Workday Wednesday August 30th
Passengers Take Precedence
With only two days to go until the new month of September, a small handful gathered for our regular Workday Wednesday session at Fred's.
The rain did little to deter these intrepid railroad workers from accomplishing some of their goals on this day.
It was great to see Lawrence and Joan pay us a visit and stay the whole morning under the canopy in the rain.
When I arrived just after 9:30 AM Fred was already "hard at it"!
He is in the process of removing the strip of metal which holds the rubber mat in place trackside.
At our most recent session one of the locomotives was derailing at this location due to the raised metal or rubber.
As Fred was getting down to work, the rains came again.
The project will be put on hold until the next work session and the rubber mats will be placed gingerly at the location for the time being.
Folks will be given a human "slow order restriction" when walking over the crossing at this Saturday's session until such time as the strip and mat can be restored and out of the way of engine parts!
There's Father Fred!
Sorry about the blurry image, but I'm posting it anyway to prove that Bernie was working just as hard as the rest of us on trackwork up in Firgrove.
As was Pat. Pat oiled the many elevated switches which require the use of choke cables.
Fred looks on.
As for me...I am sorting through the various passenger equipment to make a determination in consultation with Fred (and Doug on the phone) about the best use of the equipment seeing as we have sufficient operator numbers to run Passenger 1 and Passenger 2 simultaneously - which we were able to do last week.
Fred tells us that because we are only a branch line railroad he does not want to see a long consist of the same style of car on the passenger runs as we would see on a train like our transcontinental run known as "The Canadian". Fred prefers to see a mixture of "heavyweight" equipment and "stainless steel" equipment on both trains.
Doug and I did mention to Fred that if some operators wish to run such a train of "singular styled equipment" as seen on the last three cars in the image above...the argument could be that we are acting as a "bridge route" for the crack passenger train.
Fred indicated that this is all very well and good...but the train should be run at the end of a session rather than during the regular operations.
Fred wishes to remind the group that the IPP&W is a "branchline" operation and our other line, the RP&M, is the "bridge route" to other railroads.
I'll be railfanning that train should it run! 😎👀😎
Passenger 1 & 2 will each have the following type of cars in their consist: A steam generator car, a combine, two coaches and an observation car. A heavyweight diner takes the place of one of the coaches on Train #1 as per Fred's request...as Fred states that it could easily pass as a coach to most observers.
Doug...it looks okay in the mix.
Here is Lawrence checking out the situation with Fred. Pool Train 33 will, of course, have a different look from the other passenger runs. It will carry all of its head-end equipment with the inclusion of the steam generator car and the combine off Passenger 2's train seeing as we do not have three steam generator cars nor do we have three combination cars.
This will give the Craig Leigh yardmaster a bit of work to do when Passenger 2 comes in. The yardmaster will have to lift the two cars off Passenger 2 to include them in Train 33's consist.
The pool train will have a mixture of both IPP&W and RP&M equipment...as do Passenger 1 and 2 at times.
Passenger 1's consist starts off with steam generator car IPP&W 9051.
Heavyweight combination car IPP&W 7866 "Simcoe Lake" follows in behind.
Fred doesn't mind having the diner, IPP&W 1516 "Newfoundland" appearing next.
We mix in stainless steel coach IPP&W 2307 "Hochelaga" next for variety.
Observation "parlour" car CN 1416 "Montreal" pulls up the markers for the train.
Isn't it fitting that "Montreal" is coupled to "Hochelaga" as they both indicate the same geographical location on the map! Passenger 1 will depart Craig Leigh and head west to its destination of Firgrove.
Let's take a look at the consist for Passenger 2 with steam generator car 9052 on the head pin.
RP&M combine 1716, "Winnipegosis" follows in line.
IPP&W coach 2301 "Shoal Lake" is next.
IPP&W coach 1316 "Shawinigan Falls" makes an appearance.
Streamlined observation car IPP&W 3500 "Banff Park" brings up the rear.
Passenger 2 is out from Firgrove in the early morning hours and will head east towards Craig Leigh.
As just mentioned, upon arrival in Craig Leigh, the steam generator car and the combination car will be placed in the consist of Pool Train 33 along with the other pre-determined head-end freight for that train which will be listed in the RailOps program.
The coaches are not listed in RailOps.
Let's examine a section of the consist for Pool Train 33. Here is the same steam generator car which came off Passenger 2.
Here is the combine from Passenger 2.
As Fred chats with Lawrence (who is out of the picture) we see the last two coaches along with the steam generator and combination car.
These cars work together to make up the final four pieces of Pool Train 33. The RailOps program will indicate all of the other headend traffic that will go on that train...which we will learn of Saturday morning.
Fred reminds us that the steam generator, when in the pool train consist, should be after the
head-end freight equipment, and in front of the passenger cars. (Including the
combine)…the switching crew should be made aware of this.
Normally freight equipment does not have steam lines, so the steam from the generator would not get to the passenger cars if it was up front ahead of the freight cars. The pool train is also considered a “Mixed Train”.
The second to last car on the rear of the Pool Train is heavyweight RP&M coach 1314 "Shawinigan Falls".
Yes, we also have an IPP&W "Shawinigan Falls" number 1316 and the above mentioned version for the Rat Portage and Mattawa railway with slightly different number!
"As long as the numbers differ then all is well!" Fred tells us.
Bringing up the rear of the Pool Train will be IPP&W streamlined coach 2305 "Kamloops".
So...there you have it! Our passenger trains are set for Saturday AM.
I just managed to get all the equipment back into the shed before the rains came!
Rain video.
Pat, Joan and Lawrence are dry beneath the canopy.
Lawrence brought along his log cabin in the process of being constructed.
This is actually the finished version of the model and it will reside on the ridge between St. Helens and Ironwood. The story is that it is a "work in progress" as trains sail past.
The remnants of a loading dock has been built from scratch by Lawrence as well. It will also reside on the ridge telling of a story "long forgotten in the past".
Great handiwork, Lawrence!
We enjoyed all of our chats in the crew lounge while the rain "amped up" its volume on the canopy roof!
Bernie and Fred enjoy the moments shared together on Wednesdays.
As does Pat...Lawrence, Joan and Mike too!
Lawrence is heading over to the ridge to plant the structures.
The abandoned loading dock looks great there!
Lovely work, Lawrence!
The "under construction" log cabin fits in perfectly there as well!
I'll take a closer image on Saturday as the one I snapped is too fuzzy to share.
Yesterday when I went for my daily walk to help get in my ten thousand steps per day I came across this little brown puppy on Chapman Blvd...the street located one south of mine.
I love old vehicles that have been looked after or restored and this one does not disappoint.
I believe it to be a '52 Mercury based on an internet search of these trucks throughout the early fifties.
I particularly like how this individual has kept the original "patina" and not cleaned it up to "brand new" status.
Hmmm...I'm wondering if this is any relation to JC Robinson's heating and cooling company.
Yesterday's sun with the dappled shade of the boulevard trees offered the perfect lighting to showcase the vehicle to this passer-by!
Full frontal!
A view of the truck bed.
Lovely!
My mother-in-law, Marion, turned 97 years old yesterday. Last Saturday Lisa got the idea to send some pictures of her four daughters with their husbands to an on-line company that takes images and prints them on a blanket that is completely washable. Lisa designed the image pattern and background colour along with the message and sent the required data in on Saturday. We received the blanket three days later in the mail! We were able to share it with the whole family on a skype style group call to Wolfville, Nova Scotia which was awesome! The images appearing on the blanket were taken twelve years ago on Marion's 85th birthday.
along with Joan, Fred bids us farewell for another day!
Our weather forecast is very promising for Saturday's session. Can't wait!
On behalf of all the WDWD crew...have a great remainder of your week!
The "Workday Wednesday" crew, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
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