Session #1of 2026
27 folks descended upon Fred's backyard for our inaugural session of the 2026 season.
Steam ruled supreme on this fine morning.
We enjoyed the company of some wonderful visitors.
Pat brought along two guests whom he had recently met, Craig & Joanne.
Craig was thrilled to run his newly acquired steam locomotive, #26 of the Virginia & Truckee RR!
Here they are with Doug in Craig Leigh.
You can enlarge the images by clicking on them and you can return to the default look of the page by clicking outside them.
Craig scratch built the logs resting atop his tender from real wood.
Looks great, Craig! 👍👌👍
Of course, they skillfully hide the electrical innards of the locomotive!
We were able to run the full slate of trains on this day.
In the above image I am running Passenger 1 into Peter's Pond meeting an eastbound and a westbound run...indeed, a triple meet!
Train 303 has backed off the main into the far Peter's Pond siding to protect against my train while Train 302's caboose is just noticeable to the right on the Cedar Rock siding...also protected.
In this view we spot the crew of 302 taking the near siding as we slow down on our approach into the station.
Triple meet video down in Peter's Pond!
For new readers of the blog, to engage the video simply click on the white arrow in the center slowly two times.
We arrive The Pond and slow for our station stop...sandwiched between two way freights!
Passenger sandwich video treat!
Let's back up a bit and introduce another special guest, a lad Pat Brewer brought out.
This is young Wyatt to the left.
He is an avid railroader and is very interested in train operations.
Wyatt is a member of HOTrak as well!
Wyatt, you are welcome to join us in the great outdoors any time to run trains!
Wyatt gets his first taste of large scale train running!
The look of amazement in his eyes tells it all! 😀😃😀
There he is aboard the locomotive!
Wyatt's pre-ops training run is captured on video!
Bob observes the action as Wyatt skillfully backs the train into the terminal track.
Wyatt - you have earned your engineer's certificate!!!
Way to go!!! 👍👍
Successful training video!
Time to ring the bell in order to assemble the crowd in the outdoor crew lounge for the safety briefing!
Bell ringing video to commence the session.
A crowd of good-looking operators assemble in the lounge area to hear of the wisdom Father Fred brings to the group!
It is so great to have everyone back for another season!
Fred welcomes everyone in this video footage.
And...earlier in the morning folks arrived to begin the setting out process of all of the rolling stock.
Here we see Pat placing a number of ore cars at the Ironwood Brick Mine.
Skipper Bob will run the ore train when proceedings get underway.
Doug & I arrived in the 7's so he is now taking a well deserved break.
Grant offers a wave to our readership!
The benchwork at Bell is the perfect height to act as...well...a bench! 😎
Claire offers us a wave of welcome as well as Chris looks on.
I find Chris's gorgeous locomotive hanging out in front of the Glen Hammond depot pre-ops.
Bill & Doug worked diligently on the creation of the depot last season and their efforts are greatly appreciated!
Who says there is no colour in the railroad equipment of yesteryear!
Indeed, we beg to differ!
The facilities up the Cedar Rock Branch will come to life once more as our operating season is about to get underway.
That's the Ellens Crusher along the far track with the Culham Coal Company offering us a lovely trestle in the distance.
The lone low-side gondola is residing on the Vant Aggregates spur.
Skipper Henk is just back from The Netherlands and he will run all activities in and around Nelson Yard with fellow Yardmaster Bill (in the red shirt) as Felicity looks out over the yard.
Felicity will run along the route of the RP&M on this day.
The Rat Portage & Mattawa is our secondary line, but it offers operators perhaps the busiest of road assignments.
This railfan spots Passenger 1 now underway.
The track curves from the east to the south just outside the yard area.
The crew offers a wave of appreciation to the yard crew as the train works its way through Northland.
Off we go!
Passenger 1 rolls out of Craig Leigh on the bypass track beyond Douglas Yard as captured on railfan video.
Just as Passenger 1 got underway out from Craig Leigh, Passenger 2 did likewise out from Firgrove.
The crew aboard Train 2 is found heading east at Watkins Siding.
Passenger 2 'makes hay' in this video take.
We find Pat hosting his guests, Craig & Joanne.
Welcome aboard C&J!
Craig & Joanne are in the perfect railfanning location to get a glimpse of the both passenger runs along the two different subdivisions.
We certainly enjoy the 'colour of railroading' as witnessed here.
More passenger video fun!
Train 304 arrives Spruce with Passenger 1 holding on the main line.
Passenger 1 had already completed its station stop here and backed into the 'hole' for the oncoming train.
Upon 304's arrival, Train 1 can now depart along the longest section of single track which exists between Spruce and Glen Hammond.
Spruced up video!
Train 1 crosses over the newly leveled Fred Mills Trestle.
Clearly there is more work to be done in this area as witnessed by the pylons.
Bridge crossing video effort.
In this broad view across Nelson Yard to Glen Hammond where the two passenger trains meet we spot Doug in the dispatch hut to the left with Henk seated in front of his massive yard to the right.
Pat & Marcel are following the progress of my train as it enters the Glen while Bob in the far-off region of Bell has his ore train currently holding for clearance out from the yard over there.
The passenger meet at Glen Hammond is found in this video performance.
Bob has some tremendous power on the ore train this day.
The crew of 303 had to 'wait it out' while ore moved through town!
The ore train is the video 'lead' here - sans caboose! 😎
Earlier, Grant & Phil aboard 303 started their day in Glen Hammond.
We spot their buggy on the back of their train with the power up front.
Here is a glance at their headend power.
Gerry & Pat look over the proceedings in Nelson Yard.
They will be working the RP&M on this day.
We find an early generation diesel working the town of Stuart up in Bell.
Felicity & Dilip crew this train.
RP&M video footage up in Bell where the two railroads share space.
Note our passenger train getting underway for Firgrove following its station stop here.
Phil & Grant work Train 303 upgrade out from Bell.
They will reach their termination point in Firgrove in mere minutes.
The power is up to the task of ascending this lengthy grade at 'The Ledges'.
303 video between Bell & Firgrove.
We catch the Nelson Yard/Bell Turn Train 71-72 returning back to the big yard on home rails.
With five cars in the consist, it is easy runnings for the crew...especially with one of those new generation diesels in the mix!
The tail end!
The crew will tunnel beneath Firgrove before arriving Rat Portage.
RP&M Train 72 video effort.
The train was labeled 71 on the outgoing portion of the turn and became Train 72 for the return journey.
With nine folks in the picture, this is one-third of our assembled patrons on the day!
We spot the passenger terminal in Firgrove up above...
...and the tunnel down below.
Tunnel piercing video!
Train Rat 61 is working Rat Portage at the moment.
The crew is in the process of clearing the main line for the oncoming Train 72.
Video taken down in Rat Portage.
Train 72 arrives Rat Portage.
Arrival video down in Rat Portage.
Let's examine Craig's locomotive.
He has the firebox lit up.
The wood pile in the tender looks awesome!
The video was in focus when I began it with a close-up view but it loses focus as I pull away...but that's okay as this was a fun video for me to take! 😎😄😀😎
Craig is now on the roll out from Craig Leigh with his Virginia & Truckee power!
The smiles on Craig's & Joanne's faces tells it all! 😎😍😎😉
V&T RR video star!
Running light through Spruce.
We didn't pull any cars seeing as the couplers were of a different variety.
V&T #26 is most certainly a video star!
(Look for more video of this wonderful locomotive in my next blog entry later in the week!)
Wow. Check it out!
Craig & Joanne brought along many interesting items during their visit to Fred's! 😀😁😎😃😄
Let's take a gander at some of the locomotives Steve has available for sale to our regular operators.
We thank Steve for offering the OVGRS group 'first dibs' on the purchase of these items.
This will ensure that our group gets to enjoy seeing his beautiful locomotives in Fred's backyard for seasons to come!
Thanks so much Steve!
There's Father Fred in this image!
Who doesn't love an Alco locomotive and this Ottawa Central RS18u #1828 is sure to excite railrans along the route of the IPP&W!
Running along 'The Plateau'!
A closer view!
This Ontario Northland GP38-2 #1800 has always caught my eye whenever Steve brought her out to train operations!
We spot Steve hauling out from Nelson Yard in a westbound direction with Train 311 bound for Firgrove.
A lovely 'going away' shot of the locomotive.
On another day, Steve is in command of 301 meeting Passenger 2 in Spruce.
How about a wide cab CN unit!
We spot CN GP38-2 #4789 on the turntable up in Firgrove.
The Sergeant stripes (or Zebra stripes) certainly add a fine layer of 'visibility' to this spectacular diesel locomotive found teaming up with a Conrail unit aboard Train 313 between St. Helens and Ironwood.
In this view Malcolm shot a few years back we see the team 'in the hole' switching Ironwood as a local passes by on the main.
A long hood forward shot from another day.
Steve's White Pass & Yukon steamer.
We catch the locomotive hauling the OVGRS cars...although Steve is offering the locomotive with a four car train with different cars .
Here's Steve!
Here's Steve's Pontiac Pacific #10 in Ralph Yard.
A view from the other side.
Locomotive #10 is spotted hauling Train 302 out from Firgrove.
Thank you so much, Steve, for thinking of the group in Fred's backyard first!
This is much appreciated!
I couldn't find images of some of the other steamers but you can see them pictured below from the email Steve sent me.
Here is the image Steve sent my way in his email.
In other activities, Rob, Doug & I went to Upper Canada Village to visit the Blacksmith Shop and the Wheelwright Shop to support out next O scale project in building a Wainwright shop.
The lads are standing outside the sawmill in this image.
I thought I'd share these images for Pat Brewer as his industry on the OVGRS layout is a cooperage...the facility where barrels are made.
Here we see some hoops already made and ready to go around the staves of the barrel.
The cooper told us that metal hoops are required for barrels containing liquid while wooden hoops are typically used for barrels containing dry goods.
Indeed the wooden staves (side pieces) come in a variety of woods and colours.
And...a variety of sizes, shapes and purposes.
The hoops on these barrels up in the rafters are mainly made of wood...although the colours make them appear metallic to some degree.
I was impressed with all of the belting in the woolen mill.
My goodness, do I ever have experience creating these 'little charms' mostly from scratch with all of the O-scale projects I have been involved with recently!
Indeed, there are so many belts involved in running all of the machinery in all of the mills...including this woolen mill.
This gentleman is acting as a belt striker as he is in the process of moving the belt to the adjacent pulley.
Note too how the belts feed through the floor of the mill to down below where the water powers the main drive shaft.
One of the female employees shows how it's done as well.
Video of the belt striker from inside the woolen mill.
Another image from inside the woolen mill.
More cool looking video.
Video taken down below at basement level.
Yet another video taken in the woolen mill.
Similar in appearance to a freight car's brake wheel, this wheel controls the sluice gate by lowering it to slow down the flow of water through the channel thus slowing down the machines or by raising the gate and allowing more water to flow thus speeding up the machinery.
Final video of the wheel that controls the speed of the machinery in the woolen mill.
After train ops at Fred's...Lisa & I headed downtown to participate in the race weekend!
We chose to walk the 5k race.
Yes, walkers are allowed to participate and we even saw strollers and folks in wheelchairs.
With the loss of my kneecap in a hockey injury when I was in my twenties, I have never been a jogger or a runner...but I love to walk miles (err...kilometres!)
And yes, many of the tulip beds were still in bloom.
The gentlemen at the center of this image is 100 years old.
I believe his name was either Ray or Roy.
Way to go!
Lisa & I finished the 5k in 53 minutes 17 seconds!
It was a wonderful experience which I hope to repeat next year!
Thanks to our daughter, Karen, for snapping pics of us en route! 👍👍
Here is a view of one side of our medal.
And...a view of the other side!
With the Drovers Caboose doing its 5k run we say farewell for this blog entry.
Be sure to check in later in the week for the 'second section'!
As always we thank Father Fred for hosting us.
Our inaugural session of the season was highly successful.
All 27 folks on the property enjoyed themselves immensely along with the chipmunks and the ravens!
We are the OVGRS of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
No comments:
Post a Comment