Heavy power moving long trains, a WAZU hallmark (Photo: Leonard J)

ot going to say I was nervous – no, perhaps a little concerned. Doc Andy’s session on the WAZU was coming up and for some reason I asked my wife if she’d like to run with us. So the only way this would work was if she could run one of the remote trains in the other room, sitting at a desk with a forward camera car view and a bank of monitors of the train room up on the wall. This was better than the moshpit layout room, where you feel like you are jammed inside a rush hour NYC subway car. So she came out on the Thursday night work session and ran two laps with me calling stop points so she could get used to how things operated. And that was one reason for concern.

The other was that Zach was bringing his “States” train (sixty-plus cars of every state (which doesn’t seem to add up. Perhaps it also includes Oz, Narnia, Atlantis, Mordor, Pandemonium, Kings Landing, Metropolis, Bedrock, New Vegas, Carthage, Hill Valley, Derry, Arkham, Emerald City, Neverland, Mt. Olympus, Valhalla, Wonderland, Springfield and possibly Bithlo). All I know is that one the WAZU, the longest sidings are thirty-one cars long (listed). Usually I can get two “long” trains past at these locations. But with X50 (and it’s opposite-direction counterpart, X51) running on the line, we were aiming to lock up the line and bring me down a few notches in the wife’s eye (even though the sliders are on the baseboard at this point).

The States Train on the lower deck. Some of it, anyway. (Photo: Dan L)

Mrs Newbie handles one of her two trains, handling everything practically perfectly in every way. (Photo: Leonard J)

So sure, let the trains begin!

Actually, I got into the grove and stayed there through much of the session. I formed up an eastbound parade with two long trains (including my wife’s (in front) and the States (in back) and ran them at a steady pace across the railroad, ducking everyone else into sidings as I could manage it. Only bad moment was when Doc Andy went cheap on horsepower on me and the wife’s train spun drivers on Goblins Gate (a natural gorge that looks like it was cut from the bedrock with a saber saw). Hard to reach, a curve to defeat coupling, so getting the helpers on was a tough chore (Doc shorted me for engines, so I let him handle it). Anyway, all of those trains eventually breasted the summit and ran out to Spokane. With them out of the way, I got down to running the balance of the session.

So timetables – really, outside of start times and passengers, why have them? I don’t really use them – railroads go to full CTC (i.e. mother-may-I) so you can keep them moving. About half my trains were within the hour of schedule, but a couple of them ran a few hours ahead. I banked this time for X51 on the return with the Lumberjack wood train latched to it (again, just like on the first trip) like a remora riding a shark. So it turns out that by looking ahead and tucking trains in early, that slow-moving monster was no big deal.

Terry B, haggard after a high speed taxi ride from one cab to the next, moving trains nonstop! (Photo: John C)

In the end, all the crews had fun and (at least, nobody told me otherwise) and nobody waited too long in sidings. Everything ran, no major derailments, no cornfields, and the wife had a good enough time that she wants to come back. So mission accomplished.

Again, thanks to the “Krewe”for showing up, running tight and radioing even tighter. The yards were popping out trains and runs were finishing up quick enough so I hardly had issues finding open receiving tracks in Portland and Spokane. I know I had a blast. Maybe next time I’ll run. We’ll see.

Oh, and Doc – thanks for hosting, providing pizzas and unveiling the Oreos.

BOOKS HERE. YOU KNOW THE DRILL<<<

Ignore the man behind the curtain! (Photo: John C)

Inspectors Christensen and Donikowski work a staging yard crime scene (Photo: John C)

The remote team frowns or smiles as appropriate – Matthew and JB (Photo: John C)