Session #5 Another Peek

Another Peek at Session #5

I still have some leftover photos and videos from our fifth session of the season.

We managed to run all trains except the ore run.

All our IPP&W crews were of the two-person variety.

We start off with three images sent my way by Pat Brennan.

Here we find a triple meet in Ironwood between Trains 312, 313 and 33.

301 switches out St. Helens on its way west.

301 arrives Nelson Yard in good time.

Doug's Simcoe & Southern Ontario holds on a far track in Nelson Yard awaiting its first assignment on the day.

Doug will work the secondary line; the Rat Portage & Mattawa aboard Rat 61.

Robin and Doug confer just before the operations get underway.

Here's Doug!

That's a lovely Watson's Mill logo on your Canada 150 shirt, Doug!  

Watson's Mill is located on the Rideau River south of Ottawa in Manotick, Ontario.  

It is one of but a few mills still operating in Ontario.  

The flour and gristmill was built back in 1860.

Bell stands tranquil in the pre-ops hour.

Robin's Algonquin & Ottawa steamer #2 also awaits its first assignment on the day.  The crew will steam over to Glen Hammond where they will pick up Train 303.

We check out the new engine house that Bill, Doug Matheson and Chris had a hand in building.

Ralph Yard up in Firgrove plays host to a number of freight cars.

The depot in Firgrove sees passengers board eastbound Train #2.

The power for Passenger 2 is this Colorado Southern #6 on the ready track.

While not quite a trend, we do spot the odd stealth locomotive plying the rails as evidenced here with the power for 301 leaning into the big curve at Lilly.

301's progress is captured in video.

Henk's 45-tonner workhorse enjoys the shade in Nelson Yard.

Video footage in the large yard.

Train 312 is underway rolling past the Fallentree Mine.

In this image sent my way by our good friend, Paul Norton, we see the existing tree before it fell and where the location has now become known as the Fallentree Mine area.

Note just how small Nelson Yard was at the time!

312 threads the needle over the gap.

Video of 312 out from Nelson Yard.

The grass has grown significantly with the rains of the previous week where the Workday Wednesday crew could not get out to cut the lawn.

Mike's locomotive steams by Mike the railfan!

A lovely looking reefer finds itself in the middle of the consist.

A CP van brings up the rear of the train.

Video capture of 312 through the pedestrian crossing.

We explore the area around the depot in Spruce in this image of 312 slowing to a gradual stop at this location.

Video views from Spruce.

We continue to monitor the run of 312 as the crew shuffles into Ironwood.

Just like the Spruce station, Ironwood's depot resides on a curve in the tracks.

Arrival in Ironwood as found in this 

.

Back to pre-ops time where we spot two flatcars on the Lyon Supply track at Anderson.

The S&SO #7 steams past the engine house in Nelson Yard.

Train 303 heads out of the yard in Glen Hammond bound for Peter's Pond.

The crew had earlier worked the yard tracks in the Glen before getting underway.

Au revoir 303!

The tail end departs the Glen.

Which flavour do you like best?

Yet another glance across the width of Nelson Yard.

Is this a reversal of roles?  Dispatcher Doug stands outside the dispatch booth and chats up Dilip who is crewing 301 on this day.

Speaking of Dilip, he sent me these next two images in an e-mail with the following message:

Hi Mike,   While you all were working hard at Fred's to help us enjoy the Ops on Saturdays, I was getting back from Montreal after work. My train got delayed by an hour but thought I will share this photo with you

Looks like VIA Rail's train to Ottawa has mastered time travel—boarding starts at 19:25, but it leaves at 19:17!  I guess you'll need a DeLorean to catch this train!  Eventually, the train left at 19:55 or so. Cheers, Dilip 

Thanks for sharing this cute story with us Dilip!

For those who don't know, Dilip is one of our two train masters. Steve Watson is our other one.  These two gentlemen spend hours each week putting together all of the paper work for our session using the RailOps computer program.

Doug Matheson had done so for us for many years and can be counted upon for advice when programming issues arise.

Marcel and Paul have got it right.  They have found the shade!

John arrives the property with a box of goodies for a few folks I presume.

Paul and Doug are deep in conversation.

Sid and Doug listen to what Father Fred has to say as Felicity looks on - in the bottom left corner of the image.

The master car list holds the names and numbers of all rolling stock as well as the dedicated location for the cars.

It is printed in numerical order.

Not only does it indicate which town or yard location the cars are to go, it informs us as to the actual industrial siding they are to placed which is "a must".

Felicity works the sidings in Ironwood aboard 313.  Her engineer is Chris who is out of the picture.

Video of 313's efforts in Ironwood.

We have some remarkable power on Pool Train 33 on this day.

Train 33 passes the power for 313.

Train 33 glides down the main as it heads out of town bound for St. Helens.

Ironwood video.

Ironwood can be a hotspot for railfans as many train meets take place here.

Two IPP&W wayfreight crews can work Ironwood's many sidings simultaneously and be able to keep out of each other's hair!  Oftentimes two crews collaborate on the spots and lifts.

Video from Ironwood.

Our power runs back to the front of our train after conducting the facing moves first.

Continued video efforts here.

Now it's time to handle the trailing sidings.

We have setouts at both the team track and at Larabie Fuels.

Ironwood plays host to yet another video.

Our train moves along the corridor between Ironwood and St. Helens.

Dispatch has notified us of our impending meet with Passenger 1 here.

Video of the meet in St. Helens.

Passenger 1 is then cleared on its westerly journey.

The crew passes by the cabin under construction.

More video moments.

Rat Portage is visited by our RP&M crews and the Pool Train.

Seanna sent along this message to the entire group as she and Steve came along the Rat Portage Urban Trail!

The Lake of the Woods district where Rat Portage exists is a land of beautiful cottage country!

To learn more of the history of Rat Portage (now the location of Kenora, Ontario) copy and paste the computer link below into your computer's browser.

https://themusekenora.ca/rat-portage-becomes-kenora/

This is an early morning view of our first train out from Firgrove, Train 302.

Felicity and the lads listen in as Fred conducts the pre-ops safety discussion.

We share the western end of Bell with Len who has brought down Train 41 from Firgrove.  That's our train, 302 switching out the facing siding at Watkins Cooperative and Brunts Brewing.                   

302 meets 303 in Peter's Pond.

We are protected in the siding as 303's power jaunts down the main.

The rising sun glints off some of the traffic at this early time in the morning.

Cedar Rock hosts a number of ore cars.

Antiquated forms of communication abound on the railroad!

Sun and shade compete for our attention on the eastern front of the railroad.

A stunning image of immense power pounding the rails.

Our Craig Leigh/Douglas Yard switch engine.

This Rio Grande 40-footer captures the attention of this railfan.

Larabie Fuels finds some activity.

Bernie finds some respite from the sun.

A St. Helens scene.

A St. Helens video.

Ironwood & New England #27 hauls tonnage up to Craig Leigh.

Passing the wye the train is on approach to Douglas Yard.

Paul has lined us up beautifully.

Arrival video in Craig Leigh.

Train 312 enters Douglas Yard along the back track.

Douglas Yard video.

We back our locomotive over to the wye where we will turn the power and back onto our final run of the day; Train 321 seen here in the foreground.

Solo video.

Our handy wye is much appreciated by the crews.

Wye video.

"Look Bernie!" Mike exclaims.  "A treasure trove!"

And still more!

Chris reaches over to adjust a car as he switches near the town of Stuart.

Chris's gorgeous steam locomotive.

Pat & Dilip are found in Peter's Pond enjoying their morning run.

This is their third trick of the day, Train 322.

Now that's some cargo!

Skipper Marcel!

John relaxes following a great session.

We look from the patio across Cedar Rock to Spruce and Ironwood in the distance.

Carrying cases with built-in throttles.

Marcel keeps a serious face as he tells Len & George a "tall tale"!

Not anymore!  Heh heh!

Some of the crew are found in the overflow lounge between Cedar Rock and St. Helens.

They have enjoyed a fine lunch.

Paul Norton tells us that back in 2009, Ric Golding's large scale Bachmann Climax with a Phoenix sound system was quite a hit with the crowd during the invasion that year.

Fred Adams is found backing his locomotive onto a siding for a pickup at what is today known as the eastern throat of Nelson Yard.  

The tree offering Fred some shade is no longer here...and sadly, we have lost Fred as well.

Ric Golding's handcar is battery powered and was made from a Walmart toy!

Hey, thanks again for checking in on this latest blog entry.  Here's little ole me with my Gibson ES339 hollow body electric guitar.

And...from the Late Night Show..."H-e-r-e's F-r-e-d-d-i-e!"

Photo from Paul's Invasion of Friends files.

Enjoy the remainder of this week lads and lasses until we convene once again in Fred's backyard where we will find more thrills running trains in the great outdoors.

We are the OVGRS of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada