Year In Review Session #7 Part One

Year In Review - Session #7

Part One

Session #7 found us in the garden running steam locomotives during the narrow gauge events of August 21st.

A total of 20 members of the OVGRS made it out for the running of the trains.

I continued in the dispatch booth as well as running trackside to railfan the action.  Indeed, all that traipsing around the property kept me in shape!  First...over to my HO layout for a moment.

Indeed, we salute our friends in the Ukraine!  Stay strong!  Stay brave!

Outbound B&M train MP4 has left its tail end back in North Dover as it pulls across the Salmon River to switch out the north siding of town.  The F.B.Hamer & Sons facility will fly the flag of Ukraine in support of its citizens until such time as all hostilities end.  (F.B. Hamer is my late father, Frederick Brian Hamer.)  

Click once on the white arrow and then a second time to engage the video footage.

Neil has gotten the information regarding the shirts to Fred and we'll send out an e-mail regarding orders in the next few days.  Neil will be getting another sample with the logo modified as per instructions from him and Fred.  You will be able to learn of cost, sizes, colour options and gender choices in the upcoming e-mail.

Back to our large scale train ops...and...we introduce our beauty contest winner for this week, the Midwest Quarry & Mining Company's diminutive steam locomotive.

The carrying case winner of the week is this plexiglass and wood example!  Brilliant design!

The Black-eyed Susans made their appearance in Lilly. 

No congestion here...simply a mass of freight car humanity set out in an organized fashion.

The tail enders!

Fred found his old Canon "point and shoot" camera with its card intact.  Bernie brought it over to my place where we were able to upload the images...a dozen or so of the great disaster which afflicted the IPP&W a few years back...29/04/2011 to be exact...at least that is the date this image was taken.

Fortunately this did not occur during a train ops session!

The sentinels standing guard in the blockhouse must've been given a great shake!

More pics to follow in subsequent blog entries.  I will make a special posting in a few day's time focusing on this event.

Keep in mind that these next two images have been snipped from video so their clarity is not as good as the other images.  In the picture above we capture two crews working at the eastern throat leading into Nelson Yard.

Pat is working Train 318 out from Glen Hammond as Doug radios dispatch before getting Rat 70 underway.

Video action at the time.

The sun reflects beautifully off the silver covered tank cars holding in Nelson Yard.

Passenger Two is on the ready track in Firgrove in care of a Canadian National switch engine.  She will be underway in short order.

The Comber Chair Facility sees a loaded spur out front.

Cars held at Golding Grains await loading before heading out on an RP&M train.

Hamer Manufacturing has a lone reefer holding the siding early in the morning.

Passenger 2 navigates the big curve to the west of Spruce.

318 is protected on the passing siding as Number 2 arrives Spruce.

Passenger #2 is the main actor in this video!

Ralph Yard in Firgrove offers this railfan some colourful traffic.

George is alone in Firgrove on this day as Len could not make it out to the session.  He will be kept busy at this western terminus of the line.

This UP reefer brightens our day and reminds me of the Ukrainian flag.  A very special moment there.

Bernie and Bill hold down Nelson Yard as Doug assists the crew before taking to RP&M iron aboard Rat 70.

I would like you to keep in mind that when I introduce a video to the posting, it could come from anywhere and any time from the morning's session, not necessarily along with other images pertinent to it.  We have already witnessed Pat depart Glen Hammond aboard 318 on video earlier in this posting.  This image was taken earlier as he was occupied building his train.

We stumble upon Train 327 taking the crossovers into Bell out from Wellington Lake.

Some cheerful tank cars help to brighten our day!

Video of Malcolm's run with 327.

Doug continues to drill the tracks at Lilly across Brennan Gap.

A close-up view of the new work done on the approach to the Lawrence Watkins Trestle.

Pre-ops information and safety gathering.  That's Moe in the orange T-shirt.

Moe sent along a video to share with the group.

It's called "Seniors On a Field Trip Without Supervision".

Was this in a commercial during the Super Bowl, Moe?

Copy and paste the link below into your computer's browser to watch this hilarious 30 second video on Youtube.  Wait until you see what happens next!  Thanks for sharing this with us, Moe!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLvk1ZofrW4

The folks have set out all of the cars for the session and find respite before the true action begins.

Pat and Paul have 302 up in Cedar Rock as Sid hangs around where the action is.

Aha!  Bob has arrived the property and we know what that means!

Yes, we will have the ore train running with some cool video captured.

Here is Mike's video footage of the ore train riding the rails downgrade at The Ledges.

Bob's Yellowstone banks into the curve outside of Bell.

Arriving the main line beneath the towering  Brunt's Brewery named for our great friend, the late Ken Brunt.

Continued video of the ore train's progress.

(Passenger 1 radioed me while this video was being shot, but he was really Pool Train 15, the second passenger run of the morning.)

Safely into Bell.

Still more video of Bob and his train.

A lovely "going away" shot of the ore train with 1791 holding the honours on this day.

That ore train sure is popular on video!

Reaching Peter's Pond the ore train creeps past 302 which is safely protected on the main.

Final video of the ore train for this posting!

Marcel is all smiles as Pat must've told him a joke or two!

We can definitely see why this location is known as Cedar Rock!

Neil and Moe handle 301's chores at Spruce.

Train 15 ascends the grade at Watkins Siding following a station stop in Wellington Lake.

My good friend, Pete (from Wolfville, Nova Scotia) crews with Pat aboard 318, now in Ironwood.

After arriving Firgrove with 327, Malcolm steers Train 304 into Bell.

He will take Track 4 which will offer him easy access into the interchange area.

304 as seen on video arriving Bell.

Here we find an RP&M train and an IPP&W crew working in close proximity to each other.

The brotherhood (and sisterhood) of engineers ensures that the crews will work in tandem to conduct their work in this "shared" area of the railroad.

Bernie snaps a picture of this interesting meeting of trains from both railroads.  Seanna and Steve have arrived the interchange aboard RP&M 65.  With the exchange of traffic taking place, they will turn their locomotive on the turntable and run back home aboard RP&M 66.

Crews work Spruce and Ironwood in the early morning sun.

Fred and Lawrence hold court debating who will win tonight's Blue Jay's game.

Rat 70 prepares its train.

Doug is captured on video with his lovely steamer.

Looking good there, Doug!

More video of his efforts in Glen Hammond.

The ore train as captured in this still image.

Skipper Bob between Cedar Rock and Mount St. Helens.

Train 302 holds the main down in the pond.

Train 15 on the outer reaches of Glen Hammond.

The lush foliage at Lilly encompasses this little run.

Bernie scans his big yard.

Video footage.

Stepping out on the trestle.

"Trestle Talk" captured on video tape!

Events around Ironwood see 301 on its departure bound for Spruce.

Our affable yardmasters observe the passage of the Pool Train.

301's power works the eastern end of Ironwood earlier on.

Train 15 meets 301 at this eastern location along the line.

Over to the west we find this Rio Grande caboose keeping track of the action.

George arrives Bell with the short hop down from Firgrove.

Looking good, George!

Let's watch that on video shall we!

There's that behemoth again!  Love it Bob!

Moe and Neil appreciate the shade found in Mount St. Helens.

Getting down to work.

Moe's hat protection is a great idea out in the hot sun!

Passenger 2 makes St. Helens.

The little switcher handles the run magnificently.

A look back along the ridge.

Fellas are "on the move" around the western throat at Nelson Yard.

We like to report that Nelson Yard is run like a Swiss watch!

Jolly good video effort.

Green, green, it's green they say in the west of Nelson Yard.

Bernie conducts the orchestra as trains come and go at a high frequency.

More video action at Nelson Yard.

Following the arrival of 302 in Nelson Yard, 311 gets underway.

This crew earlier arrived the big yard aboard 301.

311 underway on video film.

318 arrives Spruce in the sunlight.

The train earlier pierced the canyon at the base of Clarke Grade.

Moe is found in Craig Leigh.

Malcolm is found in Peter's Pond.

Controlling the turnouts.

The ore dock at Northland has a "No Vacancy" sign erected!

Indeed, she's a full dock!

Let's see that on video!

We find a train hiding behind the depot at Bellamy awaiting clearance through the junction.

Pre-ops scenes.

Ah, we enjoy each other's company!

RP&M 65 arrives Bell on Track 4 and will commence its interchange work in short order.

Our passenger train has completed its station stop at Spruce and is underway to Blockhouse.  The lovely depot is in the background to the right.

Marcel does a new dance for us.  This will go viral and Marcel will become famous...around the...OVGRS!

Fun video of Marcel, his dance and his train!

Glen Hammond is the little brother to Nelson Yard, but it does see its fair share of the action!

Steve and Seanna in Bell with 65.

Earlier shot of Doug's efforts in Glen Hammond.

The lads aboard 301 work the yard in Spruce.

Pat has arrived the Pond.

Train 314 gets underway out from Nelson Yard.

The tail end.

Malcolm's third trick as caught on video.

302 works the Pond area while 304 waits outside yard limits.

Malcolm has arrived with 304.

Looking up the Cedar Rock Branch.

Across the aisle Paul has hopped down to Mount St. Helens from his home territory of Craig Leigh.

The hop down from Craig Leigh is protected along the siding track as the passenger train passes by.

Pete finds himself outside of Ironwood.

His train, IPP&W 303 has reached the station track in Ironwood.

Some video notions.

Moe takes a break outside my office as his crewmate, Neil, runs their train into Nelson Yard.

Bernie and Bill have all things well organized here.

A view outside my dispatch hut.  I will share more images from the August 7th session in a week or so's time.  In the meantime...

...over the past week I have been modelling in three different scales at my workbench.  This, of course, is large scale.  My D&H GP38 required a rear pilot step so I began fabricating one from styrene.

I was unsuccessful in finding one on line so that left me with no other option.

The paint colour "Mud" came closer to my D&H colour than the grey tones I had on hand in my acrylic collection of paints.

Looks like it will be a good "fit"!

Aha!

I did it!

Here is my HO project that I started two weeks ago.

It's the Builders In Scale "Tidewater Wharf" boat repair shed.

While a rectangular building in nature...it was nothing like a rectangle as there were a series of sub-assemblies that jutted out in many locations.

The boat slip drops down below below ground level to reach the water level.

This structure will go on David Gardner's layout in the near future.

I am building a series of Craftsman Structures for him in HO.

The week before I had completed these two structures which butt up against each other.

I love the bottomless boat that acts as the entranceway to the diner!

Finally, in O-scale I completed a few projects including the gondola, the ore wagon (still requires weathering) the loading dock, the horses and...the freight shed which Doug had started and asked me to complete for him.

This dock was originally half as long with a ramp leading down to ground level.

This meant a lot of scratch building to lengthen it and to remove the ramp as per Doug's and my decision.

As mentioned, Doug completed all of the walls, doors and windows.  He asked me to build the roof.

A day's labour at the workbench saw the freight shed near completion.

The fourth module in the scene is slowly taking shape as Doug and I await other items currently on order.

If you have a modelling project (in any scale) feel free to send me some pics and a short description and I will add it to our blog entries...especially in the "off season" from our outdoor large scale train running!

We keep our Ukrainian friends in our hearts and minds. 

As always we thank Father Fred for hosting us on a wonderful summer's day!

Take care everyone!  We are all excited to see warmer weather coming our way so we can get out and run trains in the garden!

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