Some Old Photos

Some Old Photos

Mark has kindly sent along these great photos from our session a few weeks ago.

It was a narrow gauge operations that took place back on Saturday, August 27th.

Thanks Mark for not letting these wonderful photos wither away in the archives!  Big grin!

Now here's my kind of passenger train!

I wouldn't mind taking a trip around the railroad in that nicely painted red gondola behind an equally pleasing White Pass & Yukon diesel locomotive.  Check the snowplow on the front of the engine!

Mark managed to find Doug in his dispatch hut.

Andrew and Moe check out the surroundings in Nelson Yard before the session begins.

"Between the Pines" Mark calls this photo!

Two unit trains meet in Ironwood...the ore train and the pool train.

Hey, I finally am found in a photo (seeing as I'm the one usually taking them!).  Bill and I hold the siding in Spruce for the passage of the passenger run.

I am caught aligning my turnouts to allow me to exit the yard with our second train of the morning, 311.

Two fine gentlemen shaking hands across Nelson Yard illustrate the great aspect of this hobby!  (They're actually passing chits back and forth pre-ops!)

I am caught photographing something to the west of Nelson Yard as Henk and Garry keep the yard working to earn money for the two railroads.

Sid takes a seat as Mike railfans the Fred Mills Trestle in anticipation of yet another train as his consist has just rounded the bend at Lilly.

The new structures found in Peter's Pond.

Thanks so much for the great pics, Mark!

Today was "Workday Wednesday" and when I arrived Fred's at 9:30 AM there was no one outside as of yet.

That's because Fred was entertaining Chris with a tale or two indoors.

One of Fred's locomotives that could someday find a home atop the rails of the IPP&W.

And...another.

Later, Pat arrived the scene.

I had brought up the idea of adding a house track in either Ironwood or Spruce seeing as the passenger runs typically finish up before the wayfreights.  In the end, Spruce was the chosen location.  We do not have the proper turnout as of yet, but Fred has assured me that the righthand one in the picture above can be traded for a lefthand one.

Chris is shoring up the pedestrian crossing at Peter's Pond.  Earlier we worked on the crossing near the dispatch hut where one of our operators recently was tripped while carrying one the car trays.  

(I forgot to take pictures of that area, but will grab a couple this coming Saturday.)

Here's a better look at what the house track at Spruce will look like.  This will be a trailing move for the Pool Train upon its return back to Craig Leigh.  It can even be lengthened a few more inches and come closer to the depot foundation.  This will add a little more switching to make that run even more interesting.

Fred and Pat look on as we have pulled a baggage car from the shed.

The house track will host a single baggage car or perhaps two shorter headend ones.

We're liking this idea.

So is the baggage car.

A view from the other side.

And from afar.

Chris is lowering the lip on the border at the fishery and team track.

The reason this was required is because the pilot of my diesel locomotive struck the border lip and came to a sudden halt during our last operating session.  The lip is now at track height only and should not cause any more concern for us.

Yup, can't wait to get that new house track in place...perhaps for next season's operations.

A handsome lad with a handsome car!

In my previous blog entry I left you with this picture of the "Seafood Emporium" which is a kit put out by George Sellios of FSM fame which I am currently building.

Yesterday I found some more "workbench time" where I was able to model the bell and supports for the roof of the bell tower...or clock tower.

The railings and roof are now in place on the tower.  After I shared some of these images in an e-mail to my friend, Professor David Gardner, I received the ultimate compliment from him which meant a lot to me.  This was his response:

Oh my! This is exactly what I was hoping to see – George Sellios climbing out of his box. Thanks Mike, what you have done takes my breath away!  David G.

Here is an interesting dilemma.  The time is always 3:20 on the three clock faces on the tower.  David wants me to build another structure he has purchased, titled "The Department of Docks" put out by Foscale Models.

This image from the Foscale site shows the time on its clock tower as reading 1:10.  Hmmm.  I do have a copy of the clock from the FSM kit and hopefully it will be close to the same size and I could photocopy the clock face from that kit to use on this one!  We can't have two structures located in close proximity to each other with clock towers telling different times of day!  Time will tell how this conundrum will resolve itself!

I really like the look of the bell in the tower.  There is still much work to be done on this kit as there are a number of outer buildings that are attached to the main structure you see.  I'll keep you posted on the developments!

Thanks, Mark, for sending along a great looking batch of pictures!

On behalf of Fred, thanks, Chris & Pat for making it out to assist on the maintenance of the railway this morning.

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