Finally, after several years of visiting layouts in Saint John for operating sessions and inviting them to to come here to return the favour they took us up on our offer. On April 20th Steve, Lou, Bob H. and Bob K. made the trek across the Confederation Bridge (a first for Lou) for a fun day of operating on P.E.I.

As is the case with most operating visits we started the day at Derwin’s on Canadisle Rail.  The guys were very impressed with how much operating can be included in a smallish layout.  Derwin’s layout is about 20′ x 12′ but there is enough work to keep 5 operators busy for hours.

After lunch and another shift of operating on the Canadisle Rail we headed over to the Bayside & Tidewater.  After a brief tour and explanation of the operation the guys picked jobs and the session got underway.

Lou chose the Stevenville local switch job.  It was one of the busiest sessions for Stevenville in quite a while so Lou had his hands full.

Steve chose one of the wayfreight jobs.  The nice thing about wayfreights is that the operator gets to travel the whole railroad and has a nice mix of running and switching.

Derwin ran the interchange trains, as usual, and Ewen was the Bayside Yardmaster.

The two Bob’s are both in Chappellton right now.  Bob K. is the local crew in Chappellton and Bob H. is running the other wayfreight.

Chris pulled double duty as Tidewater Yard Master and running the Mine train.

We have been having a few challenges with WiThrottle since adding virtual signal panels in Stevenville.  (More about the virtual signals in a future post) Paul Bender suggested that it might be due to a flaky router.  The old Dlink was replaced by a new Western Digital router and it seemed to have resolved the issue since we had no WiThrottle problems at all during the 3 hour operating session.

We have no idea what’s going on – spring fever perhaps?

Strange things are happening from one end of the railway to the other.  Residents of both Stevenville and Chappellton are reporting folks behaving oddly.

Reports out of Chappellton say that there has been an increased demand for coffee.  Lineups outside of Tommy Drive Thru have been at record highs!

Some folks are so eager to get coffee that they try to cut the line by entering the drive thru in the wrong direction.  This might be one reason why the line is not moving very fast.

Tom, the owner of the drive thru, says business has never been better.  “I hope it keeps up this way.  I am planning an extension to the building and am considering an expanded menu, possibly to include donuts and sandwiches, and this will really help.  I was the first to come up with the drive thru idea and donuts will be another first.  Some people think I’m crazy, and they are probably right, but I think it’s an idea that will make money!”

Meanwhile, in Stevenville, reports of dangerous driving run rampant.  Apparently the first report popped up a couple weeks ago but there is no photographic evidence.

Fast Eddie actually managed to knock over a fire hydrant in front of the Loew’s Theater. Thank goodness the matinee had just started and the line had cleared up.  Who knows how many lives were saved due to good timing

This incident did bring one important point to the forefront though.  It appears there is no water pressure in the main water line.  This may be the subject of a future report.

Mr. S. Melli Coal must have decided he needed to get off the bridge in a hurry.  Maybe he thought he could take a shortcut to Banjo Bob’s?  We’ve heard Bob’s beans are the best for miles but they can’t be that good!  All we know is that Mr. Coal certainly helps keep the natural gas plant in operation.

Th bridge wall suffered only minor damage.  Local maintenance crews should have the damage repaired within a few days.  Traffic on the bridge will be reduced to one lane until then.

Just before press time another report of a driver hitting a fire hydrant came to our attention.  Poor old U. N. Moase, well known for his poor eyesight, swerved to avoid a mattress that fell off of a delivery truck and hit the fire hydrant in front of Banjo Bob’s.  Apparently it was one of the finest mattresses from U & M Mattresses. A good thing for Uie since it provided a bit of cushioning to slow down his car.  He barely touched the hydrant causing only minimal damage to his car and the hydrant.

Rumours abound that employees of the BS&T railroad are somehow influencing residents of these normally calm communities.  Local authorities are investigating but will not reveal the extent of their investigation to this point.  They want to assure the public that whoever, or whatever, is responsible for this rash of odd behaviour will be identified soon.

Rest assured that this reporter will continue to follow-up on this story and will report any future developments in this case.

I’m trying a new module connection method that I saw in Springfield and read more about on the internet.

It’ll gets it’s first real test when we set up for a Boy Scout fundraiser in a couple weeks.

What do you think?