Merci Train Rededication

On Tuesday, March 26, the Mississippi Department of Archives and History rededicated the restored "Merci Train" that was one of the ones presented after WW2 by the French people to thank the United States for its actions in both freeing France from German domination and for providing assistance in rebuilding France after the war.  As I published in earlier posts (see below), the old "40 & 8" boxcar was in terrible shape and was almost lost.  But after a lengthy restoration and rebuilding, it looks like new!

I attended the rededication and took the following pictures.

Hank Holmes, the Director of the Department of Archives and History, opens the ceremony with a few words about the history of the boxcar and its restoration.  Standing on the right is Robert Parker Adams, the architect who supervised the restoration.



Some of the spectators at the rededication, including William Winter (on right in suit), former governor and former president of the archives board of directors; Elbert Hilliard (in tan coat), director emeritus of the department; and two of the distinguished WW2 veterans present.

Bob Adams, the architect, described the restoration process which included moving the car to its present location at the historic Gulf, Mobile, and Ohio (GM&O) Railroad depot and completely stripping it down to the bare structural members.

Our distinguished guests (from left) - Mr. William W. Correll (WW2 veteran), Mme Keltoum Rowland (honorary French consul to Mississippi), and Mr. R. B. Andrews (WW2 veteran).  Both Correll and Andrews actually rode in the 40 & 8 cars during their service in France during WW2.

The interpretive plaque that has been mounted in front of the boxcar.  I have to get a better picture of this and at a better angle so I can make it more readable.

The 40 & 8 car in all of its new glory.  It is protected by a shed that is designed to resemble the shed across the tracks at the GM&O depot.  And it is a good thing the shed was put over it as Jackson had a severe hail storm on Monday, March 17.  Without the shed, the roof of the car would have taken a severe pounding.  Whew!!

Previous posts:

http://colcampbellbarracks.blogspot.com/2012/04/mississippis-merci-train.html

http://colcampbellbarracks.blogspot.com/2012/05/mississippis-merci-train-part-2.html

'Murican Reinforcements

The 'Murican army has just received some reinforcements to assist in its campaign to free the colonies from the Britannians.

Barber's (New Jersey) Light Infantry Battalion, composed of vintage Jack Scruby figures

Morgan's Continental Regiment, composed of a mixture of figure manufacturers

I have had the old Jacks Scruby figures I used for Barber's Battalion around for probably 30 years.  Only this month have I finally gotten them painted!  Morgan's Regiment is designed to be used as either a rifle regiment, a "mismatch uniformed" Continental regiment, or a militia regiment, as needed.  Twelve of the eighteen figures have been painted for a number of years.  This month I added another six to bring it "up to strength."

In addition to these 'Murican reinforcements, a new general has arrived from Hesse-Coburg to lead some of the Hessian units in the Britannian army.  I haven't decided on his name yet; any suggestions?

A Miniature Figurines mounted American Revolution officer painted as a Hessian

Thinking about "A Very British Civil War"

After reading several blogs and battle reports about the gaming genre known as "A Very British Civil War" (VBCW), I thought that I would look further into this, to me, fairly new bit of imagi-nationing.

My first step was to get a copy of Paul Eaglestone's A World Aflame: Interwar Wargame Rules, 1918-39 published by Osprey.  My dealer friend (and Army comrade) Rudy Nelson of Time Portal Hobbies was finally able to procure a copy for me.  I finished reading through it today and have been intrigued by the possibilities of not only using this for VBCW, but also for our Back-of-Beyond China armies.  Usually we use Larry Brom's The Sword to Adventure, available from Sergeants3.  But AWA will give us a more "granular" game than TSTA.

The next step was to see what sort of troops I could throw together from what I have on-hand.  And actually I could get a nice little force, from East Bergholt, Suffolk [edit - location changed].

The Squire of East Bergholt and his cronies (and cronyettes) of the East Bergholt Hunt Club.  The Squire has done his share of hunting in Africa and has surrounded himself with like-minded hunters and huntresses.

The East Bergholt Civic Guard is composed of some of the Baron's retainers and respected citizens of East Bergholt.  They have great loyalty to the Squire and to their small village.

And finally, the East Bergholt constabulary, led by Detective Inspector Foyle.

That's all for now.  We'll see how things go.

Snow! In Mississippi ?!?

Yes,  we had snow in Mississippi this morning!  After receiving warnings from the National Weather Service last night, we awoke to 2-3" of snow this morning.  While most of the roads were clear, the bridges and overpasses, especially on the Interstate highways, soon iced over.  Snow is such a rarity here in the deep South that our road crews aren't as well equipped as those further north.  The state and city road crews did what they could, but still schools were closed or their openings were delayed.  Even state offices were delayed in opening (which is why I'm posting this so early and from home!).

The front of my house after the snow had stopped coming down

One of my across the street neighbors with the last of the snow coming down

My car, covered by 2-3" of snow

Off my back porch

The woods behind my house

But this will almost all be gone by this evening.  That is one of the good things about a deep South snow - it doesn't last long!

First Painting of 2013

My first painting of the new year continued two themes -- American Revolution and clearing off the painting desk.

So I began with completing the painting of four Ral Partha pack mules/donkeys that I acquired sometime last year or the year before.  They sat, partially painted, on an upper shelf on my painting desk for months.

Four Ral Partha pack mules with their muleteers

My interpretation of William Washington's Regiment of Continental Dragoons uses Miniature Figurines figures.  I have had six troopers painted and mounted for several years.  Finally I obtained three command figures and three more troopers so I could upgrade the regiment to six 2-figure stands.

William Washington's Regiment of Continental Dragoons

The flag is purely speculative.  One of the command figures was a mounted standard bearer, so I had to come up with a flag.  I do not know if any of the Continental dragoons carried flags, but this regiment in my Continental army does.

Final Painting of 2012

Yesterday I completed a small batch of disparate figures that had been sitting around my painting desk for far too long.

First some Miniature Figurines American Revolutionary War figures:

An American general, using the MiniFig General Washington figure, painted from scratch.





And a Hessian general, using the same figure.  This was a repaint of a previously painted figure that I purchased.



New figures for Bland's Dragoons (American).  I previously had inherited a unit of nine of these from my friend Doc Ord.  With the acquisition of three more, they are now part of a six stand regiment.  The newly painted figures are the officer on the front stand and two of the four figures on the back stands plus three of those four horses.  I think I did a fairly decent job of matching Doc's paint job.

And the whole regiment together.  They will be used to help oppose my British cavalry - 17th Light Dragoons, Queen's Rangers, and the Loyalist York Dragoons (an "made-up" designation).

An Old Glory Darkest Africa figure:

This is the leader from the Old Glory bearers set.  I needed a senior leader for my Zanzabari units and he seemed to fit the bill perfectly.  He is a slightly taller figure than the rest of my Zanzabari so he'll stand out as their leader.



My Chinese Back of Beyond forces needed some additional leaders so I added the Pulp Figures PYG-14 Chun King warlord command pack.

The warlord in the center and the standard bearer will lead the entire Chinese force.  The two figures on each end will join one of his warlord infantry units to replace some leader figures who are getting promoted.  The bald-headed guy in khaki will lead my German uniformed Chinese forces.  He's armed with a submachinegun and looks rather nasty so he'll be a good guy to keep them in check.  The basing details correspond to the units that are already done to which these guys will be added.

And my early 20th Century "Pulp" forces got some additional stalwarts to increase the strength of the "Knights of the Cresent Moon."



Three Tommy Gun toting "Knights" from the Brigade Games line of figures.  They'll join the ones I already have painted.



To make a fairly heavily armed band to help protect the treasures of the Near East from those ravenous "tomb raiders" who plague that part of the world.



And finally, Bob Murch's Pulp Figures of "The Sergeants Three and Gunga Din."

Those three brave and rogueish sergeants plus the bugle tooting Gunga Din.  The bases aren't completed yet but they are ready for adventures.



Ice Halo around Moon

This evening as my daughters left to return to their house, we noticed that the moon had a huge ice halo around it.  It is the biggest halo that I have ever seen.  The halo was wider that my outstretched hand from the end of my thumb to the end of my little finger (about 9") at arm's length.  It truly was a magnificent sight.

I have taken a picture of it but my camera's field of view wasn't wide enough to catch the halo is all its glory.  But here it is for your viewing pleasure.

The halo ring is out at the margins and corners of the picture.  There was a smaller ring much closer to the moon.  The dark splotches in the lower right corner are the upper branches of a huge oak tree in my yard.

The picture was taken about 9:00 pm CDT using an Olympus SP-320 digital camera with the night scene setting from my driveway in Jackson, Mississippi.