CARM Presentation on Our OVGRS Railways
In late November, Mike, Doug and Steve offered a clinic on large scale train operations in the Great Outdoors.
Doug covered the "meat" of the matter in speaking to the roles of the rail traffic controller (dispatcher). Steve covered the "potatoes" of the matter in sharing the RailOps computer program which generates all of the necessary lists required for a successful operating session. Mike covered the "gravy" which was the easiest role in showcasing this amazing railroad on the property of our dear friend, Fred Mills.
Below are all of the images shared in the presentation with some of the lists that Steve generates in lieu of images from the RailOps program itself.
Above is our title page introducing the clinic. We are the OVGRS, the Ottawa Valley Garden Railroad Society. Our group is a loosely knit assembly of folks who find great enjoyment and camaraderie while operating trains in a realistic fashion outdoors on a Large Scale Railroad.
Remember, you can enlarge the images by clicking on them. Then click outside the image to return to the default look of the page.
The railroad is situated on Fred's property, but he will be the first to say that it is not "his" railroad. Rather, it belongs to all of us!
I have two guest hosts with me for this presentation. Doug Matheson is one of our three Rail Traffic Controllers (Dispatchers). Doug, Bill and I rotate serving in the dispatch booth on a three-week basis. Doug has a gorgeous large scale railroad on his property set in a woodlawn forest, the Northland Railroad. Doug's railroad interchanges traffic with Fred's at a location known as Northland in Craig Leigh, the easternmost town location on the line.
When Doug is not running trains in the great outdoors he can be found in an upper chamber of his house running trains in HO scale on his passenger oriented railroad with some wayfreight switching. Chris Lyon painted the backdrops and I built the tower. We both helped Doug with the trees.
Steve is our other co-host. He is one of our two Train Masters. He shares the duties with Lawrence Watkins. Steve and his lovely wife, Seanna, make for an excellent operating crew. Steve will share with us the computer program RailOps which he uses to generate all the lists required for a session.
While Steve and Seanna operate in large scale outdoors, things are a little different when they come inside. N-scale is their modeling scale of choice and they are in the process of creating an N-scale empire in their home.
Let's investigate the origin of the IPP&W and the RP&M railways, shall we!
Where the two gentlemen are standing in the upper image is the town location of Ironwood, so named for an Ironwood tree that stood near that location for many a year. When Fred was a young lad, his parents allowed him to build an HO scale layout that circled the Ironwood tree. Fred has lived on the property for many years with the pond which he named after his brother, Peter. Sadly, the pond met its demise in recent years and an extension to the patio is located where the pond used to be.
Indeed, the IPP&W takes up most of Fred's property. This image at Ironwood showcases perhaps "one-third" of the overall eastern sector of the railroad. We love the look of that ore drag running in a westerly bent through Ironwood!
This image taken at Lilly showcases perhaps "one-third" of the western sector of the property. Doug is switching out Lilly and we can make out two of the three trestles bridging Brennan Gap.
The Rat Portage and Mattawa Railway is our secondary line as the Drover's caboose #215 indicates. The RP&M holds tight to the western fringe of the property.
It is a "bridge route" and I refer to it as a "renegade" railway seeing as the trackage "plays hooky" and sneaks out to the front of Fred's property for but a brief instance. The passenger train in the lower image will make a flag stop at Ferndale so named not for the lovely green ferns found in abundance - rather for Gord Bellamy's wife, Fern!
Gord was instrumental in the setting up of this secondary line. It is called the Rat Portage & Mattawa due to Gord's connections with Rat Portage found in the Lake of the Woods district. Check out the story regarding how Rat Portage took home Lord Stanley's Cup well over a century ago!
There you have it - Fred has managed to squeeze in two distinct railways onto his 100' x 100' foot property up here in the nation's capital.
The schematic showcases how the IPP&W is arranged to make maximum usage of the property often doubling back on itself. The much smaller RP&M line keeps crews very busy throughout an entire session while holding to the western front of the property. Please take note that at the beginning of the session, two IPP&W wayfreights depart from the eastern and the western terminals in opposing directions. Likewise, two wayfreights depart from Glen Hammond, near Nelson Yard located at the center of the railroad. They also leave in opposing directions. Along with the two RP&M trains that also commence operations at this time as well as the passenger run and the ore run and a couple of "hops" for the terminal crews, dispatch could have as many as eight trains running on the board at any given time. This is out of a total of some 23 or so trains which run each session.
Use this list to follow along the route of the IPP&W by referencing the above schematic.
The schematic appears again for the listing of place names on the RP&M Railway.
Use this list to follow along the route of the secondary line, the RP&M Railway by referencing with the above schematic once more.
Moe supplied me with this aerial drone shot of the property. Even though the large Nelson Yard located beneath the "Umbrella Trees" is situated on the western side of Fred's property, it is actually in the middle of the railroad when studying the schematic.
Many will wonder when we get to run trains in this northern climate of ours. We typically begin operations on the May Victoria Day long weekend when the flowers begin to bloom trackside. This is when the railroad perhaps is at its most colourful.
We run through to October's Thanksgiving weekend when some will argue that the railroad appears equally as colourful, in another sense of the word. If the autumn weather allows, we may sneak in a couple more sessions, but at some point we decide to put the railroad to bed for the long winter ahead. The structures all go into shelters and the track remains outdoors in preparation for a thick snowy blanket.
While there are but a small handful of locomotives, both steam and diesel, lettered in the IPP&W and RP&M colours, Fred doesn't mind the fact that we bring out our personal favourite diesels and steamers offering a plethora of colours in the diesel choices and a great diversity in the appearance of the steam locomotives.
Yes, we usually see twenty or so folks coming out for a session, young and old! The upper image is taken in the eastern sector of the railroad with Ironwood off in the distance near the fence, Spruce in the center and Cedar Rock where Paul is sitting. The lower image showcases the western front with Bell held tight to the fence with Glen Hammond and Nelson Yard off to the right.
Between standard and narrow gauge operations, we will see modern equipment one Saturday followed by older stock the next weekend. Both trains are eastbound with the diesels having departed Firgrove for Bell and with the steamer hauling tonnage through Bell.
While I love the great rainbows of colour in evidence when diesels are run displaying liveries of many North American railroads plying the route, I am equally thrilled to study the great diversity in evidence amongst the many steam locomotives which make an appearance every second Saturday!
All of our locomotives contain Lithium Ion batteries which we control remotely with our throttles as we walk along trackside to follow our trains. The upper image shows a steam locomotive plying the rails in an easterly direction through Ironwood. The lower images shows a Conrail unit entering the western throat of Nelson Yard at Bellamy.
We are proud to say that members of our group pioneered the use of battery power for train control many years ago which means that there is no wiring going to the tracks. This allows for ease of train operations.
Most of our members use the Revolution Series for their throttles. They have an easy to read screen. In the lower image you can see clearly that I have my D&H GP38 diesel #7316 dialed in. I haven't started the locomotive moving as of yet, but you can clearly see that my linkage is okay.
You may wonder how we uncouple the cars from our locomotives or from each other. Simple. We use screwdrivers! Some prefer the regular flat screwdriver while others prefer the Phillips choice.
I once worked with a gentleman named Philip Robertson...and no, he did not have a screw loose!
When you arrive Fred's property you are greeted by this wonderful rust garden...which is pretty much the only "true" garden on the property.
It is so named due to the fact that in the garden resides a number of rusty railroad relics hiding beneath the Siberian Irises, the hostas and the day lilies.
But...Fred will be the first to say, "This is not a garden railroad...it is a railroad that happens to be located in a backyard!" Certainly this is true, but the ferns and other "greenery" serve to offer up some wonderful natural backdrops for the trains to pass by. We are in Peter's Pond here. In the upper image we see an eastbound passenger train stopping at the station while my steam locomotive shoves three cars up the Cedar Rock branch. All of my setouts up there will be of the "facing" variety as there is no runaround capability at the far end of the branch. The lower images showcases Doug's lovely AB tandem on a different Saturday in the same location running west.
Fred and the rest of us will agree that...yes, most garden railroads are "roundy-rounds" but there is nothing wrong with that. We have a friend down in Picton who we visit when we tour down to Belleville to run Barry Birkett's wonderful railroad.
David simply loves to sit in his garden and watch the trains run along their two independent tracks with no switching to be done at all...and, his garden railroad is an inspiration telling the tale of what one man can do if he has a dream!
Our railroad is massive. Just like a long-necked dinosaur requires two brains in its body to exist, our railroad requires three hearts. For it's the classification yards which act as the heartbeat of the railroad delivering much needed traffic to all extremities and in between. I would like to take this time to thank all of our yardmasters, Bernie, Paul, George, Len, Garry, Henk, Doug and Bill for their efforts in running the yards on a regular basis.
The plaques on the fascia boards help new operators understand the place names and locations. Visitors learn more about the railroad when they know the names of the various towns and yard locations.
Douglas Yard is our easternmost yard named after my co-presenter, Doug Matheson. In the top photo we find Bernie acting as yard master on the day. This is perhaps the coolest area of the railroad situated in the shade. In the bottom photo we have our two Pats, Brewer and Brennan, operating a passenger train out from the easternmost section of the railroad, the passenger terminal area in Craig Leigh.
The wye in Craig Leigh allows crews to turn their locomotives. It does more than that. It allows the passenger crews arriving the eastern terminus to turn their entire train's consist in order to back into the passenger terminal. Finally, the ore train takes advantage of the wye as well, arriving Craig Leigh "engine first" and using the wye to back all of the ore cars onto the Northland Ore dock.
We find the engine house neighbourhood in both steam and diesel times. If you look off in the distance you will see the relevant passenger traffic over at the Craig Leigh passenger terminal.
Here is a cleaner look at the engine house tracks and an empty Northland Ore Dock pictured to the upper left. Mark has his hands full at a rather congested ore dock at a different time in the morning. He will depart shortly with the ore train of empties and will take the lower leg of the wye as he embarks on his westerly journey. Grant is pictured off in the distance near the wye area.
Operators arrive Fred's property with elaborate carrying cases. There are a number of locations around the railroad where the cases can be nestled up to the edge of the track to allow folks to drive their locomotive right out of the carrying case and straight onto the rails! Note the recessed grooves for the locomotive wheels in the carrying case to the left of the image.
We travel over to the westernmost point of the railroad in Firgrove. Firgrove is home to Ralph Yard named after the late Ralph Dipple. We catch Paul Anderson working the yard on this day with Bob off in the distance near the ore track. To the right we spot an eastbound passenger train ready to depart Firgrove after arriving a few moments earlier with a westbound which terminated here.
This begs the question, "How do we turn the locomotive if there is no wye?" Simple...an "armstrong" turntable. Note the yellow plastic guides in between the rail heads where the turntable will butt up to the track. These are slid between the rails once the operator turns the turntable ensuring perfect alignment of the track for the engine to resume its duties after rolling off the turntable.
We catch Lawrence installing a brand new turntable in Rat Portage, a town that previously had none. Lawrence built the turntable at home and installed it on one of our "Workday Wednesday" sessions when a half dozen operators typically meet to conduct various forms of maintenance on behalf of the railroad...from mowing the lawn to blowing leaves off the tracks to oiling the choke cables for the turnouts. New sidings which have been planned are created during these special work sessions on the Wednesdays.
The biggest heart on the railroad is the classification yard at Nelson. Known simply as Nelson Yard, it is nine tracks wide and is constantly in motion throughout a session.
Research tells us that a yard operating between 50% and 70% capacity is a well-oiled machine. Anything below 50% and you are not making enough money for the railroad. Anything above 70% and the yard becomes far too congested. Yes, these yards are colourful indeed and I try to snap a new image of them every 15 minutes or so in a session for the blog I create. Glen Hammond, pictured below, appears to be 100% full, but the image is misleading. For you see, the two nearest tracks are simply staging tracks in use just before the session is to begin. Once the start of the session is announced, these two trains head off in opposite directions. Sure, they may switch out Glen Hammond a bit before they depart, but the yard is then cleared to about 50% capacity.
Indeed, Nelson Yard is a meeting place of many operators. These meetings go on constantly throughout the session. Yes, ladies love running the trains just as much as the gentlemen do!
We scan the horizon to see Malcolm working Bell in the distance with that lovely new fence acting as a great-looking backdrop to the scene. Nelson Yard is in the foreground with Glen Hammond in the middle.
Remote sidings are necessary in two locations along the railroad where the distance between towns is very great. Without the sidings, the dispatcher would have to hold one train for a great deal of time while the opposing traffic plied the distant rails towards it. Having these remote sidings allows dispatch to keep both opposing trains moving with clearance only to the siding. Then the superior train will be granted authority to move ahead. The images above are of Watkins Siding named after our good friend, Lawrence Watkins. Watkins Siding is located between Bell and Peter's Pond, both western locations on the railroad with Peter's Pond being geographically situated on the eastern portion of the property. The siding hugs the back fence line.
This image is snapped at the eastern end of Watkins Siding looking west. Note how we have lengthened the siding along the fence and have added cross-overs. This allows the siding to be used as a "yard lead" for Bell off in the distance along the fence and out of sight. Chris Lyon suggested this change and we are sure glad he did!
The "new and improved" siding offers greater flexibility to dispatch in moving trains along the system more efficiently. If we examine the above image we can learn a bit about the superiority of these trains. The consist with the blue diesel is a passenger consist, the Pool Train. It "pools" power between the two railroad and shares (or pools) expenses and revenues...thus the term "Pool Train". All passenger trains are superior to wayfreights, so this train is granted clearance out from the siding first. This leaves the two opposing trains; both wayfreights. Eastbounds are superior to westbounds, which is basically the norm for North American railroading. The train at the foot of the image facing away from from us with the RS3 unit is eastbound, so he will be cleared out from the siding next. Finally, the distant wayfreight is a westbound and will be granted clearance on a slow order following the pool train into Bell.
Our other remote passing siding (Mercer Siding) is located close to the rear foundation of Fred's house. Yes, it is at ground level, but have no fear...the elevated turnout throws on the metal bar seen in the upper image allows for the crews to switch the turnout without having to bend down. Due to the proximity of Mercer Siding to the large Nelson Yard complex, the Nelson Yardmaster may often choose to hold an incoming eastbound train at Mercer Siding momentarily while he/she clears up any congestion in Nelson Yard. Trains will contact the yardmaster for clearance into the yard. The crews will also radio the dispatcher for a green signal to proceed.
All towns along the railroad have both a mainline and a passing siding but one, the town located up at the end of the Cedar Rock Branch. Here we are in Spruce where both images showcase trains travelling in the same direction holding meets. The upper image showcases two westbounds while the lower image finds two eastbounds in town.
In this instance, the ore drag would be the superior train as the passenger train is but a rare museum excursion run, stopped at the station to allow patrons to detrain and look around the area for a limited amount of time. This image was snapped on a "Workday Wednesday" morning during the pandemic when some of the gang simply had fun running whichever train met their fancy!
Let's examine opposing spurs in the towns. Imagine you are the crew aboard the blue, yellow and grey D&H locomotive. The triple dome tank car located just above the caboose would offer up a trailing move for the crew as it is located on the rear or trailing coupler of the locomotive. The BCOL green 40 foot boxcar on the siding against the wall at the blue industry is awaiting pickup by your crew. Your locomotive must travel around the other train in order to access the turnout into that industry (Brunt's Brewing - named for the late Ken Brunt). To enter the siding, the locomotive will travel headfirst in order to grab the car...therefore the car will now be on the "face" of the locomotive. This is a facing siding move. Having a combination of both trailing and facing sidings in the various towns creates greater operational challenges for the crews. Of course, the many sidings in the town offer "runaround" capability in order for the engine to meet up with cars in spur sidings from either end.
We find ourselves at the end of the Cedar Rock Branch which diverts from the mainline back down in the town of Peter's Pond. Seeing as there is no runaround track in Cedar Rock, all moves must be pre-determined before the crew departs Peter's Pond to head up the branch. In this case we are an eastbound train, so any cars that are to be set out at facing sidings up in Cedar Rock must be placed on the front of our engine and any cars destined for trailing sidings are placed on our rear coupler. The reverse would hold true of westbound traffic. Cedar Rock is "unforgiving" so you had better make sure you have determined your moves accurately before leaving the pond...or you would have to travel all the way back down the branch to ameliorate the situation! Yikes! (No 0-5-0 moves on our railroad - big grin!!!)
The town known as Mount St. Helens is the only location on the entire railroad (excepting Wellington Lake) where all the sidings face in the same direction. This makes for ease of switching and crews normally get their work accomplished here relatively quick.
Seeing as the IPP&W and the RP&M are shortline railroads, all general freights are considered to be wayfreights stopping at all or most of the "way" stations. The two images are taken at a special location known to locals as "The Rockery".
These wayfreights do not adhere to any timetable. We spot an eastbound just having climbed Clarke Grade and reaching the summit at the big curve leading into Spruce.
There are two mines along the railroad and two ore docks. The ore docks are located at the eastern and western terminals of the line (Craig Leigh and Firgrove) and the two mines are located at Ironwood and just adjacent to Nelson Yard.
Passenger trains head the seniority list above all other trains.
Eastbound trains are even numbered while westbounds are given odd numbers. Both of these images are shot at Bell located near the western end of the line.
As is the case throughout North America, eastbound traffic is superior to westbound traffic. When two trains of the same class meet in opposing directions the eastbound is granted first authority to move. In the upper image the ore train would be superior to a museum train. He is eastbound so he clears ahead of the museum excursion. In the bottom image, both trains are traveling in the same direction - westbound. The ore train would be superior to the wayfreight. Note that the wayfreight is still switching at Spruce. Even if he had managed to make it to the front of his train, the Rail Traffic Controller (Dispatcher) would have instructed him to hold in the siding for the imminent arrival of the ore train.
How do we determine who covers which assignments and with whom? Simple. Following the Saturday session, I send out a "crew call" e-mail to the group to learn of their intentions for the following Saturday's session. The crew has until Tuesday evening at midnight to respond. I then assign folks to the various trains and yards. I keep a spreadsheet of which train each participant has run and who they ran with in order to switch things up from week to week. By the end of the season, everyone will have run all of the trains and they will have crewed with everyone else. Yes, we are thankful for those who volunteer as yard operators and dispatchers. The list above is a "fictitious" one with fun names.
At this point in the operations, Doug Matheson took over and spoke to the role of dispatcher within an operating session. This is a vital job as it is the dispatcher's main goal to keep the railroad running in a smooth and safe manner...akin to an air traffic controller.
(My wife's cousin retired from his job as an air traffic controller in Gander and Ottawa. He moved from being a high school teacher to an air traffic controller. When I asked him why he switched from one stressful job to a "more stressful" job, his response was..."Mike, when I tell the pilot to climb to 32 000 feet, I hear "Yes Sir!" as my response." True story!)
The acronym CROR stands for "Canadian Rail Operating Rules". OCS means "Occupancy Control System". RTC refers to the "Rail Traffic Controller" and a TOP is a "Track Occupancy Permit".
Yes, over 200 communications take place between the Rail Traffic Controller (Dispatcher) and the train crews in any given session. As Doug so indicates, there is no time to write all these down on paper as is the case with the prototype. Doug reminds us that on the model railroad events happen much more quickly than on the real railroad due to the compressed main line distances between towns and sidings.
I am pictured in the image at the top left while Bill 'Sn3' Scobie is seen on the right. We are in the dispatch booth with our steel magneto board with the entire layout of the two railroads laid out in a linear fashion. All train movements out on the railroad are reflected on our board.
We find Doug in the dispatcher`s booth on another day with radio in hand (top right). He is communicating with Bob who is crewing the ore train out from Firgrove. All communication is repeated to ensure total understanding. Doug, Bill and I rotate our roles as RTC's or Rail Traffic Controllers on a three-week basis in the dispatch hut. While the correct Canadian term for the dispatcher is the RTC most folks commonly refer to us as dispatchers.
Doug will be the first to say that three things are "necessary" to keep our Rail Traffic Controllers happy. A comfy stool, windows that are openable and a "fan" to cool us down during the hot mornings of summer.
This is the view out the front of the dispatch booth through the closed windows. These are the only three locations the dispatcher can really see from his perch in the booth. That is Bell to the left, Glen Hammond ahead and Nelson Yard to the right. Crisp and exact communication allows the dispatcher to know what is going on across the entire system as he monitors his linear schematic.
While we do not have a system of signaling on our railroad as the real railroads have, we do have a grouping of four signals which control the junction movements where the both railroads meet and cross. The signals are controlled by this panel in the dispatch booth. The main power switch to turn on the signals is seen to the left. The four locations where trains would wait to cross the junction are listed above the switches. Note how all are red at the moment. There should only ever be one green signal given with all three others remaining red...or all four left as red. Never should you see two greens offered at a time. The "wait" locations are Nelson Yard, Bellamy, Mercer Siding and Rat Portage.
In this example, an eastbound that had been holding at Mercer Siding has been granted clearance through the junction. We credit and thank Steve and Seanna Watson for creating the signal system for us. While not based on any prototype, the signals offer a great safety feature for the railroad. Two other signals are found to the east which grant authority into and out from Craig Leigh. These are controlled by the Craig Leigh yardmaster.
We thank Doug for sharing with us in greater detail the important role of the Rail Traffic Controller (Dispatcher).
At this point in the presentation, Steve Watson took over to discuss storage of cars and the Train Master's role in setting up a session using the RailOps program. As you can see above, we are early in the morning pre-ops. Trays of cars have been brought out from their storage sheds with each tray holding five cars and a coloured card indicating which town the cars must be placed.
Likewise, at the end of a session, the cars are packed away in trays indicating their destination location from that morning's session. If all goes to plan, the place where they were "left off" is the same town location where they will begin their next session in two week's time...remembering we alternate between narrow gauge and standard gauge operations each week.
Here I am checking my "Car Set Out" list with my crewmate, Bryan. We are in Glen Hammond and we know that all of the cars in these trays are meant for this location as the card on the tray so indicates.
Let's examine the many lists Steve (and Lawrence on the other week) generate for a session using the RailOps program. The above Master List is a multi-paged one which Fred keeps at the crew lounge table. In the rare event that a certain rail car has made it on to the wrong tray (not placed in its proper tray from the previous session of that gauge) we simply bring the car to the crew lounge table and Fred is able to locate the car number quickly (as the list is in numerical order) and he can tell us where the RailOps program wants the car to be for the upcoming session.
Here is a closer look at a single page from the multi-page Master List.
The three yardmasters are also provided with lists for all the traffic they will encounter from pre-ops to post-ops and all things in between. This yardmaster has "X"d out each train once he knows it has been dealt with...his way of keeping control of matters.
This is the "Car Set Out" list which you saw me holding a few images previous to this one. A set out list is generated for each location on the railroad. Crews then know which industry or track to place any given car. Crews arrive early to set up the railroad in advance of an enjoyable and successful session.
The "Train Orders" list tells the crews which cars are in their consist and the ones they must "set out" and "pick up" in the various towns as they journey across the railroad.
The most important line on the train order list all crews must check before leaving any town location is the "Cars Out" line at the bottom of their orders for that town. A quick count of the cars on their train will verify the fact and ensure that all appropriate switching has been completed in that town.
We thank Steve for sharing with us the lists generated by the RailOps program!
Once all of the cars are in place, the bell is rung and we make our way to the crew lounge for the pre-ops safety briefing. Here Pete Conroy visiting from Wolfville, Nova Scotia rings the bell to announce the meeting is about to begin.
Safety first is our motto...but having fun is too!
There are changes in elevation at some locations around the railroad, so striping warns operators and visitors to be mindful in their movements around the property.
How about we take a final tour around the two railroads starting with Craig Leigh in the east on the IPP&W. A trio of diesels await their assignments outside the engine house while a passenger train gets underway out from the easternmost terminal of the line.
I am having fun on another day taking a passenger run west as I bypass Douglas Yard. Meanwhile, a crew is backing their steam locomotive onto a train recently made up by the Craig Leigh yardmaster in Douglas Yard. They will radio dispatch for clearance to the next town to the west; Mount St. Helens.
We spot the ore train taking the lower leg of the wye upon its departure from the Northland Ore Dock in Craig Leigh. Bill and Mark have some switching to conduct at Northland before departing town. Their signal remains red just beside Mark in the distance. The spur siding to the left adjacent to the fence is the interchange track for Doug's Northland Railroad.
Out from Craig Leigh, the first town we encounter is Mount St. Helens. Note the two trains in the upper image, one on the station track (the main) and the other on the passing siding. Mount St. Helens has all its sidings facing the same direction and Mark's children find joy in running a passenger train into Mount St. Helens on a non-operating day.
Yes, the eastern front of the railroad is the shadier end. On really warm summer mornings operators appreciate hanging around the east end. The lower image demonstrates the lovely rural "countryside" scenery found between Mount St. Helens and Ironwood to the west.
Arriving Ironwood crews expect to meet other crews. In a case of "I'll scratch your back if you'll scratch mine!" crews are encouraged to assist each other with their facing moves whenever possible. This will allow both crews to complete their assignments quicker and be on their way in their separate directions.
The Ironwood Brick facility in the upper photo is the location of one of the two mines on the railroad. While the ore train will have no problem switching out the mine when the spur is of a trailing nature, dispatch will often ask an IPP&W wayfreight to lift the ore cars and place them on the siding in town for the arrival of the ore train if the move is of a facing nature.
Out from Ironwood, crews navigate a large curve and enter Spruce, so named for the spruce trees found there.
We thank Malcolm for this lovely low-angle shot of a passenger train arriving the depot in Spruce.
Bernie managed to purchase this station for the club from a gentleman who had built it. He did a wonderful job as it is an accurate large scale representation of the station in Gananoque, a location about an hour's drive from Ottawa down near the St. Lawrence River.
While I am the dispatcher on this day, I sometimes like to run from my booth to railfan the line. Here I am snapping an image for the blog I keep on our operations. Moe is hauling the pool train into Spruce as Pat has his train protected in the siding with his lovely Ney York Central endcab holding honours on this day.
Out from Spruce it is a rather long run over to the western end of the railroad. Our passenger train above has just cleared Blockhouse and the pedestrian crossing nearby the dispatch hut and is ascending the grade over Brennan Gap. Ahead, the crew will lean into the big curve at Lilly and change direction to cross the gap once more before heading into Glen Hammond.
These two images showcase that big curve at Lilly. We are now well into the western sector of the railroad. Nelson Yard is spotted easily, the location with great activity. That's Bell over by the fence in the bottom image and Bellamy to the lower right.
We spot a centercab switching the industries at Lilly as it rides atop the Lawrence Watkins Trestle. Blockhouse stands sentinel over the entire scene.
The wayfreights enter Nelson Yard. The above image was "staged" by our friend, Andrew. In the lower image, yardmaster Henk is teasing the Rail Traffic Controller indicating that he already has enough traffic in the yard at the moment...all in good fun!
Located adjacent to the big yard at Nelson is the Fallentree Mine that offers up some interesting lading, for sure! But, who would name a mine, the "Fallentree Mine"?
We would of course! This enormous coniferous tree came crashing down during a rather fierce windstorm one day in the fall. Fortunately, our season was now over and no one was running trains in a session at the time. Fred has indicated that he was out in the backyard with a couple of mates when the tree came crashing down...causing very little damage to his house as the tree slid down over the corner of the roof! Yikes!!!
Our passenger trains bypass Nelson Yard and head directly to Glen Hammond for a station stop. There is a house track where the Pool Train will have some work at this central location along the line.
(Not too sure why a caboose is residing on the house track at this point in time as typically the traffic on the house track is of the headend variety.)
As mentioned earlier, Glen Hammond is a yard, but the two tracks to the left are designated "staging" tracks for two trains running in opposite directions from the center of the railroad to the two extremities located in the distant east and distant west... getting underway as soon as the session begins. Simultaneously, two trains from the eastern and western terminals depart toward the center of the railroad. Train meets will occur either at the remote sidings or along the passing sidings found in the various towns.
The junction is an active location on both railroads. Here is where dispatch controls all movements in lieu of a true "tower operator". The railroad signals govern this busy location. The yellow colours in the low growth foliage in the lower image indicates an early spring session.
Crossing the junction we find ourselves at Mercer Siding. We spot Garry controlling the turnout at the far end to allow his train into the siding for a meet with an opposing train.
From Mercer, it is on into Peter's Pond. This image captures Chris running his CN Geep. Chris custom painted and lettered his locomotive as none of the large scale companies offers up a Geep in the wet noodle scheme. Note the branch line departing the main and curving up to Cedar Rock.
The upper image shows my train returning to Peter's Pond having worked Cedar Rock at the end of the branch. All of my lifts were from the facing sidings up there as all four cars are on the rear coupler of my locomotive. Cedar Rock houses some fascinating industries including one named for Steve and Seanna Watson! There's Bruce's "Chandler's Sludge Works" which grabs our attention every time we are up in Cedar Rock!
Yes, operators enjoy the shade the trees offer in this area of the railroad. Pat and Paul enjoy the shade in the top image. Lower down, Chris's CN Geep is sandwiched between two cars on either end indicating he had work on both trailing and facing sidings.
We spot the crusher and aggregates siding in the top picture and the Chandler's Sludge Works once again in the lower picture. We thank Bruce Chandler for creating this most creative and humorous of structures found on the layout.
Our journey continues west out from Peter's Pond. After we tunnel beneath Mount St. Helens, we find ourselves in a verdant location known simply as "The Corners" in the southeast corner of Fred's property. The dappled shade allows for interesting images of the trains passing through the forested landscape. The track in the lower image to the right is the continuous run loop which we never use. If ever there is an open house, rather than run a single train on the loop with no other cars spread around the railroad, the operators prefer to come and assist in the open house by running an actual operating session with all freight cars involved! Much more fun for all!
Out from "The Corners" we reach Wellington Lake located along the fence line of the property. For a westbound train such as the one in the upper image, switching out Wellington Lake is a simple matter as the siding is a trailing one. For an eastbound train, the crew has to take the siding at Watkins, run around its train to get on the set out cars before dropping them in on the facing siding. If there are any lifts for this crew, they would have to place them ahead of the caboose tucked into their consist from the end of their train...still even more moves. Fortunately for the ore train pictured above, there is no switching here. The crew is simply running through!
Indeed, a low angle shot showcases the drama of railroading as evidenced in the above image.
Reaching Bell, we meet the crew aboard the secondary railroad, the RP&M. The western end of Bell is the location where the two interchange tracks exist. Chances are very high here that you will meet another train...or two or even three!
A quick peek at the two interchange tracks with a capacity of 16 freight cars.
From Bell, it is a simple matter of ascending the grade at "The Ledges" and terminating your run in Firgrove. In both images the upper track is owned by the IPP&W and the lower track, the RP&M. The RP&M actually tunnels beneath the length of Firgrove before heading out front and returning to the backyard at Rat Portage. In the lower image you can see a number of cars located on the interchange tracks.
I love the upper photo where I managed to photograph someone else who was photographing my locomotive! The lower image showcases Ralph Yard sandwiched between Firgrove off to the left along the fence and Rat Portage to the right hugging the foundation of Fred's home.
In this image, Steve and Seanna are returning with their RP&M train through the junction at the location known as Bellamy.
Here we are in Rat Portage. Crews on the RP&M are kept just as busy as crews on the much larger IPP&W. Note the triple meet choreographed by dispatch in the lower image.
We always look forward to our BBQ lunch following the operating session. Moe is our Master Chef!
Before the pandemic stuck, we would hold a very special weekend called the "Invasion of Friends" weekend where visitors from all over the eastern United States, Quebec and Ontario and as far away as the UK would travel up to Ottawa to run trains with us. This turned into a four to five day event where two days were spent running trains at Fred's (standard gauge then narrow gauge), and one day each at Doug Matheson's, Barry Birkett's in Belleville followed by a visit to the live steamers in upstate New York. Indeed, these weekends were the highlight of the operating season!
I have added a few extra images for your delight. The upper shot at the rockery remains a favourite of mine. The smiles on the faces of the lads tells us that running trains at Fred's is always so much fun!
You've gotta love those diminutive endcab switchers as we find Moe up in Cedar Rock. The CN crew is round the bend at Lilly with that lovely green landscape offering up a great environment for the trains to run through.
There's nothing more exciting than a unit train plying the rails or a lovely large steam locomotive hauling a classic passenger train!
Is it "The Canadian" on IPP&W rails? Sure looks nice! Is Henk conducting some weeding or is he switching out Spruce? Too much fun! At any rate, Steam remains supreme!
Diesel lovers will beg to differ with the steam aficionados telling them that their diesels can be "just as colourful" and full of personality when diesels delight!
We all feel at home when we are at Fred's...it's just that great a place to be! That's me railfanning Garry's train at Bell along the fence. Glen Hammond is to the left. The dispatch hut roof required addressing and Father Fred tells us it has been replaced by a new one!
As the man-made and the natural elements combine to work as a team, Fred's backyard has become a place of wonder.
Indeed, everything mentioned above is the absolute truth!
While Fred doesn't run the trains, he is often spotted near the RIP Track. Indeed, it is "Repair In Place" for Fred who deals with issues right away. Quick fixes by Fred get back into the action in no time at all!
As for me, I own three large scale locomotives and have no room for any more as my crew lounge is full! Some of our members own a dozen or more! My HO scale Boston and Maine/Maine Central layout enjoys sharing part of the crew lounge with this trio of darlings!
Indeed, thank you so much for taking the time to read through this entire blog entry. It was a joy putting the CARM presentation on with my good friends from the OVGRS, Doug Matheson and Steve Watson. Thank you Doug and Steve!
Yes, we truly appreciate the fact that such an amazing railroad exists in our nation's capital!
None of this could happen without the dream Fred had as a youngster.
It is such a joy for us to experience Fred's joy in realizing his dream of having a truly operational railroad in his backyard and we are all the better for it!
All the best, Mike Hamer, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
