Dilip's Pics and Videos From Session #2

Session #2 Pictures and Videos as Seen From the Lens of Dilip's Camera

It was great that some of our operators snapped pictures from session #2.

This blog entry will showcase Dilip's views of the operations. 

We ran our first standard gauge session of the season on this day!

Fred was dressed warmly as he sat in the lounge enjoying the proceedings.

We had a crowd of 20 operators along with five others who visited the property on this fine May morning.

We reviewed the safety measures in our pre-ops briefing as is always done.

It is a sensible way to begin our sessions and we all agree that it is obligatory.

Dilip ran Train 303 with Moe on this day...but in this image he has captured the crew of RP&M Train "Rat 63" examining the trackage ahead of their train.

That's Steve on the left and Phil on the right and a tray filled with cars that have ended up in Nelson Yard that will no longer be required for the session.

Seanna is the conductor on the other RP&M run, the Nelson Yard-Bell Turn, Train 71/72 with engineer Pete (out of the image).

She is working the town of Stuart on the western outskirts of Bell.

There's a smile for cameraman Dilip!

We glance at Bell from the east looking west.

Dilip's camera locates the crew aboard 321 late in the morning as they switch out the sidings in Ironwood.

Dilip's train, number 324, is holding on the main momentarily.

In the distance Bill & Marcel work Wellington Lake with Train 323.

All three crews are on their 'third trick' of the morning.

This is what I call one efficient railway!

321 has completed its work here and has requested clearance westbound to Spruce.

Note the lovely F-unit pairing on the headend of 321.

These locomotives belong to Doug Matheson.

Things begin to 'heat up' in and around Nelson Yard as a number of trains "want in" at the same time!

Alas, no fretting here as Bill & Henk have all things under control!  👌

Earlier Dilip had captured RP&M Train 71 ascending the grade out from 'Pratt's Bottom' and up into Stuart with engineer Pete offering up a great smile of immense pleasure!  😋

Dilip managed to railfan this passenger run about to pound the pedestrian crossing between Glen Hammond and Spruce.

Heavyweight car 'Winnipegosis' #1716 brings up the rear of the train.

Passenger Train video effort from Dilip.

Bill has navigated 313 into Nelson Yard and will depart with engineer Marcel aboard 323 westbound.

At another point in time, third trick Train 324 is underway out from Nelson Yard about to ride atop the Fred Mills Trestle bound for points east.

Doug runs Passenger 3 in the distance through Mercer Siding.

The headend of Train 324 enters the iron webbing of the bridge structure over Goodie's Gulch...previously known as Brennan's Gap.

The crew will have to cross Brennan Bridge following its travel around the horseshoe curve at Lilly.

Earlier still, train 313 arrived the environs of Nelson Yard in a westerly flow.

We take a peek at the crew lounge mid-ops as Stuart & Fred are found in conversation.

As for me, I am found in the dispatch hut controlling the flow of traffic across the entire line of both railways.

Indeed, one has to be 'on their toes' in the dispatch booth as radio calls seeking clearance come in at rather quick, short intervals as the radio chatter can sound like a flock of geese flying overhead!  😦😎😵😂😍

Even the dispatcher (me) can take time out for a smile or two!  😁

Mike is caught in action at the dispatch board on video taken by Dilip.

And, I get to visit two great friends as 'roving company photographer' while upholding my dispatch duties at the same time.

Mercer siding is home to quite a few train meets as we spot a westbound departing in the distance with an eastbound now cleared through the junction - bound for Nelson Yard.

The work in Ironwood is revisited (at an earlier time in fact) as we spot Gerry & Doug finishing up with their tasks here aboard eastbound Train 312.

They will soon be back hustling to St. Helens and on into Craig Leigh where their second trick Train 312 terminates and their third trick Train 321 originates.

We spot Bill & Henk back in the mammoth yard as Bernie seeks clearance for 311 to depart for Peter's Pond.

Speaking of Peter's Pond, I find Pool Train 33 having arrived from Wellington Lake bound for Bellamy and Glen Hammond.

The crew of 314 is safely tucked in on the Cedar Rock Siding.

Same location - railfanning from the other end of town!

314 begins its ascent up the Cedar Rock Branch.

While...across the valley over in Spruce we find the crews of 321 and 322 vying for space in the town the eastern subdivision is named after.

Train 311 reaches Mercer Siding where 314 is 'in the hole' awaiting clearance into Nelson Yard.

Once they gain their clearance I will give them the green aspect on the signal ahead remotely from my perch in the dispatch cabin.

Bernie is a happy camper as the Ottawa Redblacks defeated the Montreal Alouettes by a score of 27-3 the night before in CFL pre-season action!

He & Jill are season ticket holders.

Dilip's 'meet' video is taken at Mercer Siding.

It's burgers on the grill post-ops as Moe handles the chef's role on this day!  👍👍

Pat sent along this image of he & Phil visiting Steve McKenzie's home to purchase some of the equipment Steve recently had up for sale.

We thank Steve for thinking of our OVGRS friends first before selling his items on the net!

Steve Watson sent along the purchase he & Seanna made from Steve's McKenzie's sale of items,,,this Ontario Northland GP38-2.

Note the N-scale version of the same locomotive creatively riding 'piggy back'!  😎😍😎

Our band, The Mystics, were supposed to perform the night before at Fred's annual "Patio Party" to kick off the season, but ill weather nixed that idea.

We hope to get in a party before our great saxophone player, Pete Conroy heads back to Nova Scotia in mid-June.

Fred would prefer sitting out in the evening in temperatures well into the 20's so we ask Mother Nature to offer up some of those numbers for us!

It is indeed a good thing that we didn't play outdoors on Friday evening as the forecast for that night was most foreboding.

Three trees went down in my neighbourhood...all within 100 metres of my house.

This one took down the lamp standard at the corner of Quinlan and Ruth.

This tree limb took down the lamp standard at the corner of Wingate Drive (my street) and Quinlan.

Yikes!

And...sadly for my backdoor neighbour on Quinlan Rd, (Dennis), this tree limb fell down atop his vehicle in the driveway.

This car was special to him because it belonged to his lady partner who recently passed away with cancer.

She loved her vehicle.

You can barely make out the car amidst the foliage.

Fortunately in all three cases no one was injured and wonderfully enough, the car will be able to be repaired in the body shop with a number of scrapes and dents and a broken off driver's side mirror to be dealt with.

So, keep an eye out on the weather and hopefully there will be an evening over the next couple of weeks when all of the bandmates will be able to make it out...seeing as a number of us have other gigs we have to attend to.

We hope to be in conjunction with warm weather offered up by Mother Nature!

It was great having Stu Moxley come on out to visit Father Fred.

Stuart Yard is named after Stu.

Stu is one of the earliest innovators in our Large Scale hobby.  

Along with Paul Norton and another lad named Greg, the three of them introduced 'remote control' operations to the hobby to the masses on a continental scale!

He is a true forefather of remote control operations!

Thanks to Dilip (pictured above at left) for this batch of images and videos.

Thanks also to Pat & Steve for sending along their single pictures as well.

As always, our appreciation goes out to Father Fred for hosting yet another great morning of train operations!

More folks snapped pics and images from the session, so there should be more blog entries coming your way over the next few days.

We are currently getting some 1500 views a day on the blog! 😘😎😘

We are the OVGRS of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada