Indeed, it's those "Diesel Days of August".
When the sun shines brightly.
But the temperatures are moderate.
Great weather, we agree...
...to get out railroading.
In a Canadian garden!
Yup, this blog "Serves All Canada" and the great US of A as well.
Fred's is the good track road.
Allowing cars of all stripes to ply the rails.
In all colours.
We must thank Lawrence once more for the diligent work he's put forth.
Creating the new expansion.
Near the end of the branch.
At Cedar Rock.
Looks great Lawrence!
I'll be the dispatcher for the day's operations.
Chris, Steve and Malcolm will run a few trains.
Not sure about Chris!
Pat better help him out with a diesel borrowed from...moi!
Fred and Garry pre-ops in Craig Leigh.
Bernie is the yardmaster in this location.
Lela, Fred and Lawrence enjoy a seat while Henk stirs his coffee.
Chris, Steve (in background) Paul, Moe and Malcolm arrive the table for the pre-ops pre-amble.
Fred leads the way.
Garry, Bob and Henk laugh along as Fred wonders what's so funny!
Henk continues to stifle a laugh as Bernie, Pat, Steve and Paul follow along.
You can dress the lads up, but you can't...oh, you know what I mean!
At Ralph Yard in Firgrove, Paul gathers his thoughts as he begins to make up 302, the first freight out.
John and Henk begin setting cars to their respective tracks pre-ops.
Garry has his CN diesel heading up Passenger #1, the westbound run.
Back at the pre-ops assembly, Fred tells the crowd about the latest plans for Cedar Rock.
A tankcar track will materialize on the far spur.
There will still be structures that have existed here before that will remain in place.
One of the four tracks will act as a lead into the new area of Cedar Rock.
Crews will have to determine the juxtaposition of their cars on the locomotive back down in Peter's Pond before heading up the branch as their is no runaround track up this way.
Another look at the new area.
Looks mighty fine to me!
301 is out of Craig Leigh on its approach to Mount St. Helens.
My weathered road switcher has the honours on this day.
Not too sure about Clam and Clem Kadiddlehopper...aka...Pat and Chris.
At the other end of the line 302 is downgrade out of Firgrove...
With its first destination being Bell.
Lawrence and Pat handle the job in the distance. Garry and Bob are also bringing their trains into Bell at the moment. That's three trains in one location. No worries as the passenger train and the ore train will be "in and out" in no time at all.
Steve and John are in command of 318, an eastbound to Craig Leigh from Glenn Hammond.
They are underway as they skirt Nelson Yard.
Stepping out onto the big trestle.
The Algoma Central geep tells me either Steve or Seanna will be running the other train out of Glenn Hammond.
Indeed, she's a gorgeous paint scheme heading up 327.
It appears Steve and Seanna have some switching moves in the Glenn before gaining clearance out on the mainline.
Seeing Bob...
...tells us the ore train is running.
Here he is just west of Bell.
The Conrail unit belongs to Malcolm.
He and Lela form one section of the Nelson Yard crew.
They will later take a couple of trains out along the RP&M.
George must be nearby as I spot his CN switcher.
Aha! Here he is with Henk.
Moe will be his partner for the day working Nelson Yard and running RP&M trains.
Nelson Yard pre-ops.
Fallentree Mine.
With its new sign.
Operations commence and Henk gets down to the task at hand at Nelson Yard.
Bernie begins assembling the first train out of Craig Leigh.
It will be 301 that you saw Pat and Chris running.
I love Bernie's TH&B unit.
At the other end of the line, Paul assembles train 302 and switches out a few industries in Ralph Yard with his Canadian Pacific GP30.
He is the yardmaster at Firgrove.
Some of the new spurs at Firgrove.
Garry follows the progress of Passenger #1.
As the train arrives Mount St. Helens.
For a meet with 301.
301 is protected on the passing siding.
Checking in on 301 shows them arriving this location before the passenger train.
With a pair like this...anything goes!
Chris works the spur tracks in Ironwood.
While Pat handles the throttle.
It was a pleasure to loan these capable operators my locomotive for the morning while I sat in the dispatch tower.
Meanwhile, in Bell 302 is making progress. They meet 327 here.
They are in the hole at Watkins siding for a meet with Passenger #2.
Later, we find them up in Cedar Rock working the back track of tanker cars.
This is a great railfan location in my books.
We are excited to see Bill out for a visit.
With his good-looking son, Mark.
Steve and John have 318 on the roll.
Round the bend at Lilly.
In the shadows of the foliage.
Then on up to Spruce.
Where they find quite a bit of work to complete.
Seanna has clearance through the diamond.
They are aboard Train 327 out of Glenn Hammond bound for Firgrove.
Right hand running at Mercer.
With conductor hubby, Steve.
Bob checks on the progress of his train.
Upgrade on RP&M rails.
Bound for Bell Junction.
And beyond.
Lela and Steve arrive Rat Portage aboard RP&M Train 65-66, the Bell Turn.
Working the team track near Golding Grains.
I notice the industry off in the distance.
They stay on the main.
And switch out the two-track yard.
Moe readies Rat-70, the transfer train to Rat Portage and back.
Here he is in "Rat".
With crewmate Lawrence.
Then it's back to Nelson Yard.
Henk's a smooth operator.
He cleans out the tracks on the outskirts of Nelson.
He organizes his crews as seen on the right.
A great communicator is skipper Henk!
Bernie enjoys the shade Douglas Yard offers.
It actually feels ten degrees cooler at this location on the railroad.
Paul requires the big umbrellas to provide him with the shade required at the other end of the line in Firgrove.
Other crews take advantage of them as well.
Rolling stock review. This tankcar was spotted in Douglas Yard.
This BCOL boxcar was found in Cedar Rock.
As was this flatcar with load.
And this hopper car.
Indeed, Fred runs a great ship here in Ottawa!
With the help of fine friends such as Paul and Lawrence.
Thanks, as always, Father Fred!
Check in later for Part Two where we will continue to follow all of the crews and yard activities from this past Saturday's session!
All the best,
Mike Hamer, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
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