Pics From Session #13 From Pat & Dilip

Pat's Pics From Session #13

Pat & Dilip kindly sent me some images from our most recent operating session at Fred's.

This was Session #13 when the standard gauge fleet were the actors in the play.

I was away in Nova Scotia and couldn't attend (obviously) so thanks to Pat & Dilip for the pics!

Enjoy the show!

A crowd of operators assemble around the lounge for Father Fred's speech.

Fred is at the head table delivering his talk.

The crew is very attentive.

More angles from the meeting.

We bid farewell to Henk who will be on his way back to The Netherlands for the remainder of the season.

We will miss you Henk!

Dilip hangs out with Doug by the dispatch cabin.

He'll be running Train 303 out from Glen Hammond with Keith - who you see to the left.

And...here is the image Dilip snapped of Pat taking an image of him!

Off in the background Seanna readies her train in Glen Hammond - Train 304 bound for the eastern front of the railway.

One more Pat pic just for fun!

We spot Al Trask 'tasked' with running the large Nelson Yard under the direction of Henk & Bill.

We see one of the Pat's at the east end of Ironwood - as both Pats worked the Ironwood Switcher job on this day.

George is spotted bringing Train 40 into Bell in the early hours of the morning.

This train is the Firgrove/Bell Hop and will be numbered 41 on its return to Firgrove.

Claire has joined Seanna & Steve as they work Spruce aboard eastbound IPP&W Train 304.

Phil is spotted in Ironwood aboard westbound 301.

Note the two switching locomotives working Ironwood.

Phil will have blocked his setouts back in St. Helens.

The Ironwood Switcher crew will assist him with his lifts.

Gerry is underway out from the Spruce Depot with Passenger 2.

A different viewpoint of the same situation.

Both Pats assist the crew of 304 with their setouts and lifts here in Ironwood under the shade of the umbrella trees!  😎😁😎

Upon 304's arrival in town, 301 is now set to head west to Spruce with Phil in command.

The two Pats discuss their next moves as a westbound IPP&W train carrying an RP&M van sits on the main in Ironwood.

Father Chris and daughter Olivia work the Cedar Rock siding aboard eastbound 302 as westbound 303 holds along the Peter's Pond siding in the lower Pond area.

Bill is found doing his stretches...or is he holding up the Fallentree Mine?

Ore cars are being handled following a 'service interruption' with their train.

The cars may be a tad light and may require extra ballast!

Off in the distance Jeff, Craig & Joanne work RP&M Train Rat 61, the Nelson Yard/Glen Hammond transfer run.

Billy Boy offers a wave to our readership - a readership which numbers nearly 2000 per day!

Bob is performing a gymnastics routine in search of derailed cars below St. Helens!

Yikes!

Video of Bob's ore train carrying more than ore!

It reminds me of ants carrying injured ants back to their anthill!

Thanks to Pat & Dilip for sending along these great images from Session #13.

The last video was courtesy of Dilip who sent many more videos my way.

I will create another blog entry with his many videos over the next day or so.

All the best, Mike

We are the OVGRS of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Pat's Pictures From Barry's Session in Belleville

Pat's Pics from Barry's & Bonnie's in Belleville

Pat kindly sent along images he snapped from the trip up to Belleville this past Friday.

Barry hosted the Ottawa group along with others for the session.

As always the railroad and its surrounding gardens look fantastic.

Thanks to Barry for assisting with the captioning of the images.

   This is the crew sign-in for Part One trains. 

The following words are Barry's.

They are outbound trains from Belleville (3 trains), Belleville (3 trains), and Trista Centre (2 trains) for a 10-train operation.

Barry sets up the crew list in advance just as we do up here in Ottawa.

 There were people from Alberta (Grant Smith), Pennsylvania (Tom Legel), New York (Eric and Diane Belusar), and of course, Belleville, Brighton, Trenton, Kingston and of course, the Ottawa club. 

Noticeably, there were many blank spaces, as I deleted the names as the "sorry, I can't come after all," right up until people were arriving. 

Most had very good reasons, although a couple didn't show up. 

Like you, I had to do some shuffling of the names, and we had a great operating session. 

The rains stayed away until well after everyone left.

Barry is 'all smiles' as he will experience a great session with great model railroad friends!

The blue skies add to the enjoyment for sure!

The warning on Barry's shirt read, "Warning -  the wearer might suddenly break out talking about trains!"

Apparently we have a 'newbie' to running trains captured in this image.

Barry goes on to say:

I believe it is Chris Lyttle, Joe Naismith's brother-in-law, from Syracuse, NY, who had never seen a garden railroad, but helped fill one of the blank spots, and did really well at it. 

The train #801 was switching out cars with Grant Smith at Orleans yard.

It's great to see Grant (from Alberta) make it all the way to Barry's for the session.

We see Eric Belusar off in the background.

Moe Cote is seen with operator Eric Belusar.

Interestingly, their trains are in opposite directions across the "valley".

The umbrellas certainly keep the crew cool.

Jeff is looking off to the east as Pat Brewer & Tom Legel work Cumberland.

Jeff's train must be off in the distance as he continues to follow its flow.

Barry tells us that the two lads off in the background are Ted Darby from Yarker (Kingston Club) and David Smith from Brighton.

Grant has passed by Hayes Fuels and advances to Trista Centre.

This train reaches the bypass track.

With Joe in the background, the train was about to set out a car in along the (Joe) Naismith Logistics siding.

I notice a new walkway here.

 Barry tells us that he had to rebuild the railway along the fence (Belleville Station, etc.) and renew the walkway. 

Note the beautiful black trestle built by Ted Darby for the new passenger train, Bonnie's Passenger Service, which crosses the main line just to the west of the little church. 

If you magnify the picture, you can see the red light on the signal tower that warns outgoing trains from Belleville station to yield to the passenger train as it comes around the curve in front of the tree. 

The light goes out after the passenger train has left. 

Barry mentions that it is his only electrification on the railroad.

This train exits the bypass with its sights on Cumberland.

The train here is headed for Belleville after passing Sandra Bypass, Naismith Logisitics and Wendy Willows Farm. 

Behind, you can see the dedicated passenger line, and further beyond that, the outlet from Belleville Station.

Bonnie's gardens make for a delightful setting as Jeff's wife, Janis, visits the railway.

The wye allows crews to take the closest leg and head toward Ottawa Yard while we see Belleville off in the distance.

Barry goes on to say that the turning wye serves both the Ottawa and Belleville Stations. 

In the corner are the houses which will become the village of Quinte West. 

The QW yard in next, and then Belleville Station which reaches to the "diamond" to the east. 

The turntable at Quinte West was removed, releasing the real estate for the new village.

We are at the old location known as West Ben.

This entire area was totally revised, as all the trackage from West Ben - Cora's Corners (Darby Corners) was totally rebuilt from the ground up after some of the decking's supports failed.

 The near side of wye leads from Ottawa to Orleans, while the far line serves the passenger line on its way to Orleans from Belleville Station. 

So the wye serves as a double interchange as well as turning the locomotives. 

It took some careful design, after several failed iterations.

Grant is in Ottawa Yard have either terminated a train or possibly about to make up one.

Ottawa and Belleville are the two main terminals, just like Firgrove and Craig Leigh are in Ottawa. 

Trista Centre could be similar to Nelson Yard. 

The only interaction with the freight lines are at the "diamond," east of Belleville station. 

Therefore, trains are made up at each of those three locations, and upon arrival at their destination, leave there cars for the yardmasters, if there are any, just like in Ottawa OVGRS.

Ottawa Yard with a train ready to depart.

Barry goes on to say:

 Judging by the cars, this would be a return train, being made up for the trip to Belleville from Ottawa. 

On second thought, I believe they were ready to be returned to the staging yard. 

Our friends from Ottawa were beginning the returning of cars to the staging yard under the deck.

I am very thankful for the help returning the cars, as I don't normally have anyone helping that process, which by myself, can take an hour or more.

More views of Ottawa Yard.

The lads are in the process of returning all of the cars to staging underneath Barry's deck.

Pat managed to snap this image of a military aircraft circling Belleville as we are close by the air base at Trenton, Ontario.

Thanks Pat for the pics and thanks Barry for hosting the group.

And, on behalf of Barry - a great big note of thanks for those who took the time to make it up to Belleville to partake in this wonderful operating session in such an oasis of a back yard!

All the best, Mike

Workday Wednesday August 26th

Workday Wednesday August 26th

While I was climbing above the clouds in one mode of transport Wednesday morning, the WDWD crew were conducting track work on another mode of transport.

The lads arrived and 'got down to business' in replacing the shorter track turnouts in Spruce with longer ones.

This effectively eliminated a terrible S-curve leading into the yard there.

Here are Bernie's words my way.

Hi Mike. A couple of photos of the work we did Wednesday. There was a good turnout: Henk, Bill, Chris, Pat, Pat and Bernie.

Short story is; we replaced the switches at Spruce. Long story; Pat Brewer asked me the previous day if I planned to tackle Spruce. I said no, but on Wednesday Chris asked if we were going to replace the switches. He said if we had no time restrictions, lets get at it. He grabbed a nail puller and said: "Let's start pulling nails". So, we completed the job with some measuring, cutting and adjusting. Chris and I did the two long switches and Billy came over and lent hand. He did the rail cutting for us. 

While this was going on, Henk and Pat Brewer were busy doing yard work. Pat Brennan had been hired by Fred to test steamer PRR&W 15. When we were happy with our work at Spruce, we asked Pat to run the steamer through the switches. For the most part, it navigated okay. We then got some cars and pushed them through. There was wobbling, so we had some filing and minor adjustments to make. At the end of the day, we were all quite happy with the outcome, including father Fred who did the final thumbs up. 

I have attached a few photos, but it is rather difficult to notice the difference where the two long switches are.  One thing to notice is that CHANDLER FUELS now comes off the SWITCHING LEAD. We looked at running it off the mainline siding, but there is quite a height difference. 

Chris is starting to pull the nails.

First switch is installed and preparing the install of the second switch.

Pat Brennan.

Taking photos and test driving a locomotive.

Chris eyeballing the alignment.

The gang's all here.

Fred's doing his QA check.

"All good!" he said.

A close up of the yard showing Charlie's Fuels coming off the switching lead.

Next job is over at Craig Leigh.

While the lads were just waking up for their WDWD assignment I was already at the airport at 6:00 AM.

We see the sun rising in the east as I walk to my gate.

Here is my jet which will take me to Halifax, Nova Scotia.

We flew out on Runway 2-5 in a westerly direction and then banked to the south.

Chris & Lela Lyon picked us up at the airport in Halifax.

Video of the plane flying around the globe at the Halifax airport.

We went out for lunch in Port William just outside of Wolfville where Chris snapped this shot of me with the tide having fallen in the distance.

Just one hour earlier the tide had been up.

Love the Chevy pickup!

Cool!

I visited with our good friend, Pete Conroy, where I saw his mill in action with water flowing!

Bee-you-tea-full Pete!

Video of Pete's 'large scale' working mill!

Pete Conroy snapped this photo of Lisa & me down at the waterfront in Wolfville where we celebrated her mom's 100th birthday.

That is Cape Blomidon in the background behind my left shoulder.

Thanks to Bernie for the photos of the WDWD crew in action at Spruce.

In my next posting I will send photos Pat Brennan sent my way from his visit to Barry's and Bonnie's up in Belleville.

Then I will create a post from this past Saturday's session at Fred's place!

We are the WDWD crew of the OVGRS up here in Ottawa, Ontario where our beloved Canadian province will always be called Ontario!