Everything went pretty much as expected. Most of us met at Greg’s at about 6:30 Saturday morning as we were instructed. As expected, Derwin arrived a little before 7:00 (ahem!) and we got underway shortly after. We had one short stop in Moncton to pick up some grade crossings I had ordered, some much needed windshield washer, and a coffee refill.
We arrived at Lou’s Hampton & St. Martins Railroad about 10:00. The new guys, Tom and Mark, were very impressed with Lou’s very highly detailed model railroad. The modifications he’s making in Saint John on the layout are very well done. I look forward to the possibility of operating there next year.
(left) Saint John on the Hampton & St. Martins Railroad.
Since we weren’t operating at Lou’s we left for Doug’s Island Central Railway at about 11:00 for our first operating session of the day. Again, the new guys were simply blown away from the size of Doug’s layout.
After a brief introduction from Doug, the guys chose their jobs and things got underway. Brian chose to record video of a train running from one end of the line (McAdam) to the other (Saint John). It should be interesting to see that. I think I was pushed into taking the West Saint John job (in a separate room) so that I wouldn’t be able to witness any embarrassing moments and report on them here. No problem, Tom and I had a great time switching in that area.
(left) Tom is alone on the road running a through freight to Saint John. (right) Mark helps out in the Dever Road Yard.
moment of inactivity on the Island central.
We finished off the day operating on Steve’s Carleton Railway. His basement empire has enough scheduled traffic that keeps are hopping busy! The fast clock helps to set the pace as crews strive to maintain the schedule.
The first train out was right on time. Derwin, the Yard Master in Avondale, was very proud that he was able to manage that one. Especially considering it was a train from staging that the Hostler actually got ready for departure. Not being used to the layout or locations for the towns, the operating schedule soon became a “general guideline”.
(left) Derwin gets a train ready to leave Avondale while Mark departs the yard. (right) Tom is heading to Millville with the only train that was on time (I believe)
We did manage to get all the trains moved over the layout for a typical day, but I am sure there were a lot of cars moved that shouldn’t have been and cars not moved that should have been. I hope customers weren’t relying on speedy service!
(left) Brian and Greg are sorting cars to make sure everything is in order. (right) Being a slow bunch of model railroaders, Steve had his work cut out trying to learn us the ropes, errr… teach us the ropes.)
It turned out to be a very fun day and we can’t thank our hosts enough! Thank you Lou, Doug, and Steve for a perfect day of model railroading in Saint John. Oh, and since this is the official day, happy birthday Steve!
Scott
Scott