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Friday Night on the LVN
Lots of action on the LVN on Friday. Had 10 operators over. They were divided into teams of engineers and trainmen. The two hour operating session saw continuous action and by the looks on the faces of the folks below we all had a good time.
Here you can see Ron, Chris and James operating a NAR SD38-2, two BNSF SD70Macs and a leased CFX SD90 Mac through the classification yard. Modern operations include hauling coal, grain, mixed freight and intermondal.
Ron is watching closely as Chris backs the NAR SD38-2 onto a string of Glycol cars at the new facility located at the south end of Shelby yard.
Meanwhile in Richmond yard Mike is pushing a string of cars beyond a switch point. He needs to clear the switch to move them onto the departure track. Bob, his trainman is in close as well and planning the next move.
Joel and James are pulling a string of coal hoppers from the Port Mine. Thumbs up....All must be going well.
After that operation the BNSF units have returned to pickup a string of green hoppers for the Starboard mine. Joel is surprised as the Richmond RS18 switcher blasts a horn warning of its presence.
Jim and Dave are carrying out the classic coupling of grain hoppers. Dave is giving him hand signals and is at Slow to stop.
Joel uncoupling hoppers at the Starboard mine.
James is posing with his train at the double crossover next to the Port Coal Mine.
After collecting the Port string James is heading through the Edmonton Yard. He now has 42 loads on his train. You can see Joel way in the back indicating how much of the train is remaining to clear the switch. In fact you can see the red hopper in the distance near the farm on the back wall.
Here is the mixed freight exiting Hamer's Curve. The hoppers are on the yard lead and are being split to fit into Edmonton Yard.
The boys did a great job and we sat down in the crew lounge for a few pops (beers), cheese curds and cake. Lots of conversation about the goings on and discussion about the next ops session which will be at my freinds CN layout.
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Fizzy adult beverages and cheese curds! Especailly after a successful modeling run. Nice post!
Now, next time - video please!
Philip H.
Chief Everything Officer
Baton Rouge Southern Railroad, Mount Rainier Div.
Great post, thanks for sharing. Lots of inspiration in the pictures.
Geared is the way to tight radii and steep grades.
Ghost River Rwy.
"The Misty Loggers"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rs5qJPRumLA
Well I better find a video cam. However it is bad enough to catch these guys in stills. As you can see by Fred as brings his string of hoppers to Joel and James''s train.
Video is a must! We can put up with the crazy crewmen. :)
Nice post. Looks like a really great layout with plenty of operating fun. LOVE the Port Coal Mine scene!
Keep 'em coming please!
Kevin Klettke CEO, Washington Northern Railroad wnrr@comcast.net
http://wnrr.net
Great to see pictures of the OP session but as mentioned a video would be even better! Thanks for sharing.
Regards,
blue
Not staff but here everyday all the same.
Model Railroading in HO Scale
Is that Charlie and Joe have us hooked on good ops session videos - so naturally we want to see all the ops sessions we can.
Perhaps MTV/MRH would consider producing an ops vidoe of your layout . . . .
Philip H.
Chief Everything Officer
Baton Rouge Southern Railroad, Mount Rainier Div.
Glad you liked the mines. The Port Mine was made from combining a number of Walthers Kits. There still needs to be some conveyors added between the buildings the open pits and slag piles. Depth is created by adding the open areas painted on the backdrop.
The Stbd Coal pit was made by cutting a large hole in the benchwork. Then I added layers of pink foam of different thickness into the hole and above it. Added trees to the ridge and combinations of black paint, sand and grout. I ran the road around the outside using celluclay to form the road which winds from the upper surface down into the pit. I used the same sand and grout process and added wodland scenic coal to the surfaces. The coal piles have kitty litter under them to reduce expense for the mounds of coal..
"......Charlie and Joe have us hooked on good ops session videos - so naturally we want to see all the ops sessions we can.
Perhaps MTV/MRH would consider producing an ops vidoe of your layout . . . .
"
Gee and I thought Joe was going to shoot it this weekend.........
Steve
http://klamathline.blogspot.com/
The open pit mine is a great scene. Thanks for the construction details. Kitty Litter! Brilliant!
Thanks for sharing!
Regards,
blue
Not staff but here everyday all the same.
Model Railroading in HO Scale
LVN - if you're game, I'd love to start planning an ops live of the layout ... just click my name and use the contact form to email me directly if you'd like to talk more about it!
Boy, do I LOVE ops!
Joe Fugate
Publisher, Model Railroad Hobbyist magazine