A Visit to Session #17

Let's Pay a Visit to Session #17

Twenty-One folks descended on Fred's backyard to enjoy train operations for the 17th time this season,

We had a sufficient number of operators to run the Ironwood Switcher as well.

Paul was thrilled to see Douglas Yard re-leveled.

Dara was happy to be running his new passenger cars.

Craig & Joanne were wonderful in crewing a train for the first time with no other crew member keeping the railway running smoothly!

Photos in this entry come from an amalgam of Bernie's, Pat Brennan's & Mike's efforts.

 We start this entry off with the bell ringing - bringing the session to order.

In this previously seen "scene" Joanne has the honours on this day.

Thanks to Bernie for sending along this photo among others you will see.

And here we spot Joanne & Craig working their second trick of the morning; Train 313 at Spruce.

They have run around their train and are either about to work the facing sidings or they may have just finished their work here and are putting their train back in order to head west for Nelson Yard.

Mike (that's me) & Robin hold down the switcher job at Ironwood.

The yard here is long and somewhat wide and demands two people with one stationed in the south aisle by the fence and the other in the north aisle between Ironwood & Spruce.

Thanks to Bernie for these first few images.  

You will see more from him later!

These next few images come from Pat's camera.

We are at the pre-ops briefing with all members dressed warmly on this somewhat chilly morning.

Pat captured me in silhouette mentioning about a potential trip up to Picton to assist David Pinkerton with his layout.

Yes, the gloves and hot tea work in tandem to keep my 'guitar' hands sufficiently warm!

When the session manages to get underway we spot Bill throwing a turnout to enable Pat to retrieve the ore cars from the Fallentree Mine.

The rising sun has warmed Bill sufficiently that he no longer requires his jacket.

Note the passenger train passing by on the main.

This would be Passenger 1 setting its sights on Glen Hammond where there is typically a meet with Passenger 2.

Pat tells us that the sun is working hard to keep us warm as passengers reach Glen Hammond.

At the bottom of the frame we spot three cars in Nelson yard already tagged for a train to be built later in the morning.

Thanks for these great looking pics, Pat.

We will check in on more of your photos later in this entry!

I had a bit of fun in the dispatcher's cabin!

Because Bernie asked to dispatch, I set up the various train indicators to spell out the shortened version of his name.

The black indicators represent the westbound trains while the white ones cover the eastbounds.

Here is the Bernie Man himself.

He handled the dispatch duties in a professional manner and all trains managed to be kept safely apart from each other!

Unfortunately his beloved Ottawa Redblacks CFL football team didn't meet with as much success later in the afternoon.

Bernie attended that game and the team lost its 14th game of the season - with no wins as of yet!  Yikes!

We are still early in the morning with the lads and lasses setting out  equipment.

This shot covers Glen Hammond and Nelson Yard with a touch of Bell to the left.

We are now starting our operations at 10:00 AM seeing as we have reached the fall season.

In summer we begin running the two railways at 9:00 AM.

The autumn mornings offer up a bit of a chill...thus the later start.

The cars are all in place at Spruce and Bill will bring out the depot in short order.

Across the aisle from Spruce we see the Watson Electric facility and Chandler's sludge off in the distance in the town of Cedar Rock.

A lone tankcar is spotted at the elevated facility which makes up a portion of the Chandler's Sludge organization.

We find ourselves at the north end of the town of Cedar Rock where heavy rock and coal facilities are located.

Here is my view during the pre-ops meeting.

Fred has spoken and Bernie has provided the safety briefing.

Bill once again has the most interesting of T-Shirts on...the Dambusters.

I once watched a documentary on the Dambusters.

Bill tells me that I should also take in the movie.

The film came out in 1955 and was acclaimed by critics who praised its acting, its superlative special visual effects and its soundtrack.

Whoa!!! Where did this puppy come from?

Talk about special visual effects...this is one for the ages!

Apparently it was Grant who brought this locomotive out for the session.

I didn't catch this little guy running seeing as Robin & I were pretty much 'anchored' in Ironwood...but this orange celebrity certainly is an 'attention grabber'!

Grant was assigned to Train 302 spotted on the right.

He & Dilip will be riding eastward at any moment.

Our Ironwood switch crew is 'right at it' lifting cars from the freight shed and other industries.

This traffic will be bound for westward heading Train 301 and eastbound Train 304.

Passenger 1 drifts by as the switch crew pays no heed...focused on their task at hand.

They constantly ensure that the main line is free as they work the industries to the north of the main.

Number One arrives the depot on the big curve to the west of Ironwood.

Robin obviously consulted with the "Ironwood Umbrella Factory" as to which colour of jacket to don on this day.

Bill radios dispatch for clearance out from Ironwood and into Spruce.

Hey...his cap and this other umbrella must've been communicating with each other as well!  😎

Some video views from Ironwood.

Doug & Pat have arrived town aboard 301.

They will be lifting a stock car and a hopper car.

They will be setting out the gondola and boxcar you see on the main.

Before departing town the crew will assemble the two stockcars as a pair located immediately behind their locomotive.

Indeed...301's crew are 'one experienced team'!

Video of the crew of 301 and the IS (Ironwood Switcher) crew working together.

Listen carefully to the 'chatter' on the radio between train crews and dispatch.

Oftentimes two or even three crews are found to be contacting dispatch at the exact same time ..which can create a brief 'backlog' in communications.

The two stockcars are now in place attached to the power on 301.

In the distance we see Trains 303 and 302 (nearer to the fence) meeting at Watkins Siding.

The switcher crew sends the gondola over to the eastern end of town.

It will find a home for today and the next at the Ironwood Brick facility.

Continued video work in Ironwood.

Joanne & Craig are our newest members to the group and they are catching on very well to the concept of switching out towns with both trailing and facing sidings.

This was the first week that they crewed a train on their own so Pat had some 'downtime' in Nelson Yard where he was able to come to Spruce to lend a hand.

The power aboard Train 304 is this lovely 'bumblebee' belonging to Craig & Joanne.

We view video of their efforts at Spruce.

We run past 301 which is 'holding' at Ironwood in anticipation of Spruce clearing up.

The ore train has been cleared out from Watkins Siding to Peter's Pond as Dilip awaits his clearance to follow the ore crew aboard his train...302.

Again...we thank Dilip for all he does in putting together our narrow gauge train sessions using the RailOps program.

Likewise, we thank Steve for doing the same for our standard gauge sessions.

Spruce is still very active at the moment...but it will clear shortly.

Continued video work at Ironwood.

With Spruce now cleared and with 304 having entered our territory, the crew aboard 301 can now escape westward.

The conductors in the vans aboard both trains hail a farewell message to each other.

304's power faces east as the crew has come to a stop.

Train meet video at Ironwood.

Bernie snagged these next few pics from the session.

In the distance we spot the two RP&M crews with Garry & Moe working RP&M 73-74 at Bell.

Gerry is found aboard Rat 63 currently at Bellamy.

Glen Hammond is empty at the moment as is Nelson Yard.

Pat is all smiles as he assists Bill in keeping trains coming and going into and out from Nelson Yard.

Those umbrellas certainly do fulfill their roles in keeping the crews protected from the rays of the sun.

Dilip & Grant have arrived Spruce aboard second trick Train 312.

Thanks for these images, Bernie.

We'll see more in a second blog entry later in the week!

These next few images come from Pat.

Joanne & Craig navigate the Fred Mills Trestle aboard second trick Train 311.

Engineer Joanne follows the routing of her train as it exits the trestle and heads for the big curve at Lilly.

Pool Train 33 reaches Blockhouse as witnessed in Pat's video reel!  

Hey...we travel out to the western edge of Ottawa where Pat visited George's G&L Railway.

Pat's Annie is pulling five empty ore cars from Dominion Coal and Almonte Yard (inside the garage) and is now heading toward the Black Donald Mine.

Video taken by Pat at the same location.

As the empty ore train enters the spur to the mine, we see Len on the main with the Bennetts Meats train heading over to Smiths Falls.

At the Black Donald Mine we see the loaded ore cars ready for pickup.

Here is another view of the loaded ore cars at the mine as Pat's power enters the frame.

How about we head back to 'ancient history' along the route of the IPP&W!

The image above showcases the mine building at ground level at the present day location of St. Helens.

An 'overview' of the mine with its loads and empties.

Check out the rotary dumper!

And...it works!!!

Indeed it does!

Wonderful!

Dara is a happy fellow.

He is happy as he has just picked up his new locomotive.

He also purchased the two cars being pulled by his other locomotive.

Looking good there Dara!

His train traces the rails through Mercer Siding.

Love those cars!

Video of the "Blue Boys" heading through Mercer Siding.

Back at Fred's this past Saturday morning, Doug acted as the Firgrove yardmaster in the absence of both George & Len.

He has now completed all of his assignments and visits with the Nelson Yardmaster, Mr. Scobie.

On behalf of Father Fred we thank Bernie for these last two images to go along with Pat's great photos as well.

Thank you to you both for sending these our way.

And thanks to Mother Nature (and Papa Freddie) for allowing us to gather on a cool September morning!

We are the OVGRS of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada and we are Canada Strong