New Papa Mark's Pics From Saturday

Our New Papa Has Sent Some Pics From Saturday's Trains

Thanks so much to Mark for sending along these great pics from Saturday's Train Operating session.

With a new baby in the family, Mark must've snuck away to his computer on our behalf!  (Just teasin' ya, Mark!)

The IPP&W is a busy place Saturday mornings… the wood-sided reefers in Peter’s Pond tell us it’s a Narrow Gauge session.

Classic passenger coaches in beautiful autumn colours abound near the eastern terminal.

Paul holding court at Craig Leigh…with a special visitor about to appear on the strategically-placed iPad. (more on that later).

The silence of the early-morning is about to be shattered by a busy day on the railroad.

A full consist of empty ore cars on the rail dock...ready to be delivered to the mines on the line.

A hardworking diesel switcher adding flavour to an otherwise steam-heavy day.

Bernie taking in the long view of very busy yards at Nelson, Glen Hammond and Bell. I think we’re about to start!

All quiet over at Fir Grove, but boy the yard looks packed too. Bernie’s passenger train will start off the session from this end of the line.

Ahh, there they are! The matching White Pass Alco loco and caboose set that I’ve brought out to run the ore train on the IPP&W. I can get away with this diesel unit today because the White Pass is a narrow gauge line of course… and the Alco unit would be quite familiar hauling long consists of ore and mineral hoppers from the mines in the Yukon over the mountain pass down to the docks in Skagway, Alaska.

Father Fred dutifully delivering the Saturday Sermon, with a focus on safety. All in attendance listen with rapt attention.

The ore train begins its run for the day under the watchful eye of George, the Firgrove Yardmaster.

Yes yes, I know… these are standard gauge ore cars… but I couldn’t find enough loads in the narrow gauge so I took the liberty of mixing the sets together for a combined longer run. Looks great in the shade at the ledges.

Here are some narrow gauge full loads awaiting pickup at Ironwood Brick. The ore train can be seen in the background. We’ll come by for them once we are on the other side of Nelson Yard later in the morning...

The ore train receives priority clearance through Peter’s Pond...

...and on through Mercer’s… hot on the heels of Bernie’s passenger train, which you can see up the line.

Surgeon Yardmaster Henk (Fijne verjaardag!) detaches the loco so we can go on to the Fallentree mine to pick up loads.

Bernie, a handsome lad indeed, is busy railfanning the pickup of more ore loads.

And Father Fred is all smiles as he takes in the White Pass Alco.

We head down through Lilly pulling a much longer consist.

Some fancy head-and-tail moves required in Ironwood to pull out the loads on the facing siding.

A nice view from the other side.

Just a little imagination and you can picture this long consist snaking its way up the mountain grades on the White Pass, delivering ore from Yukon mines to destinations around the world by rail and ship… a handsome sight on any railroad.

Craig Leigh Yardmaster Paul skillfully orchestrates the drop off of our loads and pickups of empties on the Ore Dock. 

Let’s count them all just to make sure… one, two, three… oh, enough already, I give up, there are too many of them!!!

Heading down from Craig Leigh with a trainful of empties to distribute on the line.

First stop, Ironwood… our job is done, on we go.

Hey Mike, is that you sneaking for a Timbit or two?! Great to see you! Mike has worked up a healthy appetite after delivering an informative instructional session at the NRMA St. Lawrence Division meeting… we saw you on Paul’s iPad, Mike, but it’s so much nicer to see you in person! And there’s no such thing as a “virtual” Timbit after all...

After that brief distraction, we pick up the ore train at Spruce.

Under the watchful eye of Fred and Dispatcher Bill… wake up Nelson Yard, we’re coming in!

Great trestle shot.

A gorgeous consist in fall colours.

Mike enthusiastically back at one of his many talents: RAILFANNING!!!

That White Pass loco sure looks like a treat, but I’d rather have a taste of that hazelnut birthday cake (thanks Henk!) Lookin great, Mike! 

I think we can just squeeze by on the siding at Peter’s Pond.

Great shot at Bell.

Up through the Ledges where we terminate the ore train’s run at Fir Grove. A great day with some great friends - both the “people” and “locomotive” variety.

Thanks so much Mark for all these awesome images and story line!

Let's spend a short while checking in on other action around the railroad.

We find our visitor, Bernie, with his 2-6-0 Mogul...

...hauling a shorty passenger train.

The baggage car.

The passengers' nest.

Video action between Mount St. Helens and Ironwood.

Mark has sent along a number of video links for us to enjoy.

For each link, copy and paste it into your computer's browser and you will be good to go!

Video #1:  White Pass Alco start-up sequence.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/aggigbkmhsqwj72/StartUp.MOV?dl=0

Video #2:  Moving through Bell with a train of empties.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ynzw8yzjw3l10c3/BellEmpties.MOV?dl=0

Video #3:  Crossing Bell with a train full of ore loads.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ucy3k52nmimue5r/BellJunct.MOV?dl=0

Video #4:  Diesel meets steam at Mount St. Helens.  (Listen to both sets of bells saying hello to each other!)

https://www.dropbox.com/s/zynclxybuc6uji7/Meetup.MOV?dl=0

Video #5:  A long view of the ore train.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/2o5hji2zzro983k/OreTrain.MOV?dl=0

Video #6:  Trestle shot #1.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/lz9771vdy6n4mkd/Trestle.MOV?dl=0

Video #7:  Trestle shot #2.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/h60fa4r17nlfq83/Trestle2.MOV?dl=0

Wow!  Great videos, Mark!  Thanks again for sharing all this with us!

All the best, Mike Hamer, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada