Jos, those are some very creative scenes, especially with the bus that won't clear the tunnel. I can imagine you're sick of tress. I'm up to about 300 of them so far with about another 100 to go and there have been many times I wished I was modeling the desert.
Steve, those are some pretty impressive layouts, especially for being portable. I like that Greek village too. Your new baby looks very tasty indeed - how's the sound? Another question, if I may. I notice British locomotives are almost always cab front (or double ended) with no apparent protection for the crew in the event of a level crossing accident. Crew protection is a big deal here in the US, which is why you always see American locomotives with a fairly large nose out front. Is this just not a problem in the UK or is some kind of protection built in to that crew cab?
Also, the dog in my scene is probably something that's uniquely American. It's a Dalmatian and they were often used as mascots by fire departments with some of the dogs sitting right on top of the fire engine on the way to a call. Back in the days of horse drawn engines, the Dalmatian would run ahead of the engine and bark at other horses in the way - sort of a animal siren.
The Dalmatian has pretty much disappeared from firefighting today but they are kind of a firefighting icon and that's why I have one in my scene. He's probably not making it any easier to get Puffy out of that tree though, now that you mention it.
Jeffrey, what road is that engine painted for? I don't recognize the scheme.
While all the excitement is going on with Puffy, work still goes on. The forest fire season is over and the P&N 70 tonner is shoving a flatcar with two locally based US Forest Service fire trucks, well chained to the flatcar, on to the interchange track. They will eventually end up in Boise, Idaho, the USFS headquarters, for repair and rehabilitation so they are ready for next year's fire season: