Mark's Afternoon Reflections of Belleville

Mark's Afternoon Reflections of Belleville's Fine Operating Session

Here is part two of Mark's coverage of the great ops session in Belleville.  We thank Mark for snapping the amazing images and creating a fun story line!

The colour in these diesels attempts to rival the colour of Bonnie's garden...coming close!

(Click on the images to enlarge them and outside them to return to the default page setting.)

Mark has offered up this great video from the afternoon session.  You may have to scroll over the entire address and then right click it to choose a download option.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/hyyjvu118k3bgp3/WPYR%20Barry%20August%202020.mov?dl=0

Here are those beautiful creations of Johnny Chuff Chuff.

I get a bird’s-eye-view as everyone resumes work after lunch-break.

My third train for the day - a White Pass & Yukon Route special, an LGB MLW (Canadian ALCO) DL-535, just recently converted to battery & R/C.  Never run (in this configuration) on a railway before.  Let’s lash up some passenger cars.

Picking up passengers at the station in Orleans.

Hey, didn’t we see EXACTLY THIS SETUP in the morning run (with two different locos) at EXACTLY THE SAME SPOT? (Hayes fuels).  Must be like in that movie “Groundhog Day”.

Station stop in Cumberland.  All aboard!!!

That is a gorgeous setup of two TH&B Geeps in the background - more to come...

Crossing the trestle…  Did I compliment you on your work here already Barry?  Yes I think I did, but it’s worth repeating: beautiful trestle, Barry!

We’re ending our run by passing through West Ben stockyard… sorry fellows, no livestock here.

Yes, I could not resist a selfie with my favourite railway, the WP&YR, in the background (and on my head, though the pic cut off my cap)

Just to keep things lively, I took the ALCO (MLW) out again, this time with a freight consist.

As we approach the end of the line (both in terms of the operating session and my stamina) I start to get a little silly.  I want to test the pulling power of the LGB White Pass diesel.  Check out the growing number of cars in the following pictures...

I pulled out most of the cars parked at Trista yard… probably up to about 18 cars now.  Wow, what a sight!

Hey… let’s keep a good thing going.  Why not collect all the cars at Cumberland while we’re at it?

She finally topped out at 24 cars - look at it snake through that S curve in the switches.  No derailments so far!  Getting some thumbs-up from back there.  Make way for the monster train!

Whoops, our luck finally ran out.  Luckily Johnny Chuff Chuff moves in quickly to save Ronald McDonald from his ultimate demise.  Now, who’s more of a clown?

Here is the photo we have all been waiting for: a triple-header TH&B Geeps.  Cool!

I end with some nature photography.  Nope, this isn’t a screenshot from BBC Earth or Blue Planet or something like that.  It’s Bonnie’s beautiful garden sustaining the circle of life and the local ecosystem.  Go bumblebee go!

My absolutely idyllic day is sadly coming to an end.  Thanks again so very much, Barry and Bonnie.  A great time was had by all.  We’re really looking forward to summer 2021!  In the meantime, stay safe and healthy, everyone!

Thanks for sharing these amazing images and stories from the session, Mark!  Wishing everyone the best, Mike Hamer, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada