Wayfreights – The Waiting Game

Wayfreights are the blood supply system of the Bayside and Tidewater Railway. Wayfreight crews move freight cars around the railroad from one town to another town or yard. Without wayfreights nothing would get picked up or delivered.

Wayfreights on the BS&T start their shift in either Bayside or Tidewater yards at the start of the operating session. Wayfreight crews must build their own trains. They begin by hauling tracks of cars, pulling off the ones they require for their departing train. Once they have all the cars for their train, the crew then sorts them by destination. This makes it much simpler when they get to a town since all the cars for that town are in one block.

Having the wayfreight crews build their trains at the start of the session allows local crews time to get cars pulled that are leaving on the first wayfreight to arrive. For Stevenville and Derwin’s Drop this would be the West Bound Wayfreight out of Bayside and for Chappellton and Kenville it would be the East Bound out of Tidewater.

I’ll use the most recent run of the West Bound Wayfreight from Bayside to Tidewater as an example.

Brian started the session building this train in Bayside Yard. He used the Yard Order sheet to determine which cars to put on his train. Once he had the cars pulled (12 leaving Bayside) and sorted he parked the yard switcher on the service track and pulled the pair of GP-35’s out of the engine house to use as power for the train. He was ready to leave about 30 minutes after the session started. He checked with the Stevenville Local crew to make sure he was clear to leave Bayside and head into Stevenville.

We don’t use radios or a dedicated dispatcher on the BS&T. I act as “roaming dispatcher” and if I’m in the area when permission to proceed is required I’ll give it, otherwise wayfreight crews just talk to the crew in the next town to make sure they can proceed. I try to keep up with what’s happening on the layout and be around when permissions are needed, but it’s hard to be in two places at once.

West Bound Wayfreight Stevenville InstructionsAnyway, the West Bound Wayfreight’s first stop is the industrial district of Stevenville. Usually the wayfreight has to wait at the first stop for the the local crew to pull the required cars. This time Greg was ready well in advance of the wayfreight’s arrival. According to Brian’s train instructions he had 5 cars to drop off for the local crew to deliver to industries and he picked up 2 cars. His train was now 9 cars long.

To work efficiently he should add these cars to the appropriate block on his train so that at each town he only has to drop one block of cars. It may take a little more time to do this, but with careful planing it doesn’t take very long and saves a lot of time later. When he’s ready to go he checks for clearance to Derwin’s Drop and heads out of Stevenville

West Bound Wayfreight Derwin's Drop InstructionsBrian didn’t have any cars to set out in Derwin’s Drop, but he had to pick up 7. Fortunately, they were all heading to Chappellton so it was an easy task to insert them into the Chappellton block on his train. His train was now 16 cars long and definitely needed a braking helper to go down The Ridge.

The next problem was that the East Bound wayfreight from Tidewater was on it’s way up The Ridge. The West Bound couldn’t leave until they met. So the West Bound’s crew, Brian, had to wait.

The Ridge is quite a steep grade (~5%) up from Kenville to Derwin’s Drop. Helpers are usually required on the wayfreights both up and down the grade. The East Bound wsa a very long train that session and the helper, an RS2, that was cut into the middle of the train was working hard, as were the RS18 and GP35 at the head end of the train. Brian backed the West Bound into a siding so the two trains could pass each other in Derwin’s Drop.

The East Bound helper and water car were cut off just before the service track in Derwin’s Drop. They ran in there to get out of the way, temporarily. The East Bound crew backed up to connect with the rest of their train and then pulled ahead out of the way so the helper could get out to connect to the rear of the West Bound as a downgrade helper. With the way ahead clear the West Bound left Derwin’s Drop and headed down to Kenville.

Train meets in Derwin’s Drop are the busiest times on the BS&T. Thankfully I made the aisle in this area bigger than on the rest of the layout since there can be 4 or 5 operators there during a meet. It can also be quite confusing figuring out how to get two long trains past one another on passing sidings that are usually too short.

West Bound Wayfreight Kenville InstructionsThe West Bound pulled past the switch into Kenville so the helper could be cut off. The helper then pulled into the service track. Brian backed his train up the hill, cut off the rear cars after the last car in the Kenville block, and set the brake on the cars on the hill (we use a skewer set into a slot between the rails). Then he backed the Kenville cut (3 cars) into the clear siding and left them there for the local to deliver. He picked up one car heading to Chappellton. Then he reconnected with the cars he left on the grade. His train was now 14 cars long. After he checked with the Chappellton local he headed down the line. There wasn’t much waiting here!

West Bound Wayfreight Chappellton InstructionsDropping off and picking up in Chappellton is usually quite straight forward since there are usually only two blocks of cars left on the train (Chappellton and Tidewater). In this case all the cars that Brian had were to be dropped in Chappellton, so it was extra easy. All 14 cars were dropped, giving Ken a ton of work to do!

Tidewater can be a little busy at this time because the Transfer and CN Interchange trains are usually sorting out who takes which cars. They both take cars from the yard and they swap cars between their trains. As a result the Wayfreight usually has to wait on a siding in Chappellton for a few minutes before it can run into the yard. So, as usual, Brian had to wait again.

Once either the Transfer or CN Interchange are out of Tidewater there is a free siding that the Wayfreight can pull into. The only work Brian had left was to put the cars from his train into storage tracks, put the caboose on the caboose track and run the locos into the service track. About 2 – 2.5 hours have passed since Brian first started bulding his train in Bayside.

Next time – The CN Interchange from Wholinthall.

Later!

Scott

Operations Report – April 6, 2008

Going along with the current operating theme here, I have this report of the recent operating session on the Bayside & Tidewater. The layout wasn’t too untidy before the session. That’s surprising considering Brian and I have been working on new modules for the UMG. Most of the mess was in the crew lounge where we had a workshop set up for working on the modules. Cleaning up the lounge took the most time.

The session got underway after everyone chose their jobs for the evening – I use a first come/first choose method of crew assignment. Greg and Ken were in their usual positions working the local jobs in Stevenville and Chappellton. Mark and Curtis ran the Interchange and Transfer trains, and Brian and Derwin were on the 2 Wayfreights.

There weren’t too many remarkable events during the session. No one committed any blunders or infractions. Due to the number of pickups in Chappellton, the East Bound Wayfreight required a helper, as usual, getting over The Ridge. But the train was so long the helper from Kenville had to be cut into the middle of the train. Add to that some throttle issues on the RS2 (it wouldn’t go slow enough) and there were a few tense moments. The helper is in the shops now with the throttle assembly apart waiting for repairs.

Stevenville and Derwin’s Drop were very busy with lots of cars moving in and out. Greg managed the task quite ably adn was actually standing around waiting for the West Bound Wayfreight to arrive!

I’ll finish this post off with a new WordPress feature – an image gallery. Enjoy!

Scott

Local Jobs on the BS&T

In this post I’ll talk a bit about the work of a local crew on the Bayside and Tidewater. These guys deserve a lot of credit since they get very few breaks during a session. Wayfreight, Transfer, Interchange, and Passenger crews all get opportunities to look around and/or chat while they are waiting for clearance to proceed – usually as a result of a local crew finishing up some work feeding cars to a waiting wayfreight. The local guys don’t have these opportunities.

The local crew’s shift starts when the session starts. They have to pull the outbound cars first so they will be ready for the wayfreights when they arrive. The priority is to pull the cars heading in the direction of the first wayfreight to roar into town. For the Stevenville job this would be the West Bound Wayfreight. So, the Stevenville crew needs to pull all the west bound cars fairly quickly. Westbound from Stevenville is pretty much everything on the layout – Derwin’s Drop, Kenville, Chappellton, and Tidewater Yard. So there are usually a lot of cars to pull.

If they study their orders they will see that some industries have cars heading in both directions during the session. The crew can save some time by pulling all outbound cars at once, but they need to keep them sorted for outbound direction and destination.

All crews are given a switchlist, or a printed list of cars that they are responsible for during the session. Local Crews get a list of Pulls, Deliveries (drop offs), Local Moves, and Do Not Moves. These are printed by a computer program I developed many years ago. Other crews get a variation of these orders depending on the tasks they have to perform.

Pickups and Drop Offs

The lists above show the major work that needed to be done is Stevenville during the last operating session. Each set of orders is numbered so that if there are more than one set printed at a time they can be kept separate from one another. I’ve used the term “Waybill #” but it probably would work better with the term “Session #”.

As you can see on the pickups list, it tells the local crew which cars to pick up, where they are located, and the next destination (town) that they are going to. Cars on the list are sorted by next destination so crews can sort outbound cars easily. It makes it a bit of a challenge when pulling cars because they are not sorted by present location. AS a result, crews have to study the orders carefully to determine the most efficient way to go about their work.

Wayfreights drop off cars in two batches. In Stevenville, the West Bound Wayfreight drops off cars first, about 20 – 30 minutes after the session starts. It only drops off cars from Bayside Yard, so there aren’t many. There were only two dropped off from Bayside Yard during this session.

About 30 – 40 minutes later the East Bound Wayfreight pulls into town with the remainder of the deliveries. The East Bound Wayfreight dropped off 5 cars during the session.

Local Moves and Do Not Moves

Occasionally there are cars that must be moved from one industry to another in the same switching area. The Local Moves list handles that. There are rarely more than 2 or 3 of these moves per session.

The Do not Moves list just shows what should be left at each industry after all the pulls are made and before the deliveries are done. Once in a while operators pull a cut of cars from an industry and get them mixed up with a cut from another industry. The Do Not Move list helps figure out where mis-pulled cars should be.

Because the program generates car movements randomly, each session is slightly different. I believe that during the next session Stevenville will send out about 12 cars and receive almost 15.

Later!

Scott

Finally, A Track Plan

Okay, okay, it’s taken a while but I finally have a decent track plan that I can post. When you describing operations it is nice to have a map in order to follow the information that being presented. So, here it is…

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Bayside & Tidewater Model Railway (roughly 12′ x 31′)

It is not 100% accurate, but it is close. At least all of the industries are pretty close to their actual positions, and the towns are located exactly on the plan. The yards are slightly inaccurate though. The tracks aren’t exactly as shown. The main reason for this is I wanted to show the tracks leading into Tidewater, but since they run under Bayside it was difficult to show them on the plan. So, Tidewater yard is actually closer to the center of the peninsula and both yards have slightly more space between tracks than shown on the the plan.

Hey, it’s better than no plan at all!

Scott

An Introduction To Operating On The BS&T

Over the next few posts I will provide you with a description of what happens during an operating session on the Bayside & Tidewater.  This post will be a general overview and description of the jobs and trains that run during a session.

There are 10 potential jobs on the layout.  I say “potential” because we rarely have enough crew to have a person for each job.  As a result, some jobs get combined while other jobs (trains) are canceled.

The first thing I should mention is that there are no dedicated yard jobs, crews do their own switching in the yards, for few reasons.  One is that we rarely have enough operators to dedicate anyone to a yard job.  Two, there really is not enough work in the yards to keep anyone busy for a whole session.  Finally, it provides a little more time for local jobs to get some work done before a train roars into town.

2003-03-08-bst-3.jpgThere are four local jobs on the layout.  Usually they are combined into two jobs.  The East Side Local switches industries in both Stevenville and Derwin’s Drop, and the West Side Local works Chappellton and Kenville.  Local crews are responsible to pull outbound cars and sort them for direction of travel and destination.  The crew must then make sure the cuts of cars get placed on the correct train to reach their destination.  Wayfreight trains pick up the outbound cars and drop off cars destined for the town.  The local crew must then put all the inbound cars away at the proper destinations.  There may be a few local moves from one industry to another within the town as well.

(Photo above: The Stevenville Local is getting outbound cars ready for the Wayfreight)

2003-03-08-bst-11.jpgWayfreights are used to move cars from one town, or switching area, to another.  There are two, traveling in opposite direction.  One leaves from Bayside and the other leaves from Tidewater.  They stop in each town along the way and drop off cars destined for the town and pick up cars heading in their direction of travel.

(Photo right: The West Bound Wayfreight is in Stevenville picking up the west bound cut of cars and dropping off a few to be put away)

During the summer, when the number of operators is at its lowest, the Local and Wayfreight jobs are often combined.  The wayfreight crew stops at each town and does all the local switching (pickups heading in the direction of the wayfreight as well as drop offs).  Generally, the first crew to a town does all the local moves there as well.

There is a CN Interchange train that runs from Wholinthall (staging) to Tidewater.  This train brings cars to the layout from off-layout (imaginary) destinations.  It, in turn, takes cars away from the layout to off-layout destinations.  It returns to Wholinthall with cars from Bayside, that come in on the Transfer, and cars from Tidewater.

2003-03-08-bst-18.jpgA Transfer moves cars between the two yards on the layout, Bayside Yard and Tidewater Yard.  It departs from Bayside with freight destined for both Tidewater and Wholinthall (CN Interchange).  It returns to Bayside with cars from Tidewater and cars from the CN Interchange train.

(Photo: The Transfer and Interchange crews are moving freight cars between the two trains in Tidewater)

The CN Interchange and Transfer jobs have a fair amount of interaction in Tidewater while cars are switched between the two trains.  Thiese are two jobs which are often performed by one crew – when operators are few.

There are two passenger trains on the BS&T.  These trains have only run once in the two years the layout’s been operating.  Then again, I haven’t really had proper motive power and cars for one of them until recently.

2003-03-08-bst-16.jpgThe Express is an RDC that runs from Bayside to Tidewater and back.  It primarily carries business commuters  to and from towns along the way so has frequent but short stops.

(Photo right: The Express is heading onto the station siding in Stevenville  on its way back to Bayside)

2003-03-08-bst-1a.jpgIn Tidewater, The Express connects with “The Connector” from Wholinthall.  The Connector does not stop at BS&T stations. Passengers on The Connector heading to towns on the BS&T board The Express to make it to their final destination.

(Photo left: The Connector waits outside Chappellton for a clear track into Tidewater )

So, that’s a generall overview of the traffic on the BS&T during a operating session.  Over the next few posts I’ll go into a little more detail on each job and describe the paperwork we use for car movements.

Later!

Scott

Moncton Crew Visit – Part 3

The last stop on the agenda was the Bayside and Tidewater. The crew arrived about 3:30 and operations got underway after everyone had a chance to tour the layout.

Murray chose the East Side Local job (working Stevenville and Derwin’s Drop), John took the West Side Local (working Chappellton and Kenville). These jobs are full-time requiring operators to work quick to get cars pulled for the wayfreights to pick up. The East Side Local was very busy, but traffic flow problems made the West Side job a little more relaxing.

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Murray at the throttle in Stevenville. I think I see a violation already! Is that a box car on the service siding?

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John working hard in Chappellton. Things are pretty quiet here for the moment.

Brian took the East Bound Wayfreight while Allan ran the opposing West Bound Wayfreight. Both of these jobs had extra work due to the previous crew timing out and leaving their return trains sitting on sidings outside yard limits. So the wayfreight crews had to pull their train into the yard and put away the cars before they could make up their departing train. Both were a little late departing and created some traffic problems as a result.

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Brian puts away the previous crew’s cars.

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Derwin gives Allan a hand (in the background) getting the Wayfreight ready to leave Bayside.

Mark grabbed the Transfer Job thinking it would be a simple straight run from Bayside to Tidewater. However, traffic issues kept him tied up for quite a while.

Ryan ran the CN Interchange train from CN Wholinthal using two CN (green and gold) units leased from a nearby railroad at the last minute. These units were another first for the BS&T. It was nice to see something other than CP on the layout for a change.

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The CN Interchange in Tidewater. I should have taken a picture of this train earlier in the session, but things were a little busy.

Greg decided to run The Connector from Wholinthal to Tidewater. This train was a first for the BS&T. A couple firsts actually. It was the first passenger train on the BS&T and it was the first C-Liner (or anything close to looking like an F-Unit) ever to run on one of my layouts. Anyone knowing my aversion to anything looking like an F-unit would be surprised to see one of these.

Since I do not own any of these beasts I entered into a hastily prepared lease agreement with Canadisle Rail a few days in advance. I was expecting much more of a fuss over this train, but it did not materialize (I guess everyone was too busy). Surprisingly, it looked quite good and will hopefully become part of regular operations on the BS&T.

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The Connector waits outside of Chappellton for things ahead to clear up a bit before it proceeds into Tidewater. Passengers were getting worried that they wouldn’t make their connection with The Express. Fortunately, the same traffic problems kept it pretty well locked up in Tidewater as well.

Jim thought the RDC run called “The Express” would be an easy job. Ha! It was far from it. Passengers of the premiere run of The Express were treated to 2 free meals (ok, they were just sandwiches bought from a diner near where they were waiting) as they waited on various sidings around the layout! It was far from an Express run!

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The Express heads onto the station siding in Stevenville on it’s return run to Bayside.

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It’s almost the end of the day on the BS&T. Power from the Transfer is running around to head east on its return run. Power from the West Bound Wayfreight is about to pull onto the service tracks to get ready for the next day’s East Bound Wayfreight.

There were only two recorded incidents during the session. Knowing most of the operators pretty well I’m sure there were lots of others that were not recorded.

At the start of the session Derwin read aloud an old memo posted on the new BS&T Crew Board (photos in a future report). The memo concerned an incident some time ago where freight cars were parked on a service siding causing significant damage to fueling equipment. The memo also stated that freight cars were not permitted on service sidings. A previous photo in this report, taken in Stevenville, is evidence of a blatant infringement of this rule, despite the warning. Since this operator was a “visitor” there will be no disciplinary action, but he may not get his choice of jobs the next time he visits.

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The damaged fueling equipment is on the ground behind the caboose.

Then Management received a report that both a mid-train and rear-train helper were called to assist the East Bound Wayfreight get over The Ridge. This has never been required on the BS&T and traffic is carefully planned to avoid this. Only one helper is ever required on The Ridge. After a quick trip in the company helicopter, Management was on scene to try to figure out what was up.

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The East Bound Wayfreight is about to cut in a mid-train helper from Kenville.

Apparently the East Bound crew added cars intended for the Transfer heading east back to Tidewater. Over 20 cars on a 5+% grade is not something Management ever wants to see on the BS&T. So the crew from Tidewater, intended to be the rear-train helper, was instructed to pull off the Transfer cut and return it to Tidewater. Never a dull moment running on the BS&T!

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Ryan pulls in to remove the Transfer cars from the East Bound Wayfreight.

It was one of the busiest and best operating session ever on the BS&T. Yes, it was totally disorganized chaos, but it was very fun totally disorganized chaos!

The madness ended about 7:00, about 3 hours after it began.  There was a break in there for supper of about 30 – 45 minutes, so the entire ordeal only lasted a little over 2 hours.  It seemed a lot longer at the time.  Ha!

Now I have to get things fixed up so we can operate the BS&T on our normal schedule this coming Sunday evening. I think I hear a work crew repairing the fueling equipment in Stevenville now.

Later!

Scott

Moncton Crew Visit – Part 2

We arrived at Brian’s NeverDone Railway a little after 1:00 pm. The operating started after everyone had a chance to look around, about 1:30 or so.

Mark, Al’s son, was the first to choose a job as the Farside switcher. John chose the Headache Corner job. After a quick look at the orders we discovered there wouldn’t be much of a headache in Headache Corner. John only had about 5 pickups to Mark and Al’s 12 or so. Dropoffs were about the same ratio. Mark and Al had their work cut out for them!

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Mark and Al in Farside. They’ve got a lot of work to do!
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John not having a headache in Headache Corner. Normally this job can be a quite confusing, but he lucked out with this shift.

Murray took the MacGregor Yard job and Jim chose the barge operator. If you’re not familiar with The NeverDone Railway, the Island is completely separate from the rest of the layout and relies on barge service to move freight to and from the area. The barge operates between the east end of MacGregor Yard and the west end of the Island.

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Jim trying to figure out the phone as a throttle. We had trouble with the LH90’s at first, but got them working soon after the operating started. Murray’s busy sorting cars in MacGregor Yard.

Ryan was out of the room during this time so he was stuck with the Island job.

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How does the shortest guy get the tallest part of the layout? Ryan (and height extender) on the Island.

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Where did the Farside crew go??!!

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Ha! Caught him! Taking a break when there’s work to be done! It was a quick break. The freight got put away shortly after his energy supplies were replenished. I don’t think he ever found his assistant though.

Next time, all hell breaks loose on the BS&T!

Scott


Moncton Crew Visit – Part 1

After 1 failed attempt in February, we were sure their second attempt to visit would again be foiled by the weather. The forecast for Saturday March 8 did not look good right up to Friday evening. The Moncton guys decided that they’d get up early Saturday morning and if it wasn’t freezing rain outside then they’d head over. They’d watch the weather the rest of the day in case it turned bad.

The weather on Saturday was favourable for the trip. Although it was a little rainy early in the day the temperature was above freezing so it was ful steam ahead for a day of operating.

The first stop was to Derwin’s Canadisle Rail layout. After a brief period of mulling around, general chat and familiarization with the layout we got the operating session underway.

John decided to do some local switching in Ashtown with Allan and his son Mark doing the local work in Shellville. Murray took out the west bound freight and Jim ran the east bound. Ryan decided he’d give the yard job a try.

We ran two sets of train orders at Derwin’s then had lunch and headed into Brian’s. Tomorrow I’ll have a report and pictures from The NeverDone Railway.

Scott

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The crew “milling around”.
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Murray’s surveying the yard as John plays the photographer’s photographer.
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Ryan’s having fun in the yard. Jim and Allan in the background working Shellville.
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Meanwhile, on the other side of the room, Murray runs the freight into Ashtown with John hidden in the background.

Operating – Feb. 10, 2008

Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately depending on your perspective, we were short a couple operators last evening. I was pressed into service on the East Bound Wayfreight and did not have time to take any pictures.

Brian wanted to give the new wayfreight instructions a workout so he ran the opposing wayfreight. His start was delayed because of, who else, Derwin wanting to make up his transfer at the same time Brian was making up his train. When he finally got on the road, Brian wasn’t long making up for lost time.

Derwin decided to run something “simple” for a change and took the Wholeinthall Turn and Transfers. He quickly realized they weren’t as simple as he first thought. Once the Wholinthall Turn and transfer from Bayside arrive in Tidewater they must be sorted into a return train to Wholinthall and the return transfer to Bayside. There is quite a bit of yard work involved with these runs.

Greg chose the local job in Chappellton. It was a slow day in Chappellton so he ended up also switching in Kenville and Derwin’s Drop and provided helper service over The Ridge.

Tom, the newbie, flew solo in Stevenville. Unfortunately for him, Stevenville was extra busy. He had about 14 cars leaving town, 10 cars coming in, as well as a couple local moves. Being unfamiliar with a town is one thing, being new to operations adds to the complexity considerably. You did great Tom!

Running a full session solo during the past week helped to identify several trouble spots. I got most of them fixed as they occurred so there were fewer problems last evening. But there were a few things, both expected and unexpected, that popped up. I think that in the 3 weeks until the next session on the BS&T I will run another solo session to work a few more kinks out.

For all we did quite well. The shift was done about 10:00 after about 2.5 hours of operating.

Later!

Scott

Operations Report – Jan. 20, 2008

Wow! What a weekend! I spent most of it cleaning up the mess that had accumulated in the train room after a month of scenery making and throttle bus wiring. I also finished putting the tiles down on the floor. What a difference those make – both in comfort and warmth!

The first part of the evening was spent in conversation, as usual, while we waited for everyone to arrive. Mark had called earlier in the day to say he wouldn’t be able to make it, and a quick call to Ken and Bruce proved they weren’t coming. But, even though we lost a couple we gained a couple as well.

Tom Gaudet is a newbie to the hobby. He called me out of the blue one day wondering if I could give him a hand with a few things. He had unpacked his old Tri-Ang stuff and immediately got hte MRR bug. He’s been operating with us the past two sessions. He’s still in the brakeman stage, but he’ll be operating like a pro in no time.

My daughter’s boyfriend, Curtis, did a little bit of operating over the Christmas holidays with my son, John, and his friends. Curtis loved operating and wanted to try his hand operating a full session. So he and his friend Johnathan spent the evening with the old guys.

We got things underway about 8:00 after the crew picked their jobs. Brian, being first to arrive, jumped at the chance to try operating the Stevenville local. We let him out of the yard a while ago and he tried his hand at running on the main line. I guess he likes the restrictions of being confined to one geological area.

Derwin and Tom took the East Bound Wayfreight, Greg took the West Bound Wayfreight, and Curtis and Johnathan worked the local job in Chappellton. I took the Wholinthal Turn and Transfers, which turned out to be less work than I originally anticipated, so I also filled in on the helper service over “The Ridge” and official photographer. I forgot to charge the battery in the camera, so even that job was limited.

The session started a little differently this time. The wayfreights “began their day” in Stevenville and Chappellton heading into their respective yards. The wayfreights had to go to the yard, put away their train, and assemble their return train. This gave the local crews in those towns a little more time to get their outbound pickups together before the wayfreights came through on their return runs. This seemed to work out quite well.

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Brian gets to work pulling the west bound pickups while Greg (background) is busy putting away the previous sessions’ cars. Brian had about 5 or 10 more minutes to get the west bounds together before Greg came through with the wayfreight.

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Derwin and Tom, running the West Bound Wayfreight, only had one car returning to Tidewater, so it didn’t take them long to head back out with the East Bound train. Curtis and Johnathan (almost visible in the background) being newbies barely had time to get the east bounds assembled in Chappellton. Later in the evening they said they moved the same car 6 times before realizing that it would eventually be picked up by the West Bound Wayfreight. They could have saved themselves a lot of extra work if they had studied their switchlist (they’ll learn).

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Meanwhile, I made it to Tidewater with the Wholinthall Turn (on the back track). The way this session turned out, there was nothing to go back to Wholinthal with, so the same consist was used for the transfer to Bayside.

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Greg has the West Bound Wayfreight built and is ready to leave Bayside.

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With the East Bound train out of the way Curtis (shown) and Johnathan (hands lower left) are finally getting into the swing of things picking up the west bound freight and doing a few local moves. Looks like Curtis is having fun!

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Derwin and Tom had some extra work to do this session. Normally either the Chappellton local crew works Kenville or there’s someone else not too busy to do it. Not this session! Since Derwin had a helper I figured they could do the job as they were going by. It seems like he doesn’t mind too much.

In the meantime, not pictured, I passed by with the Transfer to Bayside and arrived without too many incidents. However, upon arrival in Bayside, I discovered the West Bound Wayfreight had departed with the cars for the Transfer to Tidewater. I had no more work to do! So, I put the caboose behind my consist and headed back to Wholinthal light.

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Brian’s doing the local moves in Stevenville while he waits for Derwin and Tom to show up with the East Bound train. The sidings are looking pretty empty at the moment. That’ll change!

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Greg and the East Bound had a little extra work too in Derwin’s Drop. While Greg was waiting for Derwin and Tom to finish up in Kenville, Brian couldn’t get in to do the dropoffs or pickups there, so Greg did them. He didn’t have much else to do!

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Finally Derwin and Tom are done in Kenville. I was so busy after that I didn’t get pictures of the events as we tried to get the wayfreight over “The Ridge”. We had to split it into sections with 3/4 of the train going ahead and me with a lone S4 struggling up the hill with 5 cars. I have another Alco that I’ll station in Kenville for these times. Anyway, we finally got all the cars to Derwin’s Drop and the Wayfreight crew went to work putting cars away.

Meanwhile, my little S4 and I helped the West Bound down the hill to Kenville. The downgrade helper is required to prevent the train from surging forward too quickly due to the weight of he train behind it. It can be tricky to maintain a slight tension on the cars without stringlining or pushing too much and making an accordion with them.

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Meanwhile, The West Bound arrives in Chappellton and Curtis and Johnathan are given a ton of work to do. By now, though, they are getting used to it and don’t take long to clear the siding.

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The end of the workday is close. A few more cars to put away and the shift will be done.

And so ends another operating session on the BS&T. Things went fairly smoothly. We had a few shorts caused by either loco wheels out of gauge, turnouts not throwing completely that ground throws will fix, or out of gauge turnouts. I have some work to do before the next op session.

When we were done we had a discussion about how I could make Derwin’s Drop more workable. Right now there is quite a reach to get at the mine tacks. After some brainstorming I think we’ve come up with a workable solution. Even more work to do before the next op session!

I hope you enjoyed this ops report!

Scott