Kevin Standlee: Fandom Is My Way of Life

As I wrote back on May 1, Lisa and I did some exploration of the abandoned Tonopah & Goldfield Railroad on our way back from the in-person Westercon 74 staff meeting in Tonopah. We shot footage of the turntable pit and servicing facilities and then traced parts of the railroad's route between Mina and Tonopah. Today, we finished editing a new episode of Railway Legends, Myths, and Stories about the railroad.



This episode is slightly different from the previous ones. First, it has a "cold open," with footage before the opening titles. Second, there are no "studio shots" with me talking from behind a desk. Everything except the introduction and conclusion (which we shot at the site of the Miller's Roundhouse) is narration only over photos. That helped some because recording narration is much easier than doing the studio shots, but only some. I also had a few annoyances with Premiere Pro as it didn't want to save my workspace settings, but eventually I got it done.

If you're coming to Tonopah from the north and have an interest in trains the way Lisa and I do, you might be able to use this video to give you and idea of places to stop and explore the old railroad. Every place we visited was accessible in our minivan, so you won't need an ATV or 4WD vehicle to get to them, despite how it might seem from some of the video.

The auction house that disposed of the Wigwam collection is in Reno, so I arranged to pick up the items I won (saving shipping charges). Yesterday, Lisa and I went in and collected our three items, the most important of which was the framed print I mentioned a few days ago.

( Bear of Approval )

After we got home, Lisa picked out a place to hang it where it will not get direct sunlight (which would cause it to fade, of course).

( Railroad Art in Place )

I did pick up a couple of other things at auction.

( Take Stock in Nevada )

We need to figure out how to properly frame the stock certificate in order to display it appropriately.