ead Actor (glancing through the curtain at a packed hall): “This will be the greatest production of Romeo & Juliet the stage has ever seen!”

House manager: “Your lead actress called in sick and there is no understudy.”

Lead Actor: “Gack!”

So this Saturday Night Special, we had a lot of pre-signups. I was in the back getting the clock, my computer, and my trainee ready, going over everything while writing the pre-warrants. See, there is a trick to the opening moves on the LM&O. Basically, there is a freight and passenger train coming out of Cincinnati (possibly followed by coal and stacks) and two locals coming west against them. To make this work, you tie the locals’ clear-the-main time to the passenger train’s hard timetable. It is the only eastbound train with a predictable time/location so you get him first in the parade and everyone has understandings of when to be clear.

414 climbs the west grade as the sun breaks over the peaks. (John DV)

Except that, having written six pre-warrants, I was then told that the guy who’d signed up for Ohio Flyer 2 (and who’s name comes from a Beetle’s song) was not in the house. Nobody else was available and it would be annulled. And here I am looking at an entire sheet of warrants, my world crashing down.

I was just raising it up to rip it in half when 414 called in, wanting paper out of Carbon Hill. An idea struck. So, checkbox 12: Run on OF2’s schedule. This didn’t make John DV too happy but it preserved all my pre-warrents (tied to a time, not a train). So yes, it worked out.

I had Terry in the back as the understudy. And here I’d been thinking I’d be running the entire division (with interlocking work) by myself – even brought my old dispatcher program to manage it. But Terry seemed eager and, outside of a little territory-sniffing with BETH Tower, fit right in and did a solid job on east side. The changeovers were flawless and there were no tangles on the hill (can’t speak about Harris Glen but, no, there was no out-the-door line we sometimes get).

After the hopper swap, 415 growls out of Calypso, nearing BETH Tower. (John DV)

Matthew (for all I could observe) really did a good job, working with a new dispatcher and keeping things moving. I guess the only way I can tell that we were running tight was that all four passenger moves ran close to on-time (even with Christen’s losing his compass and setting up in the wrong direction, and OF2 raising from the dead to come out of Cincinnati three hours late (TV walked in and got press-ganged onto the vanish before he’d even put his stuff down). Yeah, the passengers had ten minutes to get on or off and Pittsburgh and he was off.

As the sun sets, 422 follows 428 into Martin Yard, with work being done on the riverside track (Zeus H)

Martin was short-staffed (judging by Klauck’s suicide note). Things were a bit backed up at times on the west side yard. Over in Calypso, Chisholm didn’t give any indication of distress, but you could saw his leg off with a hacksaw and he’d face it stoically.

As for the rest of the unwashed, you guys did stellar. Even running lights-off (which is cool, I gotta admit), everyone managed just fine. Better than fine, really. I don’t think there were too many one-and-done’s last night – people ran two, three, and even four trains (perhaps Zeus really IS a god!). And the newbies really stepped up to the plate. Horacio, who was just able to get a train across the line a session or two ago, stepped in last-minute and took the Tenefrancia Trolly (legacy train 202) through its paces, and then followed it up with 291 (lapping 244 in the pits, specifically Martin Yard). TV not only rose OF2 from the dead but switched out a furnace with an Amtrak charger (how dystopian is that?). And when needed, it seemed that plenty of folks were there to help (Zach, John L, and even Pete who went into the Stone Bridge area to assist a passenger train out of Pittsburgh, even through it meant standing on his old  chalked outline on the floor  – brave!).

Shelfton 903 gets ready to pull out of the Pez, heading home. (Kaden S)

I’ll admit to this: I’d always thought that model train ops meant drifting over to a club, having a cup of coffee, chatting, setting up trains and casually running. I didn’t think it would be the absolute circus we have. But you know, sitting in the back, exchanging trains in and out at Red Rock, hearing laughs, shouts and confusion in the other room, but noticing that everyone was really smiling as we did more ops in a night than most clubs do in a year, well, that was gratifying in a head-spinning way. It really is something to see how skillful and always-improving ONT is these days.

Hermitage Units break the still evening air as they whistle past Mingo station (Kaden S)

Oh, and a couple of service notes : west end staging’s drum motors are really going bad. Thanks to Mike for working with me on those. I was going to complain that the mill was just about out of limestone when, doing seniority, I noticed TV had brought the loads in. So we’re full for now.

Still, great session!

>>>MY NOVELS HERE<<<

Phil shows us how to work 973 up the Nazareth Branch (Zeus H)

415 meets 66, exchanging dispatchers at the division point (John DV)

68 eases in for a quick stop at Martin Station as crews swap out 244’s cuts in the gathering gloom (Kaden S)

Ohio Flyer 1 holds where it should, when it should. We made our on-time bonuses today! (Zeus H)

453 puts the MT jennies on the Weirton Docks. See, With good train handling, you can top the summit easy. (Zeus H)

Terry and me, photoshopped to look competent. (Terry B)