Op session fun!
Last month: The first op session was last month and we only had five crew members show up. One guy worked on organizing the the main yard in Roseburg after three years of just sitting or me moving trains in and out for visitors. The other four ran the two Coos Bay Haulers (east and west) to "shakedown the railroad". All in all, last session was a good kickoff after three years in mothballs.
THIS SESSION
This time we had 11 crew show up, and I acted as dispatcher - enough for a real op session again! I had cleaned the track, put graphite on it, and also rewired the 1156 bulb short protection blocks to be 3.5 amps instead of two amps. The lower amp rating caused the bulbs to glow orange when a train loaded with 4 or 5 locos passed thorough that bulb's block, stealing voltage from the locos and making throttle response sluggish. The addition of 1152 bulbs in parallel with the 1156 bulbs raises the amp short protection from 2 amps to 3.5 amps, and the bulbs no longer glow dull orange with 4 or 5 locos in the short protection block.
We ran about 80% of a normal schedule. Here's some pictures from the session.
Bill Murphy (old hand to the layout) and Rodger Cook (newbie to the layout) drew the Dole Turn, the local that switches a single industry, Roseburg Forest Products. This one industry on the prototype is a mile long and holds over 100 rail cars. On the layout, my model of this one industry is 12 feet long and it holds up to 50 rail cars. Switching this industry gets interesting since there's almost a dozen different spots for cars! Bill and Rodger took up the challenge and here they are early in their switching efforts moving some cars around to prepare for more heavy-duty work to come. - in photo, Rodger Cook (clipboard), Bill Murphy (center), Jim Moomaw (far left in darkness).
My son Joey Fugate, Jr. grins at the camera as he brings the Siskiyou Line West (SLW) into Roseburg yard on its way from Eugene to Medford. Joey would railfan with me as a kid to be with his dad, but he never really got into trains. However, he's gotten more interested in my hobby now that he's got a son of his own who likes trains, and he's learning the layout ops so he can help assist during the convention. That's the SLW on the back track in Roseburg - you can see the head-end power, three second generation diesels, in the upper left background of the photo. - in photo, Joey Fugate, Jr (on right, grinning), Jim Moomaw (yardmaster on left in shadow), Rodger Cook (back to us just behind Joey).
Here Joe Brugger switches the east end of Roseburg Yard whileYardmaster Jim Moomaw (out of photo) deals with traffic management on the west end of Roseburg Yard. Joe Brugger used to work for the Oregonian newspaper, and he's now one of the two copy editors on staff for MRH magazine. He's also a regular member of the operating crew on the layout when we last had op sessions so it's nice to have him back! - in photo, Joe Brugger.
In the distance my grandson Bobby Thurman (his mother is my daughter, Joey's sister, so Bobby is Joey's nephew) running the Oakland Turn which switches Oakland and Sutherlin. Grandson Bobby is 13 and loves model trains, and he's learning the layout so he can help during the convention when the layout is open. - in photo, Bobby Thurman.
Here conductor Bill Decker instructs engineer Bobby Thurman (my grandson) on the switching moves for the Oakland Turn as it switches Oakland and Sutherlin. Bill will have his own SP Willamette Pass layout open during the convention, but he's here at the Siskiyou Line op session enjoying SP train running and getting a taste of what he'll be doing on his own layout in August. - in photo, Bill Decker (in back), Bobby Thurman (in front with throttle)
Joe Brugger is still at it switching east Roseburg. - in photo, Joe Brugger
Dole Turn Conductor Rodger Cook is still at it with engineer Bill Murphy (out of picture) as they get deeper into switching Roseburg Forest Products. I hope to replace these mill mockups with more of the final mill structures by August. I'll be posting the progress in my blog posts, so stay tuned! - in photo, Rodger Cook (with coupler pick), Jim Moomaw (back to us in shadow, extreme left).
SUMMARY
The crews reported conductivity was superb (graphite really works) but we did notice pulling capacity was down slightly and there was just a bit of slippage, but not a lot. I worked very hard to keep the graphite application on the light side, and I wiped the track down with a dry cloth just to make sure and remove any excess graphite. We had some derailments with cars that need more weight and there's also some coupler issues noted. All in all, a very gratifying session. The layout's almost fully operational again!
