Congrats Bernie
Our very own Bernie received a well-deserved award which you will learn about near the end of this blog entry.
Bernie is one heckuva gentleman who is knowledgeable in so many areas of railroading.
Indeed, we are blessed to have him as a contributing member of the OVGRS family.
He gives back so much to this fine hobby and we all appreciate his efforts so dearly!
Here Bernie is wearing his Air Force spring jacket after taking a fun razzing during the introduction to our second session of the season the previous week.
Before we get to Bernie's award, let's review part of Session #3 first through pictures, videos and stories.
Another image Dilip snapped of Mike with Fred's brother, Ted!
We were graced with the appearance of Fred's brother Ted who came to central Canada for a visit.
Ted lives on the "left coast" on Vancouver Island.
It was great seeing you out, Ted!
The lads and lasses have gathered around for the pre-ops safety briefing.
It's a large crew in the lounge on this morning.
Doug covers the intricacies of switching out Bell, Stuart and the new Interchange area.
While we live in the age of super computers, semi-conductors and constant change, it is rather enjoyable to re-live the past through the running of steam locomotives from a bygone era.
And it is Doug who takes us back in time to the good ole days!
The expansive Nelson Yard sees plenty of action early on in the session. Paul and I work the yard as co-yardmasters and we spot him directing the RP&M crew shown in the distance.
Doug's locomotive gets underway aboard RP&M Train 71-72, the Nelson Yard/Bell Turn.
Nelson Yard as seen through the video lens.
Note the chips atop the freight cars in the yard.
This CNoR steamer rides high atop the Lawrence Watkins Trestle at Brennan Gap.
Malcolm and Pat are in charge of the train.
A lower angle view brings the Blockhouse into the picture.
Barrels on the bridge offer protection in the event of a fire. And...fire is a "four letter word" across the entire country at this moment in time!
Continued video work in the area.
Passenger 2 arrives the outskirts of Bell having descended the grade out from Firgrove.
She rounds the big curve leading into town.
A colourful consist.
And...a colourful video!
Train 50-51, the short hop down from Firgrove to the house tracks in Bell arrives hot on the tail of Passenger 2.
It's early morning still and Pete and Robin are found with smiles on their faces as they make up their train in Glen Hammond.
Still drilling the tracks in the Glen, the crew will soon depart as Train 303 with a destination of Firgrove later in the morning.
Train 302 continues the parade down from the western end of the line into Bell.
The town of Stuart sees many a freight car in its midst.
303 is now underway.
Off she goes in this video!
302 steers onto the ladder at the western end of Bell.
A green reefer holds to the siding track at Brunt's Brewery as the eastbound train drifts on by.
Let's back up in time a bit to follow George and his short train.
Here's George!
And...here's his train!
Video arrival of 302 and 50.
Another angle of 303 on departure from Glen Hammond.
She's one beautiful looking locomotive!
The safety bar for the walkway frames the train nicely.
Continued video evidence of this train.
Dilip and Doug work the sidings at Anderson as a crew has assembled in the distance at Mercer Siding.
304 takes the pedestrian crossing in the lee of the dispatch booth.
The RP&M crew rides high above 304.
George's loco is the solitary subject of this image.
Chris and Felicity have arrived Bell and are busily discussing their moves.
We glance across Glen Hammond over to Nelson Yard where Paul reviews the lists for the yardmaster.
I step into the dispatch booth to snag this shot through the window.
These two views are what the dispatcher sees from his perch in the tower.
And...here is our dispatcher on the day, Mr. Doug Matheson!
Colourful traffic adorns the trackage.
Paul and I worked diligently with our two locomotives to block the first five trains to go out in the wee hours of the morning which is affording me bonus time to railfan the action around the entire railroad. Paul drilled the alleyways from the eastern throat of the yard with his steamer while I toiled at the western throat.
302's power resides on Track 4 for the moment in Bell.
We backtrack in time to see Robin and Pete finishing up their orders for Glen Hammond.
Aha! A new train in a new location for this blog entry. This is Train 301 arriving Ironwood.
And...would'ya look-ee here! We have helper service on this run!
Indeed we have! Grant has brought out both his locomotives for the session!
Bill is one of the three assigned to this train and is enjoying his role as conductor.
Some video evidence of their movements in Ironwood.
Whether in daylight or darkness or in spring, summer or fall, the town of Spruce is easily identifiable by the low growing spruce tree planted firmly in its midst.
304 rounds the curve into Spruce from the west.
Passing the garage/office for the IPP&W, the train approaches the yard.
Following close on 304's heels is the passenger train!
A station stop is in order.
Some video footage in and around Spruce.
Steve and Seanna work the many trailing tracks at Spruce.
The passenger run passes on by on the main.
A business like look at the happenings.
Spruce, as viewed from the west (geographical east).
Spruce makes yet another video appearance.
304 has completed its work and leaves Spruce behind as the crew heads for Ironwood.
301 has just entered Ironwood in this photograph.
Trailing on the tail end we find the helper engine.
Four cars reside on the Ironwood Brick spur.
The passenger terminal at Craig Leigh is adorned with a variety of passenger coaches and equipment.
Being stealth and residing in Craig Leigh awaiting the second trick, this locomotive must belong to Pat. She will take the Pool Train on its run across the territory of both lines.
MT's on the ore dock at Northland.
Bernie works his stealth locomotive in Douglas Yard.
Heading over the Craig Leigh end of the line.
Those tankers make another appearance.
While Steve is assigned to the 303 grouping of trains with two other partners, he lets them take care of all three runs while he visits Fred in the lounge. Good on'ya Steve!
A lower angle view of Passenger 2 nearing the end of its run with a small handful of station stops between it and the terminal.
Ralph and Bill review their list while crewmate Grant inspects his locomotive. This trio enjoyed running helper service across the line!
There's that wonderful helper engine, one of two Grant brought out for the proceedings.
Passenger 2 reaches the platform at Ironwood.
Bill gets a phone call from the Prime Minister asking him if he wants to be the Minister of Railroad Heritage. Ralph is in a state of disbelief!
Video photoplay of the happenings in Ironwood.
Steam brethren exchange pleasantries as Number 2 rolls by the tail end of 301.
An aerial shot shows off the siding at Windmill.
The crew is eastbound crossing the turnout for Ironwood Brick.
Here's Ralph and there's Bill!
A colourful lowdown view of the two trains.
This railfan can't stop snapping pictures of these great looking steam engines!
Yet another video visual taken in Ironwood.
The front end of 301 awaits departure into Spruce.
Bill walks over to Spruce to check in on the situation as his train will enter here momentarily and meet the crew aboard opposing IPP&W Train 304.
Meanwhile, down in Peter's Pond, this crew will be working the Cedar Rock sidings. They must first predetermine their moves before leaving the lower portion of town.
At yet another time, 311 reaches Peter's Pond and they, too, will have work to conduct up the long branch.
Love that livery on the Rio Grande car!
Pat readies his engine for the workday ahead aboard Pool Train 33.
The tail end of Number 2 passes the entrance to the ore dock.
Marcel parks his power on the track beside the engine house.
She's a real looker Marcel!
Heading backwards in time we find Chris and Felicity discussing their moves aboard 302 up in Bell.
Here's Steve!
And...here's our other Steve with his lovely wife, Seanna!
This is our very special end car...the RP&M 215. She's a Drovers' Caboose. What is a Drovers' Caboose. My research pulled up this comprehensive definition:
The drovers’ caboose was a unique part of American railroading tied to the shipment of livestock such as cattle and sheep. In 1906 Congress passed a law that required the feeding and watering of livestock on trains every 28 hours. Since most such shipment took longer than that, the railroads had to carry drovers, men who handled the livestock, along with those trains to comply with the law.
The drovers’ caboose was much longer than a typical caboose, because it served not only the train crew, but also the drovers assigned to watch after the livestock in shipment from the ranch to the processing plants. These cabooses had two separate sections. The rear section was the standard railroad crew portion with cooking and sleeping accommodations as well as the cupola or bay window. The front section was reserved for the livestock drovers.
These cabooses appeared usually in stock trains where the entire train was made up of livestock cars. They were also used on occasion when large shipments of livestock were mixed in with other freight. The drovers’ cabooses were always kept on the rear of the train since the cars’ primary purpose was still to serve as quarters for the conductor and brakemen and only secondarily as quarters for the drovers.
Here is an image of Grant's model of such a car.
Grant showed me the stack seeing as Fred's caboose is missing its smokestack.
Yet another stack on Grant's beautiful model.
I managed to scratchbuild a rudimentary one to fill in for the missing stack.
Seeing as our June OVAR meeting is the final one of the month, I encouraged our OVGRS friends to bring out their Large Scale models to help promote our end of the hobby.
Above you can see my CN RS3 that Mr. Scobie custom painted and Chris Lyon weathered. In behind is our very own RP&M Drovers' Caboose.
My rudimentary black stack is placed near the righthand end of the car as seen from this perspective.
Looking the other way, the brilliant red colour shows up beautifully!
The cars below are the many McEwen award winning cars which recipients are encouraged to bring out to the June meeting each year.
Bernie brought out his lovely TH&B Geep #73 to help promote our wonderful large scale.
And Grant tagged on two cabeese to his Geep!
Love that waycar, Grant!
Not to be outdone, Pat brought out his large scale CP Rail caboose #438852.
Our very own Jim Davis added a wonder tsunami of colour to the OVAR display with this large scale pair!
Love that livery Jim!
Outstanding!
Simply elegant Jim!
Here's Jim with Father Fred!
Indeed, two railroading brothers!
Here is Grant's Pagosa Junction Car. Lovely Grant!
Grant added to the tail end collection with a series of little critters that grabbed my attention!
This Caboose #2 does not disappoint.
Nor does this C&S specimen.
How about this shorty!
Or this one?
A lovely collection from our very own Grant Knowles!
I had fun bringing out Fred's office/garage for the display along with my "Two Out of Three Ain't Bad" dioramas as well as two other structures I have been working on of recent.
For my "2 of 3 ain't bad" I relate the story of having completed the two dioramas to the right a number of years ago. (Ignore the dust on the water - I'd rather refer to it like the song "Smoke On the Water")
Anyway, I built all three dioramas around the same time but never got to finish the third one when I took on the machine shop project that morphed into the full town of Tyrone for our great dispatcher, Doug. Then I decided to build more than a dozen structures for Professor David Gardner. My own modelling was pushed back to the higher case shelving. With various other projects in the offing for both Doug and David, it will probably be a couple of years before the vessel on the left along with its diorama will be completed! Big smile! No complaints as I am loving the modelling efforts I am putting in for my dear friends!
The relegated to the upper case - third diorama!
Bruce...everyone in attendance at OVAR last night loved when we zoomed in on the image of Fred in the doorway. Through the magic of technology a close-up of the image was displayed on the large screen in the entire hall and there was much laughter and appreciation for your modelling throughout the room!
My two other structures I am building for David - both coming from Canadian manufacturers.
The machine shop is from Inter-Action Hobbies in British Columbia.
The Olympia Tool & Die building comes from:
ITLA - Imagine That Laser Art - an Ontario company!
To me, the most special model of the evening came from the very own hands of our good friend, Bernie.
If the colours don't give it away, the reporting marks certainly do!
Yes, this is a special edition Ukrainian car.
Indeed we all hope and pray for peace to settle in this region sooner than later.
Thanks, Bernie for sharing this with us!
If you are not an OVAR member and you live in the region I strongly recommend coming out to one of our dinner meetings as my guest or a guest of Father Fred...where you will experience the camaraderie we truly enjoy each time we gather!
See what I mean!!!
Here is a picture of Herb McEwen, one of the original OVAR members and the first one to pass away. An award was created in his honour. It would be given out to an OVAR member who makes an outstanding contribution to this wonderful hobby of ours.
And...skipper Bernie was our 56th recipient of the award!
Here he is standing with our two Pat's. Together the three of them make up a great part of our Workday Wednesday crew.
Indeed, Bernie promotes fellowship, mentorship, support for others, hard
work and just “plain old fun” in his many roles in railroading circles.
I was honoured to present him with the award in person in front of all of
his OVAR peers and those attending the meeting on-line.
We finish off this very interesting blog entry with a great image of a smiling Paul...for we are all smiling when we are in the midst of our very dear Father Fred!
Once again...congrats Bernie for a well-deserved award!
I still have more images from our most recent session and will get yet another blog entry out in the not-too-distant future showcasing the fun we all enjoyed out at Fred's!
Here's hoping and praying for an improving forecast for this coming Saturday!
All the best...OVAR Mike, Fred, Bernie, Pat, Pat and all other OVGRS members
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
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