Pat's Views From Session #5
Yesterday Pat ran trains along the Rat Portage & Mattawa Railway.
This railway interchanges traffic with the Ironwood, Peter's Pond & Western at Glen Hammond and in the town of Stuart to the west of Bell.
The railway heads into the 'wilds' of northern Ontario.
And by using the term 'wilds' we really mean it!
Pat's train encountered a not so minor 'service interruption' between Rat Portage & the Ferndale flagstop!
This is the area of the railway which pierces the fence line and heads out to the front of Fred's property.
Typically an inspection occurs before the train ops to determine if any fallen twigs or larger branches have fallen across the line...or even some fern leaves that could derail a train.
We believe that no track inspection was conducted in this remote area of the line on this day!
Here is what Pat wrote about the incident:
Here is a shot of my newly acquired Annie, Pontiac Pacific Junction number 10, derailed into the ferns just north of Rat Portage. Note the tender went so far it's hidden by the ferns. Fortunately Steve lent me his Annie while Fred repaired the coupler on the tender of number 10 which was damaged during the derailment. I was able to run number the locomotive later on the latter part of train 63.
Alas, the crew were eventually able to make their way up to Stuart and conduct their moves successfully.
Following their work at Stuart they will turn their locomotive on the turntable and head back to Nelson Yard.
Mark is Pat's crewmate on RP&M Train 71.
Their return train will be RP&M 72.
Here is what Pat wrote:
Here is a photo of Mark Christopher working with me at Stuart yard on train 71. The first part of 71 was conducted by Doug Matheson.
In the background Felicity & Chris are ascending the grade between Bell & Firgrove at the location known as "The Ledges".
Their crew and the RP&M crew were able to work in close proximity in the big yard located at Bell/Stuart as there exists a parallel yard ladder for each railway.
Pat's video taken at Stuart.
Pat took this image of Steve unloading his locomotive from its carrying case onto a track at Nelson Yard.
Steve, Seanna & Claire will run the other RP&M trains on this day.
A trio of power is found early in the morning at the west end of Nelson Yard.
Steve's locomotive has now been freed from its carrying case and is ready and able to perform as it should for the Rat Portage & Mattawa Railway as witnessed in this video offered up by Pat.
Pat sent along this final image of himself along with these words:
I finish with a picture of my daughter Emily on my lap
behind my Pearl drum kit in our basement in 1994. At some
point in the near future I will get my grandson Owen, Emily's
son, to take the same pose.
Thanks Pat for the great pics...small in number by huge in quality! 💗👍👌👍💗
I will tag on to Pat's wonderful images and videos with a few of my own from the session.
To the right above you can see the double ladder whereby the two distinct railways can work this district of the line independent of themselves.
We thank Nelson Yardmaster Henk for coming up with this fine idea a few summers ago now!
Busy Bell on video!
Here is an RP&M way freight in the foreground at Stuart as Passenger 1 gets underway out from Bell.
With all the turnouts set correctly the two trains can run apart from each other in a safe manner.
Train 1 is on IPP&W trackage in the background and the tail end of the Drovers' caboose is on RP&M rails at Stuart.
We bid a bon voyage to the passengers who will detrain at Firgrove.
Many will head on to further passenger runs which will take them to the Ontario/Manitoba border and beyond to western Canada.
Remember, the RP&M is a 'bridge route' as is the IPP&W! 😋😎😋
Video action taken near this interchange point between the two railways.
Pat is lining up the turnouts for his RP&M train...
...while Felicity does the same for her IPP&W run.
Video of the two crews working side by side and staying out of each other's way.
Here we see again Pat & Phil checking out the nose area of the steam locomotive Pat is holding onto.
Malcolm is sandwiched between the two Doug's pre-ops.
Both Doug's arrived super early to set out equipment.
Moe & Bob have found a seat for the pre-ops meeting.
The area in and around Peter's Pond is filled with lush green foliage.
Paul has his hands full over in Craig Leigh!
As Douglas Yardmaster, Paul controls all of the happenings in and around the yard on the eastern front of the railway.
The cattle have returned from their winter hibernation!
These next three images showcase the vibrant colour tones in the freight cars of long ago.
Three reefers adorn the spur track at the Norton Fishery.
The Pelkola Packers siding has its grasp on four reefers of varying colour tones.
The Wellington Lake siding is no slouch when it comes to vibrancy!
Moe enjoys these low angle views...and I've managed to snag just this one of his train, number 302, now steaming along the trackage in Peter's Pond.
The crew will be working up the Cedar Rock Branch and they are now in the process of putting their train together in proper order to head up that way.
The Norton Fishery spur and the team track both contain traffic at the moment.
To the right of the image you can see the beginnings of the Cedar Rock Branch as it curves to the north (geographical south).
The crew must pull some more cars from their train which will ride the front of the locomotive.
This cars will be dropped off at a trailing siding along the branch as the locomotive will ride the rails 'tender first' up the line.
302's movements are captured on video!
I manage to find Passenger 1 taking to the high bridge atop Goodie's Gulch.
Engineer Bill is in the driver's seat...and that's a good thing because he actually has the license to drive a real steam locomotive!
Video of Bill's approach into the Glen from Spruce.
The IPP&W crew is found up in Cedar Rock at the end of the branch.
They pass by the Chandler's Sludge facility.
Cedar Rock as captured on video.
After lifting cars from the Ironwood Brick Mine, the ore is on the move east to St. Helens and on into Craig Leigh.
The OVAR car breezes by the videographer!
The tail end escapes Ironwood's gravitational pull and will soon orbit nearby St. Helens.
The ore train is on the march eastward in this video campaign.
This week we had so many operators that we assembled triple person crews.
Typically one of the three members sits off a trick and the workload gets shared amongst the threesome over the three train runs...but it seems everyone enjoyed themselves and chose to remain as a trio for the duration of the session.
There may have been some congestion at certain choke points on the railroad, but I didn't hear of any complaints!
In the two above images showcasing the meet of third trick trains 323 and 322 down in Peter's Pond, we spot the trio of Dilip, Jeff & Al aboard the westbound 323 and Malcolm, Doug & Phil aboard eastbound 322.
As I pan around with my camera I see train crews everywhere!
Video efforts highlighting our triple crews.
The Ironwood Brick Mine managed to fill five hoppers with ore on this day!
This Hosta I planted a season or so ago has really taken off!
You should see its mother plant in my backyard!
Indeed he is!
Why it's Grant with Mr. Scobie!
This dispatcher loves triple meets!
This means that the railway is running effectively...keeping traffic moving at all times!
They later make their way through the junction to switch out the trailing spurs at Anderson.
Through the junction they proceed.
The crew will cut away from their caboose momentarily.
While back at Bell passenger train Number 3 will get underway at any moment.
Junction video!
Proceeding across the junction trackage.
No, I'll never be a Grandpa as both of my daughters are 'career women'! 😄😃😎
"Mooo-ving" along with Elsie the cow!
Across the valley the passenger train starts its climb up to Firgrove.
More junction action as captured on video.
Train action from two different railway crews.
We bid farewell to the passenger train as it nears Firgrove while the RP&M crew works Anderson.
Final video for this entry showcasing the crew at Anderson.
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Thanks for checking in on this blog entry!
And...thanks once again Pat for this great historic image of you & your lovely daughter Emily!
Finally, thanks to Freddie for continuing to be such a great host to us all!
I'm sure there will be another blog entry later this week...but let's get through Canada Day first...as I have a huge musical performance to participate in on this festive of days.
It's an outdoor event and with the humidity climbing to 41 degrees Celsius...I may just lose a few pounds in sweat alone!
We are the OVGRS of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
