The second train out of Spokane, US Army 1, rolls out dead on time, engine-mounted cameras broadcasting the view to a crew in the next room over. Yes, a “Train Drone”! (Dan L)

ps are never what I think they are going to be. Usually they are cluster-fugs. Either you have a wonderful layout but a crew of newbies (or casuals) and the session flops because of them. Or our club, when a wide spread of skills, a large yet elderly layout, and with just everyone doing everything (with guests wandering about, sometimes stealing from us) it can be chaotic. Even my small Tuscarora can be an effort, like if one guy comes and wants to clown about. They are never the small number of dedicated, experienced and studious crews that I imagine quiet and interesting operations to be.

And of all places, to finally get that while dispatching the WAZU which is, like, seriously the last place I’d think to get it.

I mean, this is the layout that once had a siding that was a “loop” of track attached to the mainline. Or ops where a member didn’t speak English so well. Or one that hosted a birthday party for a dozen kids for the session (I still wake up in cold sweat with that nightmare). In fact, it was on the WAZU  that we saw the worst emotional ketchup-splatter event in the club’s history, that led to a club-member’s banishment and mass-phone-block, and eventually lawsuits and threats. So yes, the WAZU is a “vibrant” place (perhaps built on an Indian burial ground or something).

But Doc Andy and his “Krewe” worked out several bugs (including getting the clocks onto JMRI (and allowing us to start the layout whenever we wished, and not wait for the “sands of time to run out”)). I was feeling pretty optimistic and was ready to try out dispatching it again (after a month off and possessing new eyeballs with cheap knock-off readers). So hot we went, and out rolled the first trains of the day.

What can I say? If I was going to talk about dispatching, I’d say brag brag brag brag brag brag brag brag brag brag brag brag brag brag brag brag brag brag….

No, really, I did well. I’ll mention my favorite moment on the DS-seat was when I had two trains meeting at Attalia with the coal loads waiting in Cheney for a run through the Pasco washers. Since I can’t just run them through and leave them dripping in that yard and they wouldn’t fit in Horse Butte, I took a hold-yer-breath chance and ran them to snug in at Attalia, folding in behind the other train in the siding. They managed to all get there at the same time, and we got them out, one after the other, a nice by-the-book triple-meet.

The coal (with a mid-train helper) eases into Attalia as a remote train slips down the main. Another train is further up the siding yet in five minutes, both tracks will be cleared (Dan L)

But enough about me. The real thing came that we had a just-enough crew of guys who have been running this for years. The radios are all headsets and you can bump the volume to suit. Everyone spread out, everyone helped each other, and the running, while fast like only the UP can do out west, was realistic and breath-taking. The yards were clicking the trains in and out, the locals knew what they were doing, and Doc kept his nose out of my business (except for that northgate/watergate reminder that saved me an embarrassing reverse move). Even in staging, I could rely on someone there to line up for the next remote train.

The crew settles in for a nice, easy session. This was one for the books (Dan L)

In the end, we all sat down for a very peasant debrief. Everyone had fun. Everyone got a lot of running in. It was a massive success for ONT on the WAZU.

And Doc Andy can look back at this and think to himself, with full pride, that this is his high water mark, and he has nowhere to go but down. 🙂

Great run, guys!

>>>AND MY BOOKS ARE AVAILABLE HERE<<<

Even though these two stack trains have met in Attalia, the layout constraints have them running in thrilling parallel. Way cool! (Zach B)

Someone left a yard turnout open, allowing the passing “Lumber Jack” to become the “Lumbering Wreck”, hitting a train on the departure track. The NTSB is investigating – if only they could figure the time the incident took place… (Dan L)

The Lumber Jack finishes its eventful run, pulling into Georgia Pacific at 10pm or so (Dan L)