First Locals

8:00 AM: The first trains out are assembled before the session starts so there is no waiting for the yardmaster.  The Windsor Turn is first out at 8:00 AM and has the GW #121 SW9 (blue and yellow) for power.  The Johnstown Turn, powered by double headed SW1s,  departs at 8:30 AM after the Windsor turn clears Officer Junction. The SW1s were purchased used and have not been repainted into GW colors as yet.

9:45 AM: The Johnstown turn with Bruce Kelly at the throttle has reached the top of the helix and has split the train to begin switching the elevator and dairy off the Becker siding.  Note that it taken over one “fast” hour to get here. The helix eats up time and stretches the apparent distance.  Or perhaps Bruce ran at a prototypically slow speed up the helix even though the train was hidden and no one noticed.  And lost a half hour on the “schedule”.    

9:15 AM: Back in the Loveland Yard, Yardmaster David Spakousky has organized the yard.  He has worked the Loveland C&S interchange by sorting the C&S North cars for pickup by the C&S 43N (Denver to Cheyenne) local.  After the cars are picked up, the yardmaster will bring the inbound cuts into the yard for classifying. The next trains out are the Milliken Turn with UP interchange traffic and the Johnstown Beet Turn with empty beet hoppers for the beet dumps.  

Later That Morning

10:00 AM: John Gerritsma is working the Windsor beet factory.  Most of the Windsor Turn has been left on the Windsor siding while John collects outbound cars from the various buildings.  Behind him, Paul and David Hendrickson are conductor and engineer on C&S 138W, the  Greeley to Ft. Collins local.   They have four loads of coal for the factory which will be dropped on the interchange tracks (just in front of John’s throttle).

The Windsor Turn needs to use the C&S tracks on the west end of the factory to switch the sugar bin and warehouse tracks.  Since the C&S local is busy at the other end of the factory, the timing is good and track rights are issued.

11:00 AM: Back at the top of the helix at the Hardman beet dump, the back half of the Johnstown turn gathers dust. All in due time.

The westbound CS 138W has arrived at the Windsor industrial park and has some switching to do.  The train has four cars to deliver and the area has four industries.  Sounds simple but half the spots are facing point and there is a slip switch to contend with. Yes, it takes much longer than people think.  I can get myself, the Pro From Dover,  tangled up there also.

Bruce has coupled up to the rest of the Johnstown turn and is now busy in downtown Johnstown. Six industries shouldn’t take that long. However, there are cars from the Longmont branch (“GW West”) in the Longmont staging yard ready to be brought out and worked.   And maybe a car or two is spotted in the east yard from the UP interchange in Milliken.  Careful planning may be required.

Meanwhile, back in Windsor John has everything under control.  Cars are switched, the return train built and all that is needed is to turn the engine on the wye and return to Loveland.

Next Trains

12:00 PM: Everything seems to be going to plan. At least, until the Yardmaster checks the clock and notices that the Windsor and Johnstown turns are woefully late returning.    He has the Milliken Turn ready to go (12:20 PM departure) and the Johnstown Beet Turn (1:00 PM departure) is just about ready with only a caboose needed.  But neither can leave until someone else returns (there are no passing sidings on the main line).

Dave and Paul have finished work on CS 138W and are standing by waiting for work.  It’s nearly time for the Milliken Turn to leave and they are chomping at the bit.  The Dispatcher contacts the Johnstown Turn to see if the Milliken Turn can squeeze by while Bruce finished up and, in a great display of cooperation, Bruce agrees to work it out. The Milliken Turn departs on time at 12:20.    

The Milliken Local climbs the helix and arrives in Hardman.   Bruce has his train split into many parts and leaves a clear path to the Johnstown sugar factor yard.  The Milliken Turn needs to sort cars there for the out and back runs to Milliken – it’s a dead end with no where to run around.  Typical short-line cost cutting,.

Finally, the Johnstown Turns arrives in Loveland at 1:40, just over two hours late.  “There were too many cars!”.   Bruce pulls in the yard, drops his cars, turns his engine and leaves it for the hostler to take care of.  He quickly jumps in the cab of WP SW-1500 #1502 (on loan for diesel testing) and hits the mainline headed back to Johnstown for beet dump duty.  He is an hour late departing, 2:00 PM. 

2:10 PM:  The Windsor Turn is on the way back to Loveland and holds up short of Officer Junction to wait for the beet turn to clear.  He pulls into the Loveland Yard at 2:20.  The harried yardmaster has to make room for the returning train and takes some time getting it out of the way to get the Kelim Turn ready.  It will use the same engine the Windsor Turn used so it must be turned, refueled and moved to the east end of the yard.

3:45 PM: The Kelim Turn departs only 15 minutes late and heads for Officer Junction and Kelim.  It’s a light run today with only UP interchange traffic and a couple of cars for Gorom.  After turning the train on the Officer Junction wye, the inbound UP traffic is picked up and outbound cars spotted.  There are two pickups at the Kelim Elevator and Bumbles Bean Warehouse but nothing to set out.

Later That Afternoon

The Johnstown Beet Turn has completed switching the Welty branch beet dumps and is returning to Johnstown to finish working the beet dump at the sugar factory and the Milliken beet dump.  The outgoing beet loads will be left on the east end of the Welty Branch while it works the others.

The Milliken beet dump is a simple double ended siding.  Drop three empties, pickup three loads and try to get the caboose positioned correctly.  Sometimes it takes two tries to get it right.

4:00  PM: Back in Loveland, David has his hands full.  The C&S has dropped another load of interchange traffic and the yard needs some classifying after the Milliken Turn returned.  The Johnstown Sugar Factory Turn is mostly ready and may make an earlier than 7:20 departure.  Paul and Dave are standing by waiting for the Windsor Beet Turn to be built.  If all goes well, they may also be early.

4:30 PM: The Kelim Turn  is on the way back to  Loveland and has a few trailing point moves to make.  Here it is picking up an outbound car from the small Kuner Bean Warehouse.

The Johnstown Beet Turn has completed its work and is heading through Hardman back to Loveland.  The trip back is easier than the trip up (down the helix with heavy loads).

5:30 PM: All goes well and the Windsor Beet Turn departs 70 minutes early. Soon after, the Johnstown factory turn departs 2 hours early. We may have the first operating session that finished on time!

The Windsor Beet Turn is completing its work on the Windsor high line.  The D&RGW engine is another loaner during the diesel trials.  This Atlas S-2 is the first engine I’ve purchased that was correct for the GW, even though it was on temporary duty. 

6:10 PM: The Johnstown Beet turn has returned with 20 loads.  Now the yardmaster has to start loading up the wet hopper tracks. 

The yardmaster is kept busy switching the factory tracks as well as dealing with the many locals. Here the coal tracks and molasses tracks  are being loaded.  Cars come from all the various interchanges so nothing really comes in blocked. 

6:30 PM: The Johnstown Factory job is well under way.  Molasses tank cars are the main types switched here, 10 per session.  Other cars are at the coal track ,sugar warehouse and utility tracks. 

The Windsor Beet Turn is just about finished and is switching the Gove beet elevator.  This at the base of Oklahoma Hill, the ruling grade on the GW (2.3%).   The Windsor factory turn sometimes has to double the hill if too many cars are returning.

The Windsor Beet Local is crossing I-25 on the way back to Loveland.

The Passenger Trains

We are almost finished with scheduled freight locals but the yardmaster has a few more things to wrap up. I had planned for this situation a long time ago but we have never arrived at this state before.  To keep the guys busy, I have two passenger trains to run based on prototype schedules from the 1920 era.

Passenger service was hit and miss on the GW.  There was a scheduled train that ran from Longmont to Windsor and back once per day, passing through Officer Junction. Another train ran from Loveland to Officer Junction and back twice a day to allow passengers to transfer between trains to get to and from the towns along the way.   

At one time, McKeen motor cars provided the passenger service but were unreliable especially in winter.  Steam engines with old passenger cars did the majority if the runs.  As roads were built in northern Colorado, the need for rail transportation quickly evaporated and regular passenger service was abandoned in the 1930s.  Some passenger traffic with mixed trains with passengers in the caboose was still done until 1972.  Even so, the GW ran rail fan specials with privately owned steam into the 1980s.  

Decapod #90 stops at the Johnstown station on the way north from Longmont with train #4. Obviously, some paint and numbering is required.

The diminutive “2 spot” (2-8-0 #2) waits in Loveland with train #1  for the highball.  Even more obviously, re-painting and numbering is required.  

The engineer of #2 is given his orders and the run starts with spinning drivers and breakneck acceleration. 

A rail fan catches train #4 crossing the Big Thompson River near Hardman.

Train #1 backs into the Officer Junction flag stop to offload passengers. 

After turning on the wye, train #1 returns to the main to wait for train #4.

Train #4 arrives in Officer Junction. After passengers leave or board, it will continue on to Windsor.  Train #1 will go back to the flag stop and pick up passengers headed to Loveland. 

Thus ended a 4 hour operating session. A good time was had by all, especially your host, George Booth, the “Sugar Beet Guy”.

Looks like a lot of fun

Thank you for posting an operations thread starter. Your layout looks great and you told the story well with the pictures. It's great to see a layout come to life. 

Thanks for sharing !

Great photo's, and great commentary. I am trying to get into operations, and your blog has helped me follow your thought process for your layout. Looks like everyone had a great time, and the mix of cars and trains kept interest high. Keep sharing with us.

Michael

Cool

Looks like great fun being had by all.

Sugar Beets

Mr. Booth,

It's always nice to see your work on your layout. Especially since I live in Berthoud, CO and my wife breeds sugar beets! I was wondering what you modeled your HO beets loads out of? They look great and I hope to replicate a few beet cars on my layout. Any advice would be appreciated!

I enjoyed the pictures

more than if it was a video.  It allowed me time to really look at your scenes without moving on too quickly.  Brought back memories of a year ago when you invited Mike Deverell and myself over to your place.  You have a fantastic layout George, and thank you so much for taking the time to put this all together.

Sugar Beet Models

I used "cracked wheat" from the bulk bins at a local grocery store for the beet dump piles.  The basic form is extruded foam cut to shape with the cracked wheat glued on with white glue then painted dingy dirt gray.

I'm now using "bulgur wheat" for loose sugar beets (in trucks or around the piles). I think the shape, size and color works well. That is what is used in the Windsor high line photo.  "Bobs Red Mill" packages it if that brand is available in your area.

I've also used fenugreek seeds. Also a nice shape but quite aromatic. 

Thanks

for the nice comments everyone. It was a lot of work to upload all those images and write the story but I had fun.

Looks like fun

George,

     Looks like you all had a great time. The scenery is looking good.

Mike

Nice report!

George,

I visited your Loveland layout a year or so before you moved.  Your new layout is even nicer than your old one which I thought was pretty nice.  Thank you for sharing.  I lived in Erie when I visited you, last year we moved to Loveland.  Nice to see all the familiar locations.

Joe Baldwin

Deja Vu All Over Again!

Hi George,

I love the new railroad!  It has a lot of the character of the old one back in Loveland but with so much more. The operations look like a lot of fun.  I don't care what anyone says about the car tabs, the system works!

Thanks for sharing the session. 

Gene

Looks like a great layout to

Looks like a great layout to operate, the layout looks really good. I have not had or been to an ops session in over a year and miss it. 

Nice detail on operations,

Nice detail on operations, Thanks

Op Session

Looks like a large layout.  Very nicely done.  It wasn't until I went through the pictures a couple times that I noticed some of the buildings are paper on a cardboard core.  Very effective mockups.

I've used tab on car several times at various clubs, very easy system.

My compliments to the gentleman wearing the Reading Co. shirt.