Workday Wednesday Happenings
This morning a half dozen folks descended on Fred's backyard.
I arrived at 6:45 as I had to drop my daughter off at the high school where she teaches which is located slightly north of Fred's place.
Along with general clean-up, some other track issues were dealt with.
It isn't even 7:00 AM and Father Fred already has the coffee brewing and tea steeping!
This is what I encountered when I headed outdoors and over to Craig Leigh...pine cones by the gazillions!
And...here was the situation atop the rails in Douglas Yard.
Father Fred made it outdoors on this damp morning.
He shared with me the notion that the lads discussed last week of using this crossover here along the north leg of the wye at Craig Leigh to allow the ore train to make use of the freight arrival 'main' rather than the departure 'main' in order to back its long consist onto the Northland Ore Dock.
Later on Bernie and I checked it out with a turnout.
By having the ore train make use of the further track it allows the yardmaster here to continue to make up trains on the near track.
Doug arrived rather early as well.
He brought Fred this lantern as a gift.
Doug tells me that it displays the initials of the Canada Atlantic Railway circa 1905.
He was not certain as to its authenticity.
Fred certainly has quite the collection of lanterns in various sizes, shapes and colours.
Another one found indoors.
And...another one.
Along with a couple more in a more modern appearance.
Still one more!
How about a handful of them!!! 😀😁😃😄😉
Bill & Doug got down to business creating two more 'cable throws' to allow folks on this side of Glen Hammond to handle the switches on the other side of the dispatch cabin which lead into the station trackage.
Great work fellas!
The addition of these new choke cables will help greatly with operations in and around Glen Hammond.
Don't mess around with a man carrying a ...??? 😎😜😎
Doug, Bernie & Bill...the Kingston Trio!
Err...make that the OVGRS trio!
Doug gets down to the business of screwing the attachment for the throws into the fascia board.
A closer view.
Pat gave the lawn a good haircut.
Chris assisted in myriad maintenance duties handling items for Fred when they needed transport from the crew lounge table.
Chris often assists Fred on non-OVGRS days when needed which is greatly appreciated.
Mark gives a wave "hello"!
Say Mark...ya got the wrong scale there in yer arms! 😍
Mark played the role of the "tin man" lubricating all of the choke cables.
We do take time out from the hard work to engage in the odd chat or two!
Here's a cool T-shirt...
...and here's a cool cucumber!
IPMS stands for the "International Plastic Modellers' Society of Canada".
As for me, I offered to run the ore cars around the railway seeing as the crew running the ore train during last week's session encountered so much trouble with them.
I'm on the role taking the southern leg of the wye at Craig Leigh as I depart town.
Underway video!
The wheels are tracking nicely through the straight trackage.
Video of the tracking of the wheels between St. Helens & Ironwood.
A slight 'dip' in the track coupled with a slight variation in coupler height between the locomotive and the first ore car resulted in the train separating at this location.
It is for these reasons we 'test out' the trains on the WDWD when there is a need.
Separation video.
Fred has determined that the empty ore cars require weights to be placed inside their basin to assist in the tracking.
Metal wheels are required for each ore car that runs on the plastic wheels, but at twenty dollars a pop, Fred is reluctant to spend the money...something that we can discuss as a group in the near future.
Successful navigation video but with some wobbling through the frog of the turnout.
In this video you will note that three of the cars in the consist wobble slightly through the turnout leading into Spruce from Ironwood.
This could mean that the wheels sets are ever-so-slightly out of gauge.
All is well in this video footage.
Video of the train entering Nelson Yard.
The headend passes the engine house at Nelson Yard.
Exit video from Nelson Yard.
Heading onto RP&M rails we spot the train passing the depot down in Rat Portage.
The cars track very well through the two turnouts experienced in this video effort.
We're "back out front" in this video.
Passing by the station stop at Pratt's Bottom via video.
Snaking through Stuart with no problems at all.
Indeed...no problems at all in this video.
Following a 'skirmish' beneath St. Helens due to a single pebble between the tracks it was time to pack it in for the morning...as we see the homecoming on this video.
Bernie had blown the debris off the top of St. Helens and this may very well have disturbed a pebble down below.
This is no fault of Bernie's as we have to clear the debris up top and below underneath St. Helens...which had been done before.
Here I am many moons ago playing my beloved Fender Stratocaster...which I will be playing tomorrow night at Westboro Beach Club and Tuesday night at OVAR when my band plays for OVAR's 65th Anniversary.
For the OVAR evening, I have created a Power Point presentation to be shown as the band plays train related songs!
I hope to see many of you there!
And...as always...thanks to Father Fred for allowing us to come over on Wednesdays to work on the railroad.
Lots was accomplished on this day with still so much left to do.
That's the way it is for we railroaders!
We are the WDWD crew of the OVGRS based in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Hey...let's check out the origin of a few words!
Ottawa: comes from the Algonquin word "adawe" which means 'to trade' as the settlement of Bytown (early Ottawa) was located along the trading route of the Ottawa River.
Ontario: comes from the Iroquois word "kanadario" which means 'great lake', 'beautiful lake' and also 'sparkling water'.
Canada: comes from the Iroquois word 'kanata' which means "village" or "settlement"
Hey...a great big note of gratitude to the people of Rochester, New York whose city council still wishes to call Lake Ontario by its original 'native' name of Lake Ontario...just as it has been called even before both our countries existed! 👍👍👌👌👍👍
Also a great note of appreciation for our American railway friends who continue to let us know how much they love and appreciate Canada for the sovereign nation it is as they continue to hold us in great esteem!
