Running Trains with Mark & Leo at George's
I received this lovely e-mail from Mark today showcasing his adventures with son, Leo, at George's over the weekend.
Below is Mark's message my way.
Hi Mike, Hard to believe that just a week ago the Canal was still open for skating
(though, arguably on its “last legs” for the season). Yesterday was a beautiful,
mild “spring” day for the first weekend of March - a harbinger of warm days to
come. At their weekly get-together, George and Len had the wonderful idea of
opening up the outdoor portion of their layout for the inaugural “full-scale”
operation session of 2024.
I was very lucky to witness it all with Leo. Here’s our story.
Leo and I arrived to see preparations for the session
in full swing. Here Len’s handsome CP Rail RS3 maneuvers a string of vans to be
used for running trains during the session.
Skies are grey but hope springs eternal. Before the
“opening bell”, George arrived with a smile on his face and a bright idea in his
head - let’s open up the garage doors for today we run outside!
Len and George
skillfully disassembled the protective outer plywood layer that shields the
opening garage door from the fierce winter storms that frequent the Ottawa
valley.
The beautiful trestle joins the twin worlds of indoor
and outdoor and its laying down yesterday represents the dawn of a new era:
outdoor running in 2024!
Len’s GP30 eagerly awaits its mission to deliver this
string of ore cars down the line. It is chomping at the bit as it hasn’t
ventured to the great outdoors since 2023!
Folks, this picture truly represents
the “light at the end of the tunnel.” Spring is here!
Leo was impatient to “clear the tracks” from the
scourge of winter, picking up debris, clearing and testing the switches and so
on.
He loaded his maintenance-of-way (MOW) vehicle fleet (toy excavators, flat
bed, steam roller) into a gondola pulled by George’s clever red 25-ton switcher.
Thanks, Leo, for all your help!
The busy crew prepares to unload to inspect the
yard.
I
think Leo had the most fun out of everybody yesterday.
Leo is all smiles as the MOW train heads back up the
line, its mission complete.
The gondola also serves to collect any stray debris
lying on the track that might otherwise foul up the line. Here Leo is reaching
up to fill the car.
The grass and leaves dwarf the busy machines in the gondola, but our job is done.
This is a true transition photo - that last pile of snow by the barn will be mostly gone by next week I predict, and we can all look forward to a wonderful 2024 operating season in the great outdoors, whether at Fred’s or George’s place or wherever our trains take us.
Happy spring, everyone, and see you soon!
Thanks Mark for sending along this wonderful photo essay. Looks like fun was had by all!
In other news, OVGRS member, Kris, has shared with me a video where he goes over the latest development on his growing HO scale model railroad...the bridge scene.
Kris tells us that he has been inspired by this span located in Cleveland.
The section you see above is the first portion of his build. A few more spans will be required to complete the full length of his bridge.
In between working on the layout with his young son, Kris finds time to run a train.
To view Kris's video, simply copy and paste the link below into your computer's browser.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bD66IQemF6U
Thanks Kris & Mark for offering up some great pics and stories for our friends to enjoy!
All the best as we make our way through a balmy month of March - so far!
We are the OVGRS of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
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