The Last Resort

An Island Paradise

Chapter One

Somewhere out in the Caribbean Ocean, not too terribly far from Cuba, sits a tiny island paradise. The island is situated even more closely to Grande Barbosa, a much larger, but still pretty darn small spit of land that is now home to tourists who enjoy the sun and fun that an isolated island can provide.

Travel to the island of Grande Barbosa is either by boat or antique amphibian as there is no room for a landing strip. From the port, The Last Resort is just a short trip aboard a tiny boat. The island resort is reserved only for young ladies. No gentlemen allowed! The resort itself was resurrected from a monastery owned by a small group of monks that abandoned their sanctuary almost a Century before. It fell into ruin as one might expect, which was a rather simple accomplishment considering the time it sat abandoned. An enterprising gentleman moved onto the island and set about rebuilding the monastery into a small resort. He built a tiny 15" gauge rail line along the original dirt path leading to the top of the mountain where the monastery was located. Considerable work was involved and many trestles, bridges and otherwise flimsily supported track work was required for the trip. He also runs the boat service from the larger island to the resort. He made his resort available for the use and enjoyment of young women only,where they would be undisturbed by society and allowed to frolic as they may during their stay. He was a very good host as he kept a close eye on his guests: just to be sure all were having a good time!

The idea for The Last Resort was envisioned many years ago and has been developing in my head for all that time. Several false starts were scribbled on paper over the years, but nothing really "gelled" until recently. I finally figured it out? Everything seemed to fall into place at last.

The railroad is in Gn15 and somehow it will be crammed into a base no larger (or smaller) than four by five feet. I have been working with foam and BalsaFoam for several years and decided that was the way I wanted to go. It must be somewhat portable. A model that large would be quite heavy if made the conventional way of wood and plaster. As much as could be made from lightweight materials is the name of the game. The rockwork, almost all of it, and even the structures will be built from lightweight foam materials. The Woodland Scenics layout system will also be utilized and foam rocks will fill in between. I have already used expanded urethane foam for structures an the main island and find it works beautifully. Structures in half inch scale tend to get really heavy very rapidly and that weight can be a problem. My structures weigh practically nothing! The material is strong and easy to work. The only drawback may be the fact that the material tends to be expensive. That's one reason I save every scrap. It all gets used somewhere. So much for history and philosophy: time to build.