Of Trains, Colours and Kayaks
Saturday, July 20th was a busy day for me.
In the morning I dispatched and photographed the train operations in Fred's backyard.
Then, in the afternoon, I headed over to the Hogs Back and the Hartwells locks on the Rideau Canal system for the "new to be" annual "Lock & Paddle" where my daughter, Karen, participated with her new kayak.
Some few hundred kayakers, canoeists and even a dragon boat team squeezed into the locks at Hogs Back Falls and Hartwells on Saturday afternoon.
My daughter, Karen, is wearing the blue ball cap and blue personal floatation device just to the upper right of the red, white and blue beach ball.
Indeed, just as we witness the colourful nature of our diesel locomotives on standard gauge days, these group of canal mariners give the splashy diesels a run for their money!
More photos from this event will be shared at the end of this blog entry.
Glen Hammond and Nelson Yard rival the Rideau Canal kayak event when it comes to a rainbow of colours!
We were thrilled to see Bob appear during the session following his time away after undergoing surgery. So amazing to see you Bob!
Bob had arrived Fred's property on the Friday to complete the electrical hookup and wiring feeds to the new engine house at Nelson Yard.
With a near full crew, all trains were operated and we were able to hold the second passenger run during the first and third trick of the morning.
Combined with the train hops from Firgrove to Bell and from Craig Leigh to St. Helens along with the ore train of loads and the ore run of empties, a total of 27 trains were run in the two and a half hour session!
Doug brought out us Northland Railroad AB set of F's to run 302.
Dilip is the proud owner of Lawrence's RS3 road switcher which John converted for him. Dilip and John will be running 303 out from Glen Hammond on a westerly sojourn.
Mark made use of his Alaska GP38 #2007 for RP&M purposes.
Sid brought out his Great Northern S2 which made an appearance at Bell.
Henk's center cab presented a ray of sunshine in Nelson Yard.
Marcel's Seaboard System Lines Geep rests outside the new engine house in Nelson Yard.
Not quite kayaks, but this sampling of rolling stock in Nelson Yard vies for a colourful image.
Here's Chris...our friend and WDWD crew member who assists with folks who require parts to be printed in three dimensions.
Another WDWD crew mate, Pat, brings cars from the crew lounge table to their designated placements pre-ops.
"Good morning my beautiful people!" Henk calls out as he arrives the property! We are in good hands with Henk and his sidekick Bill working Nelson Yard.
Here's John! We must thank John for assisting Dilip in getting Dilip's locomotive running and hooked up with Dilip's new Revolution throttle.
My first video of the morning caught Mark setting out to work on the RP&M.
His Scagway, Alaska cap confirms his role as engineer in the Alaska GP38.
In his role as an RP&M runner, he will deal with traffic in the environs around both Nelson Yard in the foreground and Glen Hammond in the distance.
Mark's Alaska unit is underway on video pulling the Drover's Caboose.
CN Geep 4578 offers up an impressive performance underway out from Spruce with Train 301.
The crew has been cleared from Spruce to Nelson Yard.
Before entering yard limits the crew will inform the yardmasters of their intention to enter the big yard.
301 video views.
The loaded ore train has made its way across the system where Garry picked up loads at Firgrove, Fallentree Mine and Ironwood Brick. Yardmaster Paul lined him up on the wye in Craig Leigh that allowed Garry to back his loads onto the Northland Ore Dock.
We all find humour throughout the morning of our train runs. As I interview Garry, Paul calls out to Garry, "Stop talking to the dispatcher and get out of here, please!" Heh heh. All in good jest!
Northland Ore video.
Garry's CN Geep in the earlier olive and gold scheme is spotted on the wye at Craig Leigh.
Garry makes use of the wye to pull out his string of empties bound for westerly ports.
Before he can leave he must first back onto his van.
Continued video efforts at Craig Leigh.
Train 313 rolls with the rhythm of the morning's action for this railfan.
The crew thunders through the countryside between St. Helen's and Ironwood.
313 dances on video.
The ore train is an active participant in the westerly parade of trains for this railfan to video!
The tail end passes by Watkins Cabin, still under construction.
Parade video.
Dilip is thrilled to be running his new locomotive with sound.
The property line hedge offers a wonderful backdrop for this dramatic area known as "The Ledges".
Video footage from "The Ledges".
This "glamour girl" in B&O blue excites railfans far and near.
313's approach to Bell is caught on video.
RP&M and IPP&W crews meet at Bell.
The yard is full with the RP&M Drover's caboose residing on Track 4 while 313 squeezes through on Track 3. The Alaska diesel in the distance is working the Interchange Track.
Full track video effort in Bell.
Doug assisted in the set-out of equipment in the pre-ops hour.
Even our bread trays and carrying cases are of a colourful variety!
"Sid the Kid" always brings along some treats for Fred and the boys & girls! Thanks Sid for your kindness!
Mark & Bernie are a phenomenal team when it comes to the OVAR Interchange newsletter each month!
Speaking of colourful people...these are two handsome lads with great smiles!
And...just who is the Silver Fox?
Why it's our man, the intrepid Bill 'Sn3' Scobie!
This image pinpoints the moment the ore train departs Ironwood bound for a meet with 312 in Spruce.
It's the Doug & Doug Show! Or, as mathematicians would say, the "Doug Squared" show. But we know these fellas aren't squares - they're really cool dudes!
Clearances are tight but ore manages to stay on track!
Meet video in Spruce.
Doug gets the turnout and is cleared into Ironwood on a slow order.
Doug has notched the throttle up to get the prime mover running and his train takes to the big curve heading into Ironwood.
Yes, the branches on the tree to the left take on the same colour as "iron" as the tree has been deteriorating before our very eyes and will soon be gone.
Doug's crewmate, Doug, sets the turnout back to the main after his caboose clears.
The two Dougs' efforts are captured in video.
312 rolls on through Ironwood as the power for 313 holds in the Ironwood Brick siding.
Bernie and Mark can't believe the "Two Doug's" good fortune as they had no work to conduct in Ironwood and breezed on by without stopping!
Good luck video taken in Ironwood.
This railfan's heart is pounding as 312 approaches.
Doug's gorgeous Northland Railroad F-units grab our attention and hold it there!
The tail end swings by as the crew back in Ironwood can get down to the business of switching out Ironwood Brick in the distance.
Low angle video of 312's journey through the verdant landscape high up on the ridge between Ironwood and St. Helen's.
Those distinctive spark arrestors atop CN Geep 4578 offer a unique look to this large scale specimen.
Handy man Chris 3D printed them for his unit. We also like the yellow re-railer adhered to the lower flank of the locomotive!
With the engine running "long hood forward" and seeing the position of the van on their consist I am able to determine that Chris & Marcel are crewing IPP&W Train 311 at the moment heading west to an eventual termination point at Firgrove. Their third trick will see them run back through "The Pond" in an easterly direction aboard 322.
311 as seen on video down in the lower Peter's Pond area.
After completing their work in Peter's Pond, the crew was cleared on up to Bell through Wellington Lake and Watkins Siding.
The hissing and the popping, the rumble of the engine and the smell of diesel exhaust brings joy to the dispatcher (me) as 311 passes by my dispatch booth!
The crew has been assigned Track 4 in Bell where they meet 314's consist hanging out on Track 3.
Passage of 311 through Watkins Siding as captured on video.
RP&M Train 73 powers into Bell.
An RP&M van brings up the tail end.
Pat & Sid are the crew for the run.
Sid's Great Northern endcab switcher holds the honours on this day as demonstrated in this video effort from Mike.
The Spruce Subdivision is rather quiet at the moment with 312 seen working the town location named for the sub...Spruce.
Sid and Pat work the town of Anderson as they proceed through the junction with their RP&M run.
Over in the east at Douglas Yard all cars are suitably organized as Paul is in the process of breaking down Train 304 which had arrived earlier.
Loads of ore have been delivered to the Northland Ore Dock and empties have departed.
This WP boxcar occupies a trailing spur in Cedar Rock.
Along with breaking down incoming traffic, the Douglas Yardmaster makes up outgoing trains.
This is what Paul is doing at the moment.
Douglas yard video reels.
Paul's GP30 handles the yard work with ease.
The ON boxcar will be going out on the next train.
Continued video in Craig Leigh.
311 clears out of Peter's Pond.
There's an interesting load on that bulkhead flatcar.
The tail end above and below.
In this video you will hear one of the freight cars in the consist off the rails. It was in this location where we encountered a number of issues throughout the session.
Upon further study we realized that there was a rather wide gap in both rails at the same location on the curve.
While dispatching and acting as company photographer, I also worked the session as the maintenance crew addressing the track issue and a derailment under St. Helens.
On Wednesday the work crew and I will address the issue further.
Normally whenever we have a "service interruption" as the one you see pictured above, I do not post the images to the blog so as not to embarrass the "culprit" - errr...the operator.
But in this instance the two crew members called me over and asked to have the picture taken seeing as they were not at fault at all. It was simply mother nature dropping some sort of impediment on the rails beneath St. Helens which the operators would not have noticed.
Being the head of maintenance on the day, I got down on my hands and knees to re-rail the locomotive. No harm no foul as the engine was undamaged.
Train 314 holds at Watkins Siding for a meet with the oncoming Pool Train 33.
Train 33 is cleared into Bell along the station track.
Once the Pool Train passes, 314 can proceed east to Peter's Pond as seen in this video footage.
Train 323 enters Peter's Pond where they will be working the Brewer Barrel Factory.
Two Canadian Road units sidle up adjacent to each other down in "The Pond".
Peter's Pond video activity.
Because many folks are now arriving earlier to assist with the set out of cars, the session starts earlier and comes to a close earlier - before the noon hour. The lads are then able to remove rolling stock from the railroad and take trays of cars to the storage sheds. Bill leads the parade.
Henk follows suit. With all of the way freight meets having been met I have now closed the dispatch booth. (Big mistake on my part!)
Alas, one locomotive caused some grief to the operations on the day.
If the Ironwood Road RS3 ran too far away from the throttle, Robin would lose control of his train.
In the last three images he was taking the run along RP&M rails where the train runs outside the property.
Burgers are on!
Yum yum!
Moe and Pat share a laugh with...
...Doug and Marcel.
Henk doesn't do the ketchup thing apparently.
Remember I said that I made a big mistake in announcing that the dispatch booth was now closed? Well, it was true because all of the way freights had met each other and it would be clear sailing for those crews still remaining out on the high iron - or would it be?
Bernie sent along these next five photos along with the captions for the images. The photos showcase an incident which was the result of a comedy of errors (which I was a part of - actually, I was the in advertent instigator).
This occurred at the very end of the train session while many were packing away the cars in trays, with the barbecue on and with the dispatch hut having been closed after all wayfreight meets had been met. But...there was the one problem - that locomotive that had been acting up on the passenger run. I'll let Bernie tell the story.
Train 323 has completed switching Mount St Helens but holds for Passenger 4 on its way to Craig Leigh.
Station stop completed, Passenger 4 has a high green at Mount St. Helens and is cleared into Craig Leigh.
Drama at Mount St Helens! It shows how little dominos
can align and result in a major collision. First, the dispatcher signed off as
there were to be no more meets of the freight trains. Wayfreight 324 with Dilip and John were switching its last
stop at Mount St Helens.
Believing there was nothing more on the road, they left the mainline switch open as they worked. However, unknown to them, Passenger 4 with Robin at the helm was on its way to Craig Leigh. Robin’s transmitter had been suffering short range control issues and he was unable to stop his RS3.
The heavy passenger run with the Budd cars gave Dilip’s new B&O caboose a good wallop. Fortunately, no damage, but goes to show how fast things can happen even on a model railroad.
John uncouples the passenger locomotive and caboose.
Robin slowly backs his train onto the main. All
passengers were given a credit to ride the narrow gauge next Saturday! Heh heh!
Thanks, Bernie, for the photos and story. Now from my perspective:
No judgements here, but the lessons learned for all would be three fold:
1: While I, as dispatcher, announced that all meets had been met (of the freight trains - which they had) and I had seen the passenger equipment already being moved in trays to the storage shed (I just figured the passenger runs were done)...but I failed to notice the very late second passenger run on the third trick -passenger 4 - that was still out on the line. Therefore, not all meets had truly been met. My bad.
2. For crews working in the various towns, they should always protect their train on the town's siding while switching out the local industries even if they think no further trains are running out on the line...as oftentimes near the end of a session operators run their locomotives "light" from one area of the railroad to another where they are able to drive their engines directly into their carrying cases. You never know!
3. For operators with throttles, it is always wise to walk alongside your locomotive so that you can see clearly the track situation ahead. Unfortunately for Robin, he was unable to stop his train in time due to the range issue with the borrowed throttle.
Yes, we sometimes experience very colourful situations on our very colourful railroad!
Now...back to that colourful "Lock & Paddle" event on our famous Rideau Canal.
There's Karen in the white kayak awaiting the lock gates to be opened.
We are at the first lock at Hogs Back where the waters of Mooney's Bay either enter the lock system or they head over Hogs Back Falls.
The Hogs Back Lockstation marks the transition from the excavated canal channel to the Rideau River. There are two locks located here.
This video shows that the lock master allowed some motorized vessels to enter the lock along with the paddling participants as the event hadn't gotten underway as of yet.
Those in kayaks and canoes are then invited to enter the lock.
One of our famous dragon boats pulls up alongside one of the yachts.
Karen joins the mix with her blue ball cap and white ORU Kayak.
Video at the upper lock at Hogs Back.
The paddlers have now reached the Hartwells Locks near Carleton University. The lockstation is located approximately half-way between Mooney's Bay and Dow's Lake.
One of the organizers explains the history of the fun-filled "Lock & Paddle" event on a megaphone as heard in this video taken at the Harwell Lock.
So, we've learned that the event has already taken place on the Trent-Severn waterway system for some time now.
It is interesting to note that this is the first time the event has taken place in Ottawa and at the Lachine Canal in Montreal.
The view of the Lock and Paddle along the Trent Severn System courtesy of Kawartha Now.
Photo courtesy of Peterborough and Kawartha's Tourism.
Photo courtesy of Cottage Life. The event has been running at this location since 2016.
In this video one of the organizers explains that images will be taken for the Ottawa newspapers and the television news casts.
Folks listen attentively to the speakers in both official languages.
With the water now level in the two locks, it is time for the lockmasters to open the gates.
Gate video.
The participants enter the lock.
Lock entrance video.
Raise a cheer!
The door closes in behind and the water level drops.
Deep down there video!
Karen holds on to neighbouring vessels to ensure her "foldable" kayak is safe.
Just imagine if our train sessions were this crowded.
Yikes!
The great escape video.
One lock down - one to go!
Beach ball fun!
Karen sidles up beside the lock wall.
Every colour in the rainbow makes an appearance!
The water is lowered and you can hold on to the ropes for security.
Yet another escape video!
The hard working lads and lasses do a fine job at the lock stations as evidenced in this video effort.
Freedom video footage!
Dunton Tower at Carleton University towers over the canal.
One of the floating docks where paddlers and kayakers can get out of the water.
Lisa offers Karen a hand although Karen most often boards and escapes the vessel on her own.
In under ten minutes Karen is all packed up and ready to head to the RAV4!
Meanwhile, back at Fred's, Garry and Marcel enjoy each other's company as Dilip and John hang out in the distance.
Pat has graciously been taking charge of distributing Lawrence's book collection for a small fee for each item. Thanks for doing this Pat - it has been a big job I know!
Aha! You couldn't escape the colourful wrath of this former school teacher could you!
My research tells me the Crayola Company was founded as Binney & Smith Company by cousins Edwin Binney and Charles Smith in New York City in 1885.
It was originally an industrial pigment supply company.
Scenes like these are found in just about every elementary school classroom even to this day when computers and chrome books seem to rule the day. These colourful pencil crayons refuse to be "pushed aside"! Big smile!
Colourful plastic straws are designed for the children to create structures with the little corner pegs which you see a few of in the image.
And speaking of colour, how about this picture of me with my choir director colleague, Heather, taken at the Chateau Laurier a few years back where our choir performed for a Directors of Education conference which saw the directors of every school board in Ontario arrive Ottawa for the event.
Now...here are truly two very colourful characters!
Again, Bob, we are so grateful that you are back up to 'near' full steam! We've missed you and so have all those ore cars!
All the best to everyone and we look forward to a second section from this week's events sometime later in the week.
We are the OVGRS of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
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