or me to actually run a train (and not dispatch and write out dozens of warrants (sigh. Checkbox one, previous warrant is void…)) I need a miracle, a Wonka golden ticket, a 2008 election, something like that. And I got one on the 29th – pity from Zach. See, I’d already dispatched the entire day away and Zach thought maybe a model railroader would like to run trains. You think? So I decided – what job would I do? Would I defy slope-gravity with the Shelfton turn? Or run the long-haul, journey-to-building’s-end Zanesville turn? Or just cage-fight President Shannon to take out the Mingo Turn? So many choices.

But then guilt flooded me. Fifteen minutes to clock-hot. Nobody signing up. Nobody there. Privately I’d figured that attendance would be light – we’d already done another session just last week (and I’d already gotten the Pulitzer prize for my last OpsLog). But Kaden was back from learning to drive trains for the Army (and, presumable, how to kill me a dozen ways with a spoon) so how could I say no to back-to-back sessions? Against my better judgement (and an ops session just hours ago, HERE), I agreed. But as expected, the parking lot was empty, the roster sheet was blank, and no Christmas was coming.

Thus, to support the session, I went with one of the drag freights since that is a must-have run. Since my little Dash-9s couldn’t lug them, I let Pete twist my arm (literally) until I accepted his kind offer to run three heavier modern SP/UP beasts for my heavy movement.

“They came without ribbons! They came without tags! They came without packages, boxes or bags!” Record crowd tonight! (Photo: John DV)

And then, of course, everyone showed up. More and more and more. The jobs filled up. We even had to agree to run coal OUT OF the steel mill (what?) and unfilled hoppers from the coal mine (what??) just to give people jobs to do. What is Orlando N-Trak – a jobs program?

And so, with a warrant in my pouch, waybills in my pocket, throttle in hand, and thirty-five minutes behind me, I rolled out of Bound Brook to Calypso Yard.

Quick stop there with “Wilson” Bohn working over my train and turning this into an Indy pit stop. Then two warrants to get to hilltop. Then things got a bit hairy as Zach suffered his first mistake. He let Mike on 231 (the Intrayard run) go out in front of me. So, let me be as gentle as I can – if you are making a run with only one trailing point switch, you shouldn’t end up with a short train and three engines scattered through the consist. The thing is, the Harris gons

Calypso Yard gets down to business (Photo: John DV)

and flats are light so they’ll be troublesome trucks regardless. But separating your four-axle engines mean that if ANY of them stop (Dirty track. Unpowered turnout), you will act as an anchor to every car pulled in front of you and as a backstop to every car pushed up behind you. With all those light cars, you’ll be putting them on the ground constantly. And that’s what happened, all the way down the western slope. It pained me to watch, but really, all you need are two engines on the head end and let the cars roll along behind, not stress, no banging about. Just go into Harris with your drop cut on the back. Cherry pick out your pickups on the siding (and foul the main briefly), drop your drops, pick up your pickups and bob’s yer uncle.

After 231 raptured off the line around stone bridge, I rode in to Martin. By this time, Zach was really facing a backlog. I called once and could tell he was stressed so I did the only thing I could do – I went in and asked “What do you need”. Find a train and tell him to call? Done. Help JW work it out on the ground. Done (JW made his opinions clear on autoracks. My eyes still tear up – the things he said to me). Helped Horatio out of the yard (and yes, John, you did manage to set every turnout against him) – I gotta teach Horatio that he needs to check his own alignments before moving (and yes, I saw that several times in the evening.

Voted “The man most likely to murder an autorack” by ONT (Photo: Jude S)

But here’s the thing; if you are between trains or simply standing nearby, if you see someone struggling with an uncoupled/derailed train, you’d help. Well, this also applies in your communications with the dispatcher. If you can tell that he’s swamped in calls and trying to shovel out warrants as quick as he can, you should just let him know you are ready for a warrant. And Zach, you need a scrap of paper to jot the waiting train’s number down. That’s the tacit agreement between crews and DS – he asks you to hold, he writes your number down, you hang up (to not drain the line) and he calls you back.As it was, we went into a feedback loop that didn’t help the DS get out of his overload, and everything was made worse. Just remember, if you think you should bother the dispatcher abound a lengthy delay time, think about who else did that and what happened to him. That’s his epitaph.

Four trains in the same scene – and this not a posed shot but just part of the action (Photo: Christian M)

So anyway, we did run a whole lot of trains, pretty much everything save the ore and stacks. Once I got 223 in (a seventeen hour run – sorry but it was notable) I went to the signup board and saw nothing available. Then I went to the mill to work the job but there was Matthew, all furnace-sooted and sweaty, who planted himself before me and growled, “It’s my mill now!”. The guy ran Furnace 2 and 3, which is damned impressive. Thanks for getting that wrapped up, birthday-boy (yes, it was his birthday that same night but he didn’t want another chorus of “Happy Birthday”).

Not since “The Battle of the Bulge” have so many US armored units been trapped and cut off! (Photo: Kaden S)

Martin Yard was so busy, it needed a bouncer. (Photo: Kaden S)

Since we were at full employment and it was already 20:00 on the clock, I just took my signature Dash units and set up in Martin to help Bob K with his classifying – it was fun but I might have found a minor issue with it (I’ll take it up with the ops committee). I usually don’t do yard work of any sort (club property or classification) but it was a lot of fun. In doing this, we found a lot of cards for cars that were not in the yard (but came off – pause for drama – the Zanesville turn (everyone turn around and look at Jude hunching down in his seat). Turns out he missed two cars at Champion Mine (CE&Is, tucked into the mine building) and another at the box factory. Also, a double screw-up (and this took a lot of legwork to find) – Rob G rolled out with hoppers from the mine. However, in doing so, he took the back-rank hoppers from the mine (which are the Sterner Cement loads (which is SOP (Subliminal Operating Pretending)). We found these cars over on the overloaded unloading track at Bethlehem Steel. Meanwhile, it appears that Jude, not finding the cars, carried the card back to the yard and slipped it in while Bob was distracted (trust me – one man working Martin on a night like this? Lots of distraction). So my era of praising the youth of America has come to an end, it seems. Robert’s back, and he’s curmudgeoner than ever!

Topping the summit at Notman Station (Photo: John DV)

So, after everything was done, the clock turned off, the layout shut down, and all the young men heading over to Ale House for some really lousy service. John, Zach and I sat around and held a quiet debriefing (I think Zach was jotting down names for his shit list (hey, I’m already on it)). Got out of the car at the gate and hung the chain, thinking, well, that’s enough operations for the day.

All kidding aside, it really was a massive session and massive sessions have massive problems. But we got everyone across the division and if I did see a lap order, I’m not saying. Thanks to Zach for giving me a break, and Pete for giving me his engines. Great night. One of the books!

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Pete’s units saved my life. Or spared me helper service. Something like that (Photo: Pete F)

Ohio Flier 1 tops the grade (Photo: Kyle S)

414 rolls out out of Pittsburgh. Hey, has anyone see four missing P&S hopper cars? (Photo: John DV)

152 completes its first of two sawbys at Harris. Probably not the best idea of the night (Photo: Alex B)