Pat's Pics From Session #16

Session #16 as Witnessed by Pat

Our good buddy Pat Brennan also managed to snap a host of images from our most recent session.

Like Dilip and Bernie, Pat has a keen eye for the trains and the folks who run them.

He also has a keen eye out on other things...

...such as these fine treats available in the crew lounge!  In Pat's own words:

"A close up of life's essentials: A coke, Steve's wife Judy's cupcake and a leaf blower."

All of the captions come from Pat as well!  Thanks for sending these our way, Pat!

Oh wait!  Add a clipboard with train orders to the mix of life's essentials. You can also see a few cars in the background set out at Cedar Rock, Spruce and Ironwood. 

Moe, thinking of his cooking responsibilities at the end of the session.

RS-3 #103 making its way to Fallentree mine and Lilly for some pickups for train 62.

A closer look at the full ore cars as well as the pickup - CP gondola with scrap metal load

Pulling out the load of scrap metal while Bill throws the switches for me. Also note I am not in the Nelson Yard area as was strongly recommended at the pre-ops meeting.

To free up my hands for upcoming pics, I place clip board and Coke on Fred Mills bridge. 

A couple pics of Doug Culham's train crossing the Brennan Gap. 

Then onto picking up a couple of cars at Lilly. 

A few pics with part of train 62 rounding the bend at Fallentree mine approaching Nelson Yard. I'm still being a 'good boy' and staying out of Nelson Yard. Big Grin!

As Mike mentioned in his earlier blog entry both the ore train and train 62 had to 'face off' on Glen Hammond's East Stage track while the passenger train will momentarily take the station track or West Stage. Ore train later backed up and went through Nelson yard.

A "Road Switcher" sandwich!

Lots of contents in the meal!

Here we see the ore train about to reverse direction and back out of the way in Glen Hammond.

Train 62 gets the green to cross the junction and enter the Rat Portage and Mattawa (RP&M) railway.

A couple of pics of Lilly and Nelson Yard. First one has Bernie taking a short break from his duties at Craig Leigh. 

The second shot shows Bill and Doug taking a break after working hard to get the trains out of Nelson Yard.

The Firgrove Friends: George and Len.

A very empty Ralph yard up at Firgrove. I was told by the Firgrove Friends that most of the cars ended up at Rat Portage pre-ops.

Later in the session the Pool train meets me at Glen Hammond. I was switching what I can only assume is train 71... how quickly I forget. 

A couple of pics of Doug admiring his work as Moe leaves Nelson Yard with his late wayfreight.

Skipper Doug at the western throat of Nelson Yard.

Bill is all smiles continuing to make trains in Nelson Yard.

Pool train and train 71 switch in Glen Hammond while staying out of each other's way.

"Do you know the muffin man, the muffin man...". They were great chocolate cupcakes. Thanks again Judy!  

Mike will play the role of the "Muffin Man" any day...and he assures us each scene will require "many takes"!!!  Hehehe!

Train 71 waiting at Rat Portage's doorstep awaiting Steve and Seanna to finish switching there. Train 71 will pass through on its way to Bell Juntion. 

A couple pics of Steve and Seanna switching and then a pic of the cars at Golding Grains and Comber Chairs.

Indeed Rat Portage can certainly take "some time" to switch depending on the work allotted for the day!

There's Comber's Chairs and Golding Grains!

The waiting train 71 from the front this time.

After train 71 terminated at Bell, new train 81 was born. The next two pics show it coming out of Bell en-route for Rat Portage.

Beginning the downhill slide!

A nice shot of train 81 coming through the portal after looping into Fred's front yard. 

Lots of work at Rat Portage. I can still hear the Firgrove Friends and Bill Scobie in the distance saying "Aren't you finished yet?"

End of session shows Grant putting his beautiful locomotive into his beautiful carrying case. 

The guys chatting about today's session and other topics I'm sure. 

Mike and Doug sharing stories.

Marcel...all smiles with sausages in hand.

Steve and Peter relax after a hard day hauling ore loads and then empties while Garry has to make the hardest decision of the day... what to drink!

A great pic of Fred being a responsible recycler.

Moe keeping a close eye on Marcel barbecuing. 

A great picture of Bernie after he put the Spruce passenger station away for the week.

Gary explaining to Steve and Peter the algorithm he uses in deciding which drink to choose after running a few trains on the IPP&W.

Gerry standing for a picture prior to sitting down to eat.

Pat wondering why the BBQ was taking so long to warm up. Most of us were. Ha ha ha. 

Side note: Marcel stayed after all had left and cleaned the BBQ as the problem of the BBQ not getting as warm as usual may have been some burners were blocked. Thanks Marcel!

Now some pics from Sunday October 2nd

Looking out through George's garage door window to see the progress of his railway expansion since last week.

We had some traction power on the layout this week and that can only mean one thing...Steve dropped in! 

Lovely streetcar, Steve!

Making the rounds!  Steve ran his streetcar around the layout picking up passengers at both Almonte and Carleton Place stations.

And of course he kept us fed a second day in a row but this time with Timbits. Thanks Steve!

A picture of the guys 'chewing the fat'.

Fred is observing George's work on the expansion of the layout outside. Brr, going to be cold operating that in the winter. 

Marcel watching the streetcar leaving the Almonte area while switching takes place behind the streetcar. 

Len brings train of loads and a beer car for switching at Mississippi Cement.

Skipper Len...hard at work!

Len is the most flexible of us all so he often has to crouch under Almonte Yard to get to and from the industries on the west side of the  layout: Findlay Foundry, Ashton Feed & Grain and Bennett's Meats.

Steve's locomotive going past Almonte Yard. He's testing out the work that he and George performed on the locomotive just prior to this test run. It was a good run!

Different pics of the 'under construction' expansion of the layout. First pic provides interesting shadows. 

Second pic shows the expansion so far, excluding Henk's old yard which is not in the pics today.

Third pic showing track laid and to be laid. Also, Len is in the distance beside the layout after crouching under this section. 

The last pic shows Marcel's vehicle and maybe one of the last times that a vehicle will be able to go around the layout before Henk's old yard is connected. 

Thanks so much, Pat, for the fabulous pics and commentary...greatly appreciated.  It's nice how you keep us informed on George's and Len's developing layout!

All the best, Mike and the OVGRS crowd, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada