 40 will be The Diesel"

"Isn't Diesel a class 08?"

"What?  No, I'm talking about The Diesel, not Diesel?"

"What are you talking about?  Diesel is Diesel!"

"No, The Diesel!"

"That's his name, you don't need "the" to be said!"

"I am talking about The Diesel, not Diesel!  You know, D261."

Then we both broke down laughing hysterically... good thing Maisie wasn't there to see that; it would've been embarrassing.  Anyway, he said good, but was wondering about Diesel.

I told him I wasn't going to include him for two reasons:

1) in Awdry's books he was sent away in disgrace, and never appeared after "Duck and the Diesel Engine" in the books, to my knowlege
2) I can't find a class 08 in the scale we're using.

He did convince me though, if I can find one for a good price to include him.  Could be a shunter in the yard.  Eh, I'll think about it

FEBRUARY 24:

I found a Class 08, but the price is in Euros. Hmmm...

In news, I found another member for our modelling club. Zach, 19, I think Freshman , but lots of experience. Now I'm ready to go!

February 25th
(BTW, this is not a leap year)

Now that I have the minimum of 8 members needed, the club has been approved and now we are official.

If the price is in Euros... that means the shipping alone will be expensive. Going to have to think this over very carefully.

February 26th;

Agh!  So frustrating!  Trying to find the railcar for the Ffarquhar branch but the only ones available are the "double back to back" ones.  Granted, I might be able to separate them, but it might cause more problems.

Anyway, I'd love to work on this more, but there is a report I gotta work on; man, the things you do for a degree.

Well, looking back through this, I realize that I did a lot of things here that really limited the scope of our character; sorry about that guys.  Should we do a new diary if we restart this?

No, I like what we have here. I'm just not good with diaries.

Hmmm... perhaps we could do a time skip? Our college student would have more free time if he was out of class.