Tuesday night at the Huff and Puff April 24, 2018.

With a smaller group of members in attendance there was lots of room to switch. The new passenger cars made their maiden run with great results. Two things that came out of this run were, we need signal lights to show how the turnouts are thrown under the highway bridge near the Wellington passenger station and the turnout, through the tunnel  to the upper loop. There also seems to be some contact problem in the turnouts leaving the passenger yard in Wellington.
Before the session, the starting location of rolling stock list was checked which resulted in about a 50% fail rate. I guess operators are not always following the one for one rule, or not fixing these problems as they encounter them. It's a simple fix just go get the missing rolling stock from the yards.
Meanwhile the wires needed to move the program track were separated from a cable bundle and Joseph took them home to put the proper twist on them. Speaking of this, next week is work night!

New passenger cars at the Wellington station were purchased from the defunct Ontario Western, preserving the memory of this great railroad.

Woodstock model railroad show

Great time at the train show this weekend. The Huff and Puff made some great purchases. These include a Trip Pin Bending Pliers, 5 tank cars and 5 passenger cars.

Tuesday night at the Huff and Puff April 17, 2018

The Friday group did a great job setting up trains for us, so the dispatcher had an easy night. But the staged trains roll out quickly, so its back to work. Having did this job and few times 1 thing is evident, Wellington needs more yard space, who designed this any Way? It also seems to me that the returning  trains, especially in Elsewhere,  could be used as is because someone else will switch it next, especially if it is a busy night. It could also just have the cards switched out. The session did run well, below is some of the action.

Miller sawmill being switched 

A string of ore cars awaiting delivery 

The nights Lincoln job has just been completed 

Tuesday night at the Huff and Puff April 10, 2018

Upon arriving at the layout I was told I would be the dispatcher for the night. After being familiarized with the Trains already staged in Wellington and Elsewhere the Boss also assigned me with the Wellington switch. As we only operate for about 2 hours, there is some urgency on behalf of the operators to get there train underway. The first half an hour or so saw a passenger train a branch line freight, a coal train and 5 mainline freights running at the same time, and without any real bottlenecks. A testament to the thought that went into setting up the staged trains by the Boss. Basically he set up some of the Trains to switch the 3 major cities and a couple to switch the smaller towns, a system that I also followed. At the end of the session operators expressed how smooth it went. Meanwhile I was busy setting up a couple of freights in Wellington but as I turned my attention to the 18 foot long yard in Elsewhere only had a handful of cars in it. The next train out of Wellington was a through freight to Elsewhere with 2 of each type of rolling stock we have, to replenish the yard. Oh No!  Now several trains arrive in Elsewhere and I have all this rolling stock coming. A little 5 finger switching saved the day. Yes the dispatcher received a great deal of light hearted ribbing.  Thoughts about this experience. It seems like the 1 town trains have merit, but the dispatcher needs an update when the switching is done, so another 1 can be set up. We need to have the ore train and the logging train run to take pressure off the mainline. Maybe the first few trains should have 2 operators. We need to split the Elsewhere yard which will increase it's capacity. I noticed consist changes in returning trains indicating missing rolling stock on the industrial sidings. We need a rolling stock starting list that is checked either on Friday or before starting on Tuesday.

Friday Fun at the Layout - April 6

The regular Tuesday night sessions can be more than a little frustrating as multiple trains circulate the layout switching according to the car cards for each train. Not to say that the evenings aren't enjoyable as social events as much as operating sessions. A fair bit of learning takes place as members interact with each other and offer tips or suggestions with switching challenges [whether always appreciated or not].  But Friday afternoons offer a more leisurely opportunity to work out switching moves without another train or two interrupting thought trains [no pun intended]. Here Peter, a new member, is spending the afternoon switching in Lincoln yard and getting to know the industries there and which cars need to be pulled out of sidings and which cars to replace them with. These are excellent learning opportunities for those who are available on Fridays, usually from two to four members weekly for
1 - 4 pm.




Tom and Don are two members who took a break from "big train" watching activities to enjoy some runnin' at the layout Friday afternoon. You can see in this picture how spread out the railroading is with Tom working Oxford Sand and Gravel at one end of the aisle and Don doing some switching in the Heron's Landing yard at the other end.

Meanwhile, over on the branchline, Glen's CNR EMD9 #1720 brings a string of log cars downgrade through the switchbacks and tunnel from the logging camp up on top. They will eventually end up at the sawmill in Miller at the other end of the branchline.           

Ortona Yard is situated at the end of the branchline which serves as a transportation link for the ore mine located at the left of this picture and the logging camp referred to in the picture caption above. This Friday afternoon, it's unusually busy with #1720 switching the two strings of ore cars, having brought in the string of empties [use your imagination]on the left siding beside the ore mine and switching out the full string on the right hand siding to go to the steel mill near Jutland on the main layout later in the afternoon.  #1720 will take the logging cars in between the two strings of ore cars to the Miller sawmill and bring back a string of empties to go up to the logging camp as soon as the boxcar is located. After the ore cars are spotted at the steel mill, #1720 can trundle back to its engine shed in Lincoln and relax until the next operating session.

                   

Tuesday night at the Huff and Puff April 3, 2018.

Wow! Full house for meeting night. After the treasure report we decided the club should buy some supplies for the repair of our rolling stock. The topic of our current operating system was up next. To relieve congestion at Lincoln we will run Lincoln only trains so that only 1 train will be switching there. We might also do the same for Springbank and Herons Landing  (instead of having a person be the switcher at each of these locations). We will also dispatch trains to get all of the Trains running. After the meeting, the turnout at Jutland had a new throwbar installed and the connection to the remote turnout on the wye was repaired.