Battery and Bridges

I am slowly getting better. I can now sit at my computer without discomfort. I have been walking 2 or more miles each day and doing physical therapy every other day. I'm still not fully healed, so I cannot do heavy layout work yet, but things are getting better.  

Last weekend Mike Spoor visited the Aquia Line. He was up in the area to visit Fort Meyer to get his new rank sewn on his uniforms as he was promoted to Sergeant First Class.  Congratulations!  Mike has a bedroom sized switching layout with dead rails, so he needs a battery powered engine to operate. 

A few months ago we started the process of converting one of his diesels to battery power. However, we needed to order some additional components. So I ordered them and they arrived. Then COVID hit followed by the floods. So Mike's project was set on the shelf. Thanks goodness, as the parts did not get damaged by the water.

With Mike in town, we took the opportunity to finish the job. The plan was to put the  Airwire decoder and LiPo battery in a box car. That car would connect to an engine. Mike had several older locos and we found one that worked and had directional lighting. So, there was no need for extra wiring for lighting effects. We used a plug to allow Mike to disconnect the box car from the engine if desired. 

The battery is also on a plug so it can be charged separately. The biggest problem was getting the plugs between the engine and loco to not be so obvious. I used thinner gauge wire on the plug from the loco than I used on the box car. Unfortunately, those wires broke after a few op sessions. So we need to redo the engine side plug with more durable wires.

 This weekend the ACWRRHS held our annual meet. The original plan was to come to the Washington DC area, visit the museums and operate my layout. But COVID happened. So we had  the meet via Zoom.  Thom Radice set up a nice program. We had participants from all over the US, UK and Australia. I did a talk on how I built the Potomac Creek Bridge. Don Ball, Rhett Tyler and Charlie Taylor also gave talks on their bridge construction.Eric Gates from Great Britain discussed his fine scale 5-ft gauge HO layout with an equalized locomotive.  Joel discussed how he makes structures for his N scale layout. It was a fun meet, but not as good as getting together in person.

New Products Announced at the 2016 ACWRRHS Meet

In my previous post I failed to mention that Dave Schneider of SMR trains announced a bunch of new products in O and HO scale. Dave Bright also announced a new book he has written on the Confederate's capturing  and transporting locomotives and cars from the B&O and ALH RR's.

SMR Trains has some of the products already posted on his website. Others will be forthcoming. The first products for sale are laser cut O scale box cars in kit or RTR form.  See the image below.

Next on tap are O scale figures, tools, artillery, and other impedimenta.  He also showed the prototype for models of the Lee-Brooke Gun in O and HO scale.

Dave Bright's new book will be out in a few months. It is a detailed look the facts behind the great locomotive caper and Thomas Sharp's role in it.  Check his web site for more details. 

ACWRRHS 2016 Meet After Action Report

Wow, what a great meet. The guys in Tennessee really put on a wonderful event. Special thanks go to Charlie and Ginger Taylor, Thom Radice, Harold Taylor, Charlie Curro, Lee Millar and all the others   that did presentations or brought models to display.

UP action in Memphis

The official meet started with talks at the hotel on Thursday evening. However, I managed to do some rail fanning on Thursday morning in Arkansas and Memphis. I saw a double stack train east bound as I crossed the Mississippi, and a coal train westbound, but couldn't get photos. Later I chased a mixed freight east through Memphis.

Large scale model of Sultana in the museum.

On Friday morning the attendees went in small groups to local museums or activities. I went with Don and Becky Ball to see the Sultana Disaster Museum in Marion, Arkansas. It was a major tragedy that is little known. It is still the greatest nautical disaster in terms of loss of life in American history.

Thom Radice giving conductors their instructions

Friday afternoon was the highlight of the trip as we got to tour and operate Charlie Taylor's huge O scale Memphis and Charleston layout. Thom Radice helped Charlie set up an operating session that allowed all of the attendees that wanted to, to operate trains. I was an engineer teamed with my conductor Ron Flowers to run the Nitre (basical ly bat guano from a mine in a cave - how appropriate)  train from Huntsville to Chattanooga and back. The run took all afternoon, as we had request for numerous photo run bys and meets with other trains.

Charlie's layout is set in a 75 by 35 foot loft above his large garage and guest house. It is a wonderful space for a large model railroad. His engines use DCC and sound. The layout includes two turntables with a unique mechanism based on a "Geneva Wheel" that allows for automatic indexing. They were designed and built by Charlie's brother Harold, a mechanical engineering whiz.  Before dinner Harold took me for a tour of his machine shop. It was fully equipped with a multi head CNC mill and several other industrial grade lathes, brakes, and grinders.

Charlie Curro poses by the O Scale Tennessee River bridge,
one of two huge bridges on the layout.

In keeping with the family affair, Charlie's nephew,  Will, painted the backdrops and his 90-year old mother built many of the smaller structures on the layout. Charlie Curro, a long time colleague of Charlie Taylor, built most of the big structures.

It was a delightful experience for me to operate on another ACW O scale railroad.  Dave Schneider, owner of SMR trains, told me that we (Charlie Taylor and I)  are the only two layouts he knows that actually operate his O scale engines.

Harold's Geneva wheel

Some of Curro's structures

The "Charlies" and I compared notes on techniques and tips.  Charlie uses Digitrax DCC with Tsunami sound decoders. They sounded quite good and ran great. His cars use link and pin couplers.

After a genuine Memphis BBQ dinner, we had more talks back at the hotel.

Diorama in Shiloh Museum

NS on the former M&C in Germantown, TN

On Saturday, we went by bus to Shiloh Battlefield National Park. The park includes Corinth and Battery Robinette. Lee Millar, as a CSA Captain,  lead the tour.  First we stopped in Germantown to examine a 19th century boxcar hidden in a storage shed. Once at Shiloh, he gave many of us a chance to load and fire blanks with a musket, showed us the key points on the battlefield, and told a bunch of groan-inducing jokes, usually with a unreconstructed rebel theme.

Thom Radice fires the musket

The Shiloh Battlefield is about what I expected  in terms of gently rolling and wooded terrain. However, I was surprised at the small size of the final position of Grant's lines on the first day. I expected them to be a bit larger. They really where crammed in between the creek and the river.

Overall the battlefield is well preserved and undeveloped. The woods were allegedly not as thick then as they are now, but the open fields are very similar to the way they were in 1862.

The crossing at Corinth was interesting, even if all the ACW era stuff is mostly gone except for the location of the tracks. The crossing diamond uses an continuous track for the Norfolk Southern  east-west line. The north-south line has guard rails as the wheels have to "jump" the East-west rails- at slow speed I imagine.

KCS loco on display in Corinth

Unusual diamond crossing

On Saturday night we had a couple of presentations on the ACW TTRAK.  Joel Salmons set up a small layout and ran some trains. 

This was one of the best ACW meets that I have attended (I haven't been to all of them). I am looking forward to next year. Martinsburg-Harpers Ferry and Antietam might be a possible location.  Maybe with a new TTRAK module and hosting an op session on the Aquia Line.



From Nortraks website.  One-Way Low-Speed diamond frogs are used in their namesake diamonds, often referred to as OWLS diamonds. These types of frogs are analogous to lift frogs in turnouts: the higher-trafficked line crosses the diamond on a normal rail surface in tread-bearing mode, and the lower-trafficked line crosses over the higher-trafficked line in flange-bearing mode. Because there is no flangeway gap to cross on the higher-trafficked line, vehicles using this line can cross the diamonds at the maximum speed allowed by the track design. Because the lower-trafficked line is in a situation where gauge restraint is reduced and because it has to cross over the flangeway gap for the higher-trafficked line, vehicles using this line are limited to speeds at or below 10 miles per hour. OWLS diamonds are commonly used where a rail line with very little traffic operating at low speed crosses a rail line with considerably more traffic operating at higher speeds.

Upcoming Events

The weather has cooled slightly in Northern Virginia and the days are noticeably shorter. That means it's time for....model railroading. I will be travelling to several events in next month to present talks. If you are in the neighborhood, stop by and say hello.

On October 1 I will be at the MARPM in Fredericksburg, VA presenting a talk entitled, "Down to the Sea in Trains." This will be an overview of how railroads and ships interact at marine terminals from the early days of railroading to the current era of unit trains, double stacks and massive container ships. The talk will complement my next book due out in 2017.

October 13th I will be presenting an update on my USMRR Aquia Line to the American Civil War Railroad Historical Society at the La Quinta Inn on Primacy Parkway in Memphis, TN. This is part of the ACWRRHS annual meeting. There is also a layout visit to Charlie Taylor's O scale civil war era layout and a bus trip to Shiloh planned. For more info see the ACWRRHS Yahoo Group. 

October 20-23rd I will be presenting three clinics and the keynote address at the 2016 NMRA MER convention in Raleigh, NC. For more info see Tracks to the Triangle website.

USMRR Rules on Signals on Trains

First page - there is no title page

A question on the Yahoo AWCRRHS Yahoo Group list recently came up on signal flags used on trains in the ACW. I have a copy of the USMRR rule book courtesy of D.C. Cebula. It has a section that cover signals. The excerpts below are the pertinent sections.  Note that this is exactly opposite of later TT&TO Rule, where an engine displaying red flags or signals meant that no section followed that train.

There is no mention in the USMRR Rule Book on the use of white flags. 

Page 6

Page 5

Extract from USMRR Rules and Regulations (presumably for railroads in Virginia.)

15. Two red lanterns must placed
at the rear of every train that is on the
road after dark.
16. Two red flags by day, and two red
lanterns by night, shall be placed on,
front of an engine to indicate that the
engine is to be followed by another. In
case, by accident, two red flags or lanterns
cannot be obtained, one flag or
lantern shall indicate the same thing.

The difficulties with this system is that at night red signals would be used on front and rear of the train. That had to cause confusion, though the front would also have a head light.

B&O 1864 Rule Book

For comparison, here is a copy of a page from the 1864 Baltimore and Ohio Book of Rules. This rule adds the white signal on the front of  train when none is following. As with the USMRR, a red signal means that a section is following the train. They also use the term "convoy" of trains.

Again, this is opposite color system of the "modern" practice that started sometime after 1877.


These next two pages are from the B&O Book of Rules from 1852. Note that the rules are very basic and don't address following sections.

B&O 1852 Rule book

ACWRRHS SIG on MR Video Plus

Model Railroader Magazine included a brief video look at the ACWRRHS SIG room at the 2013 NMRA Convention. Here is a link, BUT,---- You have to be a MR Video Plus Subscriber to view it.  They have now also made the video available to MR Extra Subscribers at this link. Here are some screen caps from the video.

NMRA After Action Report and Lessons Learned

I have had some time to digest the events of the past week and offer the following thoughts.

Although we were a small group with  just 11 men (DC Cebula, Thom Radice, LeBron Matthews, Al Meuller, Dave Hoffman, Paul Dobbs, Joel Salmons, John Bazaitas, John Bopp, Gerry Fitzgerald, and I)  plus 4 wives/SOs, we had a great display.  (Matt Coleman spent a lot of time with us but he is not an ACW modeler. He is a great guy in spite of that. We have been acquainted for many years but this was the first time I met him.)

I really enjoyed participating with the ACWRRHS, as we have known each other for 5 years now and are becoming good friends. I spent most of the show in our SIG room. This was our first event where we participated as part of a larger NMRA event. I think we were successful in showing that the Civil War era is a viable subject to model in N, HO and O scale.  In some ways it was a perfect storm as we were in Atlanta with our ACW display during the 150th Anniversary of some of the biggest events in the war, and the NMRA offered a separate Civil War track of clinics and tours.

However, I am not sure we had too many converts. The NMRA as represented in these meets is an older crowd. Most have a significant investment in their current layouts or projects so it is not
unexpected that they would not be interested in converting. I saw only one person I would say was under twenty visit the room, and he was really enjoying the layout. I gave him a throttle so he could try some operation. Time will tell if we have any new interest in our subject based on this show.

Even if we did not recruit new members, it was nice being part of the NMRA convention. It presented the opportunity to distract us with clinics, contest room and layout tours. I didn't see too many clinics that appealed to me, but it was nice to have the option to sit in on one if desired. For example Jim Elster's marathon scenery clinic had some good tips. It was good to again see John Wilkes talk about his layout as his layout is built with aluminum channel and it as close to the Hadron Collider as a model railroad can come.  John Bopp and Dave Hoffman presented some excellent  talks to just the ACWRRHS. They were good enough that they could have been presented to the whole convention.

Dave Hoffman talked about some hand-built brass models he plans to offer for sale. He is looking for reservations and deposits. I made a brief video showing some of his pilot models running on a test track.  Dave lives in a rural area of Mississippi and does not have reliable internet access. So please contact Al Mueller at the ACWRRHS Yahoo Group if you are interested.

A Cabin in S Scale on Gerry Holmes Layout

I went to three layouts on the way home on Saturday and all were impressive. Phillip Stead has a large On3 model of the DRGW from Chama to Alamosa. Steve Austin has a finely crafted On30 freelanced railroad set in Appalachia. Finally I visited Gerry Holmes in Chattanooga to see his layout. Gerry is a client of mine and I have built several custom buildings for him.




With regard to the McCook's landing it operated very well with just a few problems.  We had six crews operate it. They took between 45 to 120 minutes to complete the switching tasks. I had put a prohibition on using the front coupler and that complicated their tasks somewhat.  It was gratifying to see that the link and pin couplers were accepted without complaint. They operators seemed to get into the challenge and actually enjoyed it.

I had a little glitch with the cassette tracks interface with Biscuit Run. I forgot to account for the 1/8th inch thickness of the sky board that created a gap in the rails.  I need to fix that before the next show. But it was amazing to watch the trains traverse a 1/8th inch gap in the rails. Ah, the advantages of O scale. Other than that the cassettes worked well. It was handy having a shelf to place stuff too. I also liked how the fiddle yard breaks down to a flat box and fits snugly in the transport truck.

The batteries on the locos held up pretty well. We learned that they could sustain about 3.5 hours of operation before conking out. That is entirely acceptable. The slow speed performance was excellent.

The layout suffered only minor damage. As one who has built many N Scale modules over the years, I know you have to expect some damage when you take portable layouts to shows. But in this case, the integral valance and lights helped protect the layout. Only a few figures vibrated loose during shipment. One figure lost its head, that was a surprising but minor issue.

I was personally gratified by the positive response of nearly everyone that visited the layout. Most were extremely complimentary. Several African American visitors expressed appreciation for our depiction of the USCT on the layout. I was able to connect with Robert West, a railroad artist. He is launching a series of Civil War related paintings and asked if he could consult with me on ideas.  That should be fun. Steve Benezra wants to do an article on ACW operation of the OPSIG journal.

The MRH folks had a chance to operate the layout. They posted detailed coverage on their blog. They even posted a picture of me, a rare thing as I am usually behind the camera. (When you see my picture you will know why).

McCook's Landing was also the subject of a video interview with the MRH Trainmasters-TV program. This video production looks like it has all the right ingredients to be a winner. I will be looking forward to it.

I attended the train show on Friday morning. It had the usual assortment of vendors and manufacturers. I didn't spend a lot of time there and didn't see anything so extraordinary that bears reporting. Just one observation, manufacturers are making some incredibly detailed models these days.

I usually come back from these shows charged up to build more layout. But I need to temper (curb?) my enthusiasm as I have some other projects I must complete first. I will focusing the next few months on my next book entitled "The Model Railroad Goes to War."  That will cover the ACW, WWI, WWII and modern eras.

As I was unloading the layout I noticed that the sun shine made for some interesting lighting. So I took a few shots. Here is an example.

I hope to start back on my home layout in December by finishing Aquia Landing. I eagerly anticipate that as I think it is going to be a lot of fun to build.  In the meantime, I'll be posting less frequently on this blog as construction on my ACW layouts will be slow. But I will come back big guns in December.

ACWRRHS Visit

ACWRRHS Paul Dobbs, Joel Salmons, Jeff Goodson, Chip Borona, Alan Hart, Gerry Fitzgerald,
Bernard Kempinski (Left to Right) (Not in picture was Mrs Borona)

Mason sums it all up!

The ACWRRHS visited the layout today as part of their annual meet. They got to see the layout operate. There were also some civil war small arms on display as John Drye brought over a 1862 era Springfield Musket and Jeff Goodson had an 1858 Breech loading carbine. Jeff also brought some very nice models for show and tell.

Doug Gurin and his neighbor Jim examining a ACW era car float in HO scale

Bryan Kidd did a great job as a guest operator. He jumped right in and was running and switching

Jeff demonstrating his carbine's breech loading action

Private Brendel was on guard duty armed with John Drye's Springfield musket

In addition to the ACWRRHS, I invited some of the local modelers from our operations group to visit. Bryan Kidd, Tom Pierpoint, Nick Kalis, Marty McGuirk, John Drye, and Jake Brendel showed up. Derek and Kristen stopped by with their three boys, Eathan, Nathan, and Mason.  Add in my wife, mom and brother Marco and we had quite a crowd.

The boys really got a kick out of watching the train travel through the tunnel. So why bother with all the scenery, when the track through the closet was the most fascinating!

Trying to get the clan to stand still is not easy

The layout was running, but several DCC glitches kept popping up. To err is human but to really foul things up takes DCC. There has to be a better way! Stay tuned for more on that.....

ACWRRHS Annual Meet Sept 2012

The ACWRRHS is having its annual meeting in Baltimore this weekend. Joel Salmons has been setting it up and has arranged a good program. The program includes visits to the B&O Museum, President's Street Station, Irish RR Workers Museum, USS Constellation Sloop of War, Ellicot Mills Museum and the Baltimore Inner Harbor.



USS Constellation in Baltimore is the second ship with that
name. It was built in 1854 and served in the ACW
patrolling the Mediterrean.

 Unfortunately, it looks like attendance will be light. It really is too bad as the B&O Museum, which is on the agenda, is one of the best ACWRR resources available.

I will doing a talk on Saturday at the Convention Hotel. The subject of the talk is a layout update and a description or discussion of the ACW Road Show that Gerry and I have been planning.

On Sunday morning, the group will visit my layout. I expect to have the layout running with help from some assistants to keep things moving. 

Check the ACWRRHS Yahoo Group (see link at left)  for more info about the event. It is free and will be fun too!

ACWRRHS Meeting in Atlanta, GA

I'm back from the ACWRRHS Meeting in the Atlanta, GA area.  It was a fun trip with perfect weather, good friends, museums, battlefields, cool trains and a yellow convertible too.

This is a quick post to upload some of the group pictures, I'll post more info later. Make sure you click on the images to see the full versions.

Allatoona Pass (Click for animation)

On Kennessaw Mountain (click for animation)

Thom looking down on the steep cut at Allatoona pass



Earth, Wind, Water,....

Two weeks ago we had an earthquake.

Last week we had a hurricane.

This weekend we had a flood.

We don't need a fire.

A tripped circuit breaker on our sump pump circuit caused a small flood in our finished basement during a day and night of heavy rain. Luckily we caught it early and were able to avoid a lot of damage. We had up to an inch of water in some parts of our basement, while others did not get wet. We did have to pull out the carpet and pad as they were thoroughly soaked. The layout was undamaged. I am fortunate in that most of my tools and model train supplies are stored in plastic tubs and were not affected by the water. All my electronics and books were not affected as the water didn't rise high enough, or we moved it before damage could be done.

The sump pump is located under the far end of the layout at the Accokeek Creek area and is not obstructed by the benchwork, so it is easy to access. There was a place where the layout legs rested on the carpet under the Falmouth engine terminal. I had to use my car floor jack to raise the layout a fraction of an inch to pull out the section of carpet there.  With the help of a water damage specialist contractor, our clean up is well under way. We will take this opportunity to repaint and install new linoleum type flooring. No more carpet in the basement.

Most basements in our area are prone to flooding, but we had been lucky until now. We now plan to have a new dual pump installed with a battery back-up and alarm.  We had been thinking about the battery back-up for a while now, so this was the incentive to get it installed.

Work on the layout was slow this week as we were rebuilding the deck in the backyard. In a retrograde kind of move, we removed the old, nondescript deck and rebuilt it with a smaller deck (about half the area) with top end materials. The deck uses Fiberon decking, Azek  trim and Atlantis stainless steel railing. Next  we plan to add a flagstone stone patio with walkways and a small water feature. That work will be done by a contractor. The best part of the new landscape plan is that we will eliminate all the lawn in the back yard. It will be all flowers, shrubs and trees. No more mowing back there - Yes! 

A neat feature of the new deck is that one of the lattice panels is on a sliding track to allow access to storage under the deck.

On Thursday I depart for the ACWHSRR Meet at Kennesaw, GA. It looks like a good line up of events. I'll take plenty of pictures.

2011 Convention Schedule
Thursday
• Motel check-in, registration, and informal meeting with other members
• 7:00 p.m. — Dinner (everyone on their own)
• 8:30 – 10:00 p.m. — Welcome and informal show and tell by members

Friday

• 7:30 – 9:00 a.m. — Breakfast
• 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 noon (all times include travel time) — Kennesaw National Battlefield
• 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. — Lunch
• 1:00 – 3:00 p.m. — Acworth and Allatoona Pass
• 3:00 – 5:00 p.m. — Etowah River Bridge and Cooper Iron Works
• 6:30 p.m. — Dinner (entire group at convention hotel)
• 8:00 – 10:00 p.m. — Presentations: (1) Harper Harris on the Great Locomotive Chase; (2) LeBron Matthews and Thom Radice on modeling the Western & Atlantic Railroad in HO scale.
Saturday

• 7:30 – 9:00 a.m. — Breakfast

• 9:15 a.m. – 12:30 noon — Southern Museum (the General)
• 12:30 – 1:30 — Lunch {“Taste of Kennesaw”}
• 1:30 – 5:00 p.m. — Atlanta Cyclorama (the Texas)
• 6:30 p.m. — Dinner (everyone on their own)
• 8:00 – 10:00 p.m. — Model Railroad Clinics: (1) Bernard Kempinski on his O scale U.S.M.R.R.; (2) Alan Mueller and LeBron Matthews on modifying the Mantua General in HO scale; and (3) swap table
Sunday

• 7:30 – 9:00 a.m. — Breakfast
• 9:00 – 10:00 a.m. — Motel check-out
• 10:00 a.m. — Drive to Columbus, Georgia, and visit LeBron Matthews’ Southern Branch of the Western & Atlantic R.R.

Prototype Rails 2011 at Cocoa Beach

I will be attending the Prototype Rails 2011 meet at the Cocoa Beach Hilton on 6-9 January. The core of this meet are the excellent clinics from some of the best known model railroaders in the US. I am honored to be included and will be presenting an updated version of my talk called, "An Introduction to Modeling the Railroads of the American Civil War." I plan to have some of my models on display.   I will also have signed copies of my books if you would like to get a signed copy.


If you are attending the show, or are in the area, please stop by and say hello.  The web link for the show is http://prototyperails.com/

ACWRR Historical Society 2010 Annual Meeting

Left to Right Ron Beavers, Paul Dobbs, William Shirey,
Stephen Borona, DC Cebula visiting the layout.

This weekend saw the ACWRRHS Annual meeting in Alexandria, VA. The meeting kicked off with an introduction by Jon Vrana and Reene Linder. Then I and Ron Beavers presented talks. My talk was a variation of my Introduction to Railroads of the Civil War presentation while Ron discussed the sites they group would visit on Saturday.



Marty Guirk and Thom Radice look for a photo of
Chattanooga on  the Library of Congress website using a
computer  at the Alkem Scale  Models World Headquarters

 On Saturday Ron lead the group around sites in Alexandria including the Lyceum, where my car float model is on display, and  Fort Ward, one of my favorite spots in Alexandria.  Mitch Oldham could not hook up with the group, but stopped by the layout for an early tour. Mitch is a "local" from Warrenton, VA and is planning an O Scale layout in his 1400 sq ft basement. He used to have a model RR business selling DCC components, He expressed an interest in attending future work session. We can always use a wiring guru.

After Ft Ward, the group visited my layout. Marty McGuirk came by early to help out and answer questions. Over 22 people visited the layout. While at the house, we had a pizza and salad  dinner capped off with Alicia's  double chocolate brownies.

 Later that night Dave Schneider of SMR Trains presented a fascinating talk about some research he did on General Lee's armored rail gun. He also gave a copy of a Ron Hatch poster print depicting a scene from the Great Locomotive Chase to all attendees.  DC gave a talk about his collection of railroad research.


On Sunday the group will headed out on the O&A RR (now Norfolk Southern) to see historic sites along that famous line.  It has been a great time. Thanks to everyone for coming.

Public Presentation on ACW Model Railorads

I did my talk tonight entitled, "An Introduction to Modeling the Railroads of the Civil War." I've done a lot of talks over the years and I think I would say this one went off very well. I wore my BG Uniform which set the stage quite well. The talk was supposed to go 45 minutes, but with questions it lasted 1 and half hours. Many of the attendees commented that they were not initially interested in the subject, but found the discussion quite absorbing. It managed to suck them in.

A woman in the audience came up to me after the talk and commented on how handsome I looked in my uniform. Heck, maybe I should wear it all the time, but don't tell Alicia. :)