Operating session for 27 March 2018

The guys came over for an operating session last Tuesday. There were eight of us including me, which is one fewer operator than I think is optimum for a session, but we had only a couple of very minor glitches and I was even able to run a few trains myself (which does not happen very often.)

Here are some photos that I took (between running trains and answering questions), as well as a bunch taken by Chris.

Dennis gathering cars for the Davis - Pauls Valley local freight.

Graham with the northbound "Ranger" at Ardmore.

John F (operator at Pauls Valley) and Chris, preparing to work southbound freight #37 at Pauls Valley.

Dennis at Davis, with the Pauls Valley local freight 

John C. and Peter operating the yard at Ardmore.

The Pauls Valley local freight setting out cars at Wynnewood.
(Photo by Chris.)

Chris with train #37, setting out some cars at Pauls Valley.

Graham, with a trainload of empty gons which he will swap for loaded cars
at the quarries at Dougherty and Big Canyon.

Bill, with the Ardmore local freight. After switching a couple of cars the train will return to Ardmore.

Bill with the Ardmore local freight, switching some covered hoppers at Big Canyon quarry.
Because of the direction of the sidings it's best to switch Big Canyon on the return trip.

This is me preparing to swap empty tank-cars for loaded cars at the Wynnewood refinery.
(Photo by Chris.)

Me still switching the refinery. In the background, John F and Dennis are working the
Pauls Valley local freight. (Photo by Chris.)

My job is done. The empty tank cars are spotted at the refinery loading racks. (Photo by Chris.)

John F preparing the Pauls Valley local freight for its return journey.

Graham and Bill watching the action, as Dennis gets the local freight ready for departure. (Photo by Chris.)

Ardmore operators John C and Peter in the distance. Dougherty on the left, and Davis on the right.
(Photo by Chris.)

Bill running the southbound "Kansas Cityan" through Big Canyon. (Photo by Chris.)

Peter and John C. working the yard at Ardmore.

Chris preparing an afternoon local freight at Davis.

The job is a big one today.

Chris's local freight at Wynnewood, awaiting the call to proceed to Pauls Valley. (Photo by Chris.)

Dennis has the northbound gravel train at Dougherty. The loaded cars ahead of the caboose came
from Big Canyon. The empty cars in the train will be traded for loaded cars still at the crusher.

Graham, ... doing something.

Graham with the afternoon Ardmore local freight at Dougherty.

The Crew Call Board for the day, showing that we've run all the scheduled trains. That's something that
we don't achieve very often. I even managed to get my name on it four times, which is unheard of.

Thanks for coming over guys - I think it was a great day!

Thanks Chris, for allowing me to share your photos.

Regards,
Ron

The Animas & Lobato Southern RR

Here are a few photos that I took last Friday, when I got to run a train on Bill's  Animas & Lobato Southern RR.

 

Bill's beautiful scenery is enhanced by matching photo backdrops. I wish that I had taken more photos of the layout, but I was too occupied with running my train which was hauled by a model of a D&RGW K-36 steam engine, fitted with a WOW decoder.  When I applied the brakes hard there was an excruciating sound of metal scrapping against metal. You can be sure that I applied the brakes often, and hard!

YouTube has several videos of Bill's layout, including this one by Gerry Hopkins:

That's it for now. Thanks for reading.
Ron