I know I’m a week late, but… better late than never!

Last Saturday a group from the Codiac Operators made the trek across the bridge for a day of operating.  Our first stop was Derwin’s Canadisle Rail.  We had a great time there, and a great lunch – thanks Derwin and Shelley!

We arrived at the Bayside & Tidewater about mid-afternoon to round out the day.  I was looking forward to having a full crew, but a couple of the Moncton guys decided not to come due to the weather.  We had a snowstorm on Friday and the forecast wasn’t too bad, but they didn’t want to take a chance.  The weather can be a very unpredictable thing.

There were enough guys on hand that I was able to have a yard operator in Tidewater for the first time.  I think things went a little smoother there because of it.  Too bad for Jim I didn’t have a yard operator in Bayside.  He would have gotten out of there with the Wayfreight a lot sooner.  The poor guy didn’t understand the instructions and was going to put every car leaving the yard onto one train.  Hmmm… I seem to remember someone doing that on another layout.  Who was that?  Oh yeah!  It was me on Steve’s layout in Saint John just last year.  I guess I can’t be too hard on Jim!

Other than that there were no horrific stories – like what happened to Derwin with the CN Interchange to Wholinthall last time.  But I won’t dwell on the past, just point you to the story in case you missed it – Derwin’s ill fated run to Wholinthall.

Milne took this photo of Derwin derailing a freight car (or is he breaking something?) while John is checking out his instructions.  Using switch lists is a little new to these guys since they are very used to car card systems.  Either way, you still have to find the car at the industry and sometimes they aren’t where they are supposed to be.  Good switch crews are hard to find!  HA!

Jim finally did make it out of Bayside and is pulling into Chappellton to drop off cars and pick up a cut heading for Tidewater.  Mike has things under control and is very glad I suggested he take the Chappellton job.  There is definitely a height advantage working on the lower side of the room.

Milne took this photo as well.  It’s great to have someone else on hand to take pictures since I’m usually too busy.  It begs the question, though… Why did he have so much free time?!

Milne took this shot as well.  It’s a different perspective of just how crowded things can get when there are lots of operators on the same side of the room.  Fortunately I didn’t get really greedy for layout space and make the aisles any narrower.  People can still get by one another.

I guess I should clean the light fixtures in the ceiling.  Those lights never get used.

I didn’t run a train so I guess I’m just observing – making sure folks understand how the layout works.  It looks like Derwin is waiting with the CN Interchange (Yes, he’s running that one again!  You’d think I’d learn!) for Jim to finish in Chappellton so he can get into the yard in Tidewater.  Derwin’s glad he won’t have to do the switching for the Interchange and Transfer trains for a change.  It can get a little confusing (and we know how easy it is to confuse Derwin).  Dave has things in Tidewater under control.

Derwin took this shot of Milne running the East Bound Wayfreight into Kenville.  John took the task of doing the local switching in both Kenville and Derwin’s Drop, and providing helper service over “The Ridge”.  It’s not one of the busiest jobs on the layout, but it does keep a person occupied and provides a bit of variety.

All in all the visit went really well.  All the freight cars went to the right places and everyone had a great time.  We are now looking forward to out trip to Saint John on the 20th to operate on a couple layouts there.  It will be a joint trip with some Half Nutters and some of the Codiac guys.  I hope Steve and Doug are prepared  for the havoc we can bring!

Later!

Scott

A group from Moncton are coming over on Saturday for a day of operating.  It should be a fun day and I’m sure I’ll have lots of stories for next week (as long as I take the time to post them).

I haven’t had much time to work on the layout but with the impending visit in mind I did take some time on the weekend to work on some electrical issues.

The track layout in Chappellton has changed many times since the layout was first constructed.  I originally had feeder wires to just about every siding in the town.  The feeders were disconnected to allow for rearranging the track and, although most of them were reattached, apparently I missed some.  So I re-soldered feeders to the passenger track where we were seeing trains slow down for some “unexplained” reason.  I also relocated some other unused feeder wires to the industrial area of Chappellton where we lost power completely during the last operating session.  Hopefully that town will run much better on Saturday.

There was a short section of track in Stevenville, between two turnouts, where we were having issues with locos stalling.  So I ran new feeder wires to that section.  Unfortunately that did not resolve the issue.  I discovered that the locos were actually losing power on the point rails of one of the turnouts.  So I installed jumpers across the riveted section of the point rails and everything works fine now.  However, I was not careful enough when I soldered the fine wires across the opening and actually soldered across the gap.  This resulted in the joint being too stiff for the Z-spring wire I had installed in the turnout’s throw bar.  I had to install a Caboose ground throw.  It’s amazing how one simple thing can lead to so many jobs.

I also started wiring a series of plugs around the layout that will be used for accessory power.  The plugs will be switched from a single location near the door using a lighted switch as a reminder that the power is on.  Since wiring the lights in the passenger station in Chappellton I have left the wall wort power supply plugged in for days.  Fortunately the bulbs do not get so hot that they melt the styrene on the street above.

There are a few more things I’d like to do before Saturday and precious little free time to do them.  As long as we have operating instructions we’ll be good to go.  The other things will just have to go undone.

Anyway, there will be more next week, I hope.  Until then – don’t drive your trains while talking on a cell phone!  It’s against the law now, you know.  You should get a Bluetooth device.

Scott

Now, getting to what I alluded to previously.  The guys in Moncton will be pleased to hear that Derwin earned some well-deserved demerits during Sunday’s operating session.  It seems he didn’t inspect his train before he left Tidewater heading back to Wholinthall with the CN Interchange.  A coupler let go on The Ridge and the rear section of his train rolled uncontrolled down grade.  The caboose and the next car derailed at the crossover causing little damage to the contents of the box car, but almost wrote off the caboose.

The cupola is laying on the ground, the handrail between the cars is at an odd angle, and the ladder is missing.  A search crew found it the next morning just after sunrise.  They had to use a helicopter to do an aerial survey of the area.  They couldn’t believe how far the ladder flew from the scene!

It’s also amazing that no one was injured!  Conductor Ima Lukyduk was heating up some soup and pouring coffee at the time.  “I was trown onta da cot dere an a bunch a pillows landed on top o me.  They kept me from gittin covered wit the soup and coffee I was heetin’ up!  I’m glad I sleep a lot an have a good mattress (from U & M Mattresses by the way) and lots a pillows on hand!”

The caboose is now at Fixum Car Repair in Chappellton where it will hopefully be repaired before the next operating session. They already used the crane to put the cupola back on the roof.  I really hope they straighten it up!

How many demerits do you think that’s worth!?

Scott