Chris's Views From Our Recent Session

Our Last Saturday in September as Seen Through the Lens of Chris

Chris has kindly sent along a handful of images from Saturday's Narrow Gauge session at Fred's.  Thanks for taking the time to do so, Chris!  The captions were written by Chris as well.

I will tag along with Chris and add a few pics myself although I could only attend the second half of the session.

To enlarge the images, click on them.  To return, click outside them.

Getting set up in Nelson Yard.

The crew at Firgrove have everything ready to go and some time to enjoy the morning sunshine.

Meanwhile, over at Douglas yard, Paul is busy monitoring Mike’s clinic at the SLD meet…

But first, time for Henk to serve us all some birthday cake!

Happy birthday, Henk!

Then the action begins, with the passenger train leaving first...

...followed by 302

Thanks so much Chris for the pics and captions.  I'll follow up with a handful as well.

Mike Hamer...you have certainly changed!  Why...it's not Mike...it's skipper Bill of the Scobie variety!

Thanks Bill for filling in with the dispatch duties in my absence in the early hours of the session.

(Bill completed the entire session as chief dispatcher and bottle washer and he enjoyed washing the bottles so much that he offered to do the same job next week!  Love ya, Bill!)

Two handsome lads...Paul and Chris aboard 302 in the early morning hours.

Paul, Chris sent me this lovely e-mail this morning.  He wrote, "It was fun crewing with Paul — I always enjoy hearing his stories about riding in an old CN wood-sheathed caboose with his Dad up to Algonquin park"

First mate Pat lapping up the sunshine!

Mount St. Helens is a-glow in colour with all those reefers!  Love it!

Whoa-whoa!  Wait a second!  Do my eyes deceive me!  It's a White Pass & Yukon locomotive plying the rails of the IPP&W!  This "is" a big event.  This railfan is in loco heaven!  Thanks so much Mark for bringing this little puppy out!

A tail-ender to boot!  Say, Mark, what happened to the smokestack on the caboose?

Aha!  Just where we suspected it to be!  Beneath Mount St. Helens!

Mark has grabbed it.

He'll be coming up for air at any moment!

There you have it!  (The reason we considered searching for the lost stack in this location is that I recalled Bob encountering a similar incident a couple of seasons ago.  The stack on his caboose was also too tall for the clearances beneath Mount St. Helens.)

Paul's Rio Grande Southern #25 is a true beauty.

She's busy working the tracks in Douglas Yard all on her own...

...as Paul was busy checking out the NMRA clinic I was delivering on his Ipad located outside this image on the round table.  Hehehe!

Skipper Bernie discovered the beauty of the IPP&W and RP&M environs as he commandeered the three passenger trains on the morning!

Some of Bernie's work throughout the session!

Bernie is seen departing Craig Leigh with Train 15, The Pool Train.

It's an image of "Bernie Squared"!!!  Actually two Bernie G's!

Our visiting Bernie brought along his 2-6-0 Mogul and three passenger cars which he and I ran around the entire system.

We were Train Extra 2319 on this morning.  We arrived Ironwood where we met an opposing IPP&W train that is protected on the siding track.

Bernie's whistle reverberates through the canyon at the base of Clarke Grade.

A lovely low angle view of the proceedings as Extra 2319 hovers atop Brennan Gap on the Fred Mills Trestle!

I've snipped these next three images from the video I took of the two Bernie's running very similar looking trains!

See what I mean!

One Bernie G is amazing for us to have in our stable, but to have two...well...that's simply priceless!

Click on the white arrow two times to work the video showcasing the two Bernie's passenger trains!

It was great for me even making it out for the second half of the session.  I'll create a couple more blog entries throughout the week showcasing our visiting Bernie's passenger run as well as the events around the entire railroad as seen through the lens of other participants when I receive their images and videos.

Thanks again Chris for sending your amazing photos along.  Thanks Father Fred for hosting this very interesting band of brothers and sisters each Saturday morning!

All the best, Mike Hamer, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada