The Army of Northern Virginia Invades New Jersey

Jim Homoki's HO layout

This past weekend the Army of Northern Virginia invaded New Jersey, despite a raging winter storm, now called Avery. The invasion had the two prong objective of operating on Northern NJ Railroads, while having a great time.

Advance party bivouacked in 9 inches of  snow in
Scranton, PA on  Wednesday night

Advance elements of the AoNV, my mom and I,  infiltrated Pennsylvania on Wednesday in advance of the storm. We stayed at my brother's safe house in Scanton, PA.  While there we took the opportunity to set up his Lionel Christmas layout and ran his GG1 at a scale 156 Miles per hour. 

By Friday morning, the main body of the AoNV was moving north, while I  conducted a flanking move from the west.

Mat Thompson leading his raiders north.

Unlike R.E. Lee's invasion  in 1862, the AoNV picked up new recruits in Maryland and even a few from southern Pennsylvania as it moved north. By the time it arrived at its objectives in Northern NJ, the model railroads of Jim Homoki  and Tom Piccirillo  had no chance. After sweeping victorious over those layouts, the AoNV continued to Ted Pamperin's gorgeous lake front house to raid his  commissary and put a heavy dent in his liquor cabinet. Ted has some great scotch.

At dawn the next day the AoNV continued its sweep through the mountains of Northern New Jersey, raiding the layouts of Perry Squire, Tony Koseter, Dave Olesen and Dave Abeles. Later that evening, the AoNV withdrew to the Panther Valley Country club along with the various layout owners and helpers.   Everyone enjoyed a wet happy hour, delicious dinner, and great camaraderie.

Steve King dispatching Gerry Dzciedic's layout.

By the next morning, the weary invaders raided Dave Ramos and Jerry Dziedzic's layouts before falling back to the relative safety and warmth  of the south side of the Potomac River. The New Jersey layout hosts and their helpers were too tired to pursue.

It was a great weekend. Thanks to our hosts and their helpers for their efforts. This is just another example of how model railroading is a great hobby with wonderful people.