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Railway Exec (Moderator)
1st Class Member
Canada
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 Posted - 05 Jun 2004 : 16:08:47
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Today, while some of you played at the Queen mary show, some of us stayed at home to play  It was our regular operation on the IPP&W and I drew a wayfreight X301 for my assignment. To give a flavour for our operating session, I grabbed some pics between switching moves to share with you.
After getting my assignment, I dropped by the IPP&W office to pick up the mandatory brush for sleaning debris from switches, my radio for talking to the dispatcher, a long screwdriver for uncoupling those KaDee couplers and most importantly, the switchlist for X301 which told me what work I had to do. First off, I had to assemble my train at Rat Portage Yard near Craigleigh, the main terminus ... and after picking up my van (caboose) and a couple of cars, the passenger #1 pulled out of Craigleigh station leaving the line clear for me. I picked up a few more cars and was set to go. The dispatcher gave me the all clear to hold the main to Ironwood and X301 rumbled down the long grade past the loaded gons at St Helens.
Ironwood is a busy town and X301 was to drop a reefer and pick up boxcar 3843 from the team track. The dispatcher gave me time to hold the main and passing tracks to make a runaround move to switch the facing point sidings and then to clear the passing track for X211 following me into Ironwood. X211 is a low priority turn that takes the loads from St Helens to Bell and brings empty gons back. Here is the scene at Ironwood as X301 holds the main awaiting clearance to proceed and X211 arrives on the siding. The boxcar that was just set out is in the foreground to the left.
The dispatcher gives clearance to proceed to Hill Siding and to go into the hole to await the arrival of the mail/express train #12. The pic shows X301 making the meet with #12.
A call to the dispatcher gives us clearance to pickup a tank car at Lilly and to proceed to Glen Hammond, the largest and busiest town on the IPP&W. It is a real bottleneck and no local work is done by trains as a yard crew is assigned. Yardmaster Rick Mercer gives us the clearance to enter the yard limits and X301 holds the main in front of the station. X301 is to drop a chipcar and the loaded tank plus pick up a reefer.
The yard crew cuts off most of the train to access the drops which are blocked behind the loco.
While the train is being reassembled, the tourist train of the Rat Portage and Western pulls in on the station track as part of its makeup and freight X450 completes some moves at Bellamy.
Rick completes the moves to add the pickups to X301 and the train is now ready to depart Glen Hammond.
But the dispatcher holds the train to permit the tourist train, now fully made up, to arrive on the station track.
X301 rounds the curve into Bellamy (and the new trackage just laid this spring and not yet landscaped) where we have 2 boxcars to add and 1 to drop.
Here is a shot of the loco during the switching manouevres as it pulls a car from the team track at Bellamy. Later, the cars dropped by X301 and other trains will be switched by a local switcher into the industry sidings along the Bellamy spur.
Ready to roll, the dispatcher clears X301 to Peter's Pond but instructs us to take the siding as our eastbound counterpart, wayfreight X302 holds the main. Here is the arrival of X301 at Peter's Pond.
X301 clears Peters Pond and heads to Bell for a meet with passenger #2.
The dispatcher clears X301 to Firgrove where the wayfreight completes the run. After turning the loco on the wye and moving the cars to the yard, the engineer heads for "the central tent" and a cold one!
Regards ... Doug
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Engineer
1st Class Member
USA
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Posted - 05 Jun 2004 : 17:48:47
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| Wow! How great! You guys sure know how to do it. Sounds like you've even got the numbering correct. Thanks for the pictures. But of course I'd think you guys were doing it right. The Friar was one of the guys that gave me consultation when I was setting up "Operations" on the KVRwy. |
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Engineer
1st Class Member
USA
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Posted - 05 Jun 2004 : 18:04:42
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Wow, Doug.... You guys look like you had as much fun today as I can imagine the MLS gang had at the QM. At the show, on Bob's and Dwight's live steam tracks as well as the Del Oro layout.
Thanks for sharing. Great images.... |
Edited by - on 05 Jun 2004 18:14:00 |
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Railway Exec (Moderator)
1st Class Member
Canada
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Posted - 05 Jun 2004 : 18:50:15
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Ric/Stan ... It was great fun and we will do it all again next saturday ... though Fred is a steam guy, next saturday is a modern diesel operation ... maybe after next week I will do a little piece on the dispatcher's view of the operation - he is one busy lad!
BTW ... this is not a whole lot different from the way Dave Goodson runs his railroad and his operating session that I attended was also a good time.
Bruce
I will get a copy of the switchlist and post a pic ... they are made up on Friday usually and all the cars are prestaged ... in trays if the weather is not good or on the railroad if no rain is expected.
A number of us take part in the set up - it is also a bit of fun as we visualize how tough we can make life for some crew switching or maybe the dispatcher
Regards ... Doug
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Engineer
1st Class Member
USA
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Posted - 05 Jun 2004 : 19:30:34
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Doug,
Wonderful post! I haven't seen a descriptive article on operation like that in a good while. Operation is a lot of fun even for one person alone but when you have a whole crew like that it really is fun. You've got a good bunch up there as does Dave Goodson on his railroad. Nothing holds a group together like a mutual interest in operation and actually giving their trains something to do.
Thanks for the pix and the narrations.  |
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Engineer
1st Class Member
USA
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Posted - 05 Jun 2004 : 19:53:33
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| Doug, very nicely done photos. Glad your weather was better than ours for train operations. It rained cats and dogs nearly all day long here in South Jersey and was chilly for this time of year to boot. |
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Conductor
USA
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Posted - 06 Jun 2004 : 04:41:26
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Ah yes.......looks like a Connie on the head end of X301. Loved your description and can't wait to get my butt up there for my annual IPP&W run.......
Hopefully I can round Bart up for the trip, too........ |
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Railway Exec (Moderator)
1st Class Member
Canada
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Posted - 06 Jun 2004 : 05:10:42
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Ken
Your annual visit is a highlight of the summer!
The pic you show of Rat Portage yard is now being modified. Fr Fred quit leaning on that roadbed long enough to tear down the white fence and expand the whole area out about 20 feet. Tracklaying is just commencing. Since it will take time to rebuild this whole area, a wye is being cut in right about where the caboose is in the photo to preserve operations for the balance of this season.
Looking forward to your visit ... and we have been working on tunnel clearances for Bart's 7/8n2 shay!
Regards ... Doug |
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Railway Exec (Moderator)
1st Class Member
Canada
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Posted - 06 Jun 2004 : 06:34:52
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Bruce
You asked about the switchlist and the setup.
To establish an operating session, we use what we have called a scenario (there is one for steam and a different one for modern diesels). The scenario is equivalent to a timetable in that it shows all the trains and the approximate times they run - they all run as extras as we do not use a clock. The scenario also suggests what each train does ie why it runs.
The current steam scenario has in each direction:
(1) a through passenger train
(2) a mail/express train
(3) a manifest or fast freight
(4) a wayfreight
In addition, the scenario has a mine turn (counts as 2 trains) from St Helen's to Bell and back plus a tourist train from Bellamy to Ironwood and return. A yard crew is stationed at Glen Hammond and another at Bellamy but otherwise trains do their own switching. That is a total of 13 switchlists.
With the general scenario in hand, the task is to establish the specific work that each train will do. In the smaller scales inside, the normal practice has been to use car cards and waybills. Outside, we have found that the wind does not make a conducive environment to handling a stack of paper. So we have opted for the usage of a switchlist for each train.
An example of the switchlist that we use is in a .doc file at
http://1stclass.mylargescale.com/Dougald/SwitchListTrain648
This switchlist is filled out manually in advance of an operating session. With the scenario in hand, the number of switchlists is given by the number of trains and each of them has fairly specific duties.
As an example, the passenger train #1 runs the length of the line dropping a diner at Glen Hammond and adding a reefer at Peters Pond. The switchlist specifies these two moves - where there is any possibility of doubt as to what car is to be dropped or added, the car number is specified. (As an aside, it was a big job initially to go through the carfleet and change numbers to remove any duplicates).
Since one of the moves for #1 is at Glen Hammond where there is a local switch crew, the Glen hammond switch list is updated to show that #1 will drop a diner - that way the yardmaster can plan his activity and be prepared for the move when #1 arrives.
As the switch lists are prepared, we set out some big trays, one for each "community". As cars are assigned to trains or to start on various sidings, they are placed in an appropriate labelled tray. These trays are used to stage up all the cars to initialize the railroad for the start of the operating session. It takes about an hour or so (on Friday) for two guys to write out the switchlists and initialize the cars for an operating session that lasts about 2 and a half hours Saturday morning.
The trains in the steam scenario tend to be relatively short - perhaps 8-10 cars max - to fit the passing sidings. This means ultimately that about 60 plus freight cars and about a dozen passenger cars are needed to run an operating session. Most of the cars are only moved once but a number of them will see two or more moves by different trains during the session.
We have experimented with computer generated swiitchlists. The drawback has been that if the computer specifies hopper xyz should be placed on the siding at Blue Mountain Mine, then hopper xyz must be searched out from the storage shed. Since Fred has 200 plus cars, the task of finding the correctly numbered hopper is not trivial - we have found it easier to say a hopper will go at the mine and after pulling one from storage, writing in manually the number.
It sounds complex and maybe it is for the guys setting up ... but it is very simple conceptually for the train crews as they operate. The crews need only focus on the switching which is often difficult enough. the specific work is already decided and specified on the switchlists. The dispatcher will tell the enineer when the train may proceed and when to hold in a siding.
We often have visitors who are handed a throttle and they join right in, showing that the switchlists are not too complex to use. This past Saturday, a visitor from England looked us up and he was welcomed to the session. He was given one of the passenger trains and seemed to very much enjoy his visit.
Regards ... Doug |
Edited by - on 06 Jun 2004 06:40:58 |
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Engineer
USA
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Posted - 06 Jun 2004 : 06:39:25
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wow doug
great action looks like fun had by all!happy rr |
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Railway Exec (Moderator)
1st Class Member
Canada
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Posted - 06 Jun 2004 : 08:24:20
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Bruce
The trays are ones that are used by baked goods deliveries of bread to grocery stores. They hold 5 passenger cars or 6 freight cars each. Fred has a huge stack of them just for this purpose.
Regards ... Doug |
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Engineer
1st Class Member
USA
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Posted - 06 Jun 2004 : 08:34:35
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Ken,
When are you planning to make your "Pilgrimage"?
Doug,
Thanks for the "switchlist"!
How do you guys allow visiting motive power to perform "Operations"?
How do you anticpate what to do if you have a equipment breakdown or no show? Is the locomotive assigned by Dispatch at time of getting underway? |
Edited by - on 06 Jun 2004 08:39:05 |
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Railway Exec (Moderator)
1st Class Member
Canada
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Posted - 06 Jun 2004 : 10:47:06
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Ric
Locos are assigned to some trains from the IPP&W roster but Fred has insufficient locos (in service -he has a whole locker full being worked on ) to handle all th trains. A number of us bring our own power - that was my Connie on X301.
For a steam operation, any steam loco is welcome and will be given a slot before the ops start even if it means juggling the anticipated loco assignments. Same for the diesel operation. The only stipulations are battery power, insulated locos to prevent shorts and KaDee couplers. Ken Brunt for example always trails his conversion car behind his loco when he visits to comply with the KaDee couplers.
Any MLSers who plan to be in the Ottawa area overthe summer months are welcome to join us in an operating session ... just get in touch with myself or Fr Fred.
Regards ... Doug |
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Engineer
1st Class Member
USA
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Posted - 06 Jun 2004 : 11:42:02
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Doug,
Those rules certainly sound fair. I was trying to find out when Ken was heading North. Always looking for times to think about escaping. You guys were on the "Short List" last year and, of course, never removed from the list. ;-)
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Railway Exec (Moderator)
1st Class Member
Canada
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Posted - 06 Jun 2004 : 14:36:05
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Ken ... how about it ...have you picked your time? last year was the second weekend in August. And we'd love to have you visit too Ric.
Regards ... Doug |
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Engineer
1st Class Member
USA
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Posted - 06 Jun 2004 : 18:28:41
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Couldn't do the second weekend in August.
1) Garden Railroad Convention in Denver, but I'm tied up by excuse #2.
2) August 14th, National Marina Day - big day at work.
3) 150th Anniversery of O'Fallon, Illinois. Gateway Club setting up modules as part of celebration.
4) Clinton County "Relay for Life" celebration - all female employees invovled as a team.
Ken, pick another weekend. As of yet, not many obligations besides that weekend. |
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Tales of a Wayfreight IPP&W X301 (very long/pics)
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