hings keep evolving at the club. Shelfton industrial has been re-tracked. Hellertown is now Lehigh. And the paper warrants are in to their second session.

Photo Credit: Frank Z

I was dispatching so I wasn’t outside to shepherd the paperwork. Overall, it went… okay. One problem – crews would mix their pickups and drop-offs and would end up holding paper for both. I hadn’t anticipated that and now it looks like some cars went to their local deliveries and were immediately picked up and brought back as outbounds. One of these actually was delivered, returned to the yard, then placed back on the local track for re-delivery. The best one was a tank car we found on the other side of the division. I think it was one of those Incredible Journey things – you know, a lovable dog, a sassy cat and a Shell oil tanker, making their plucky way across the mountains at Harris Glen and onward to Bound Brook. So, yes, just like a real railroad (I’ve got an easy fix for this next time).

The real cakeroll came when the young yard master didn’t realize that there were Calypso cuts to go onto eastbound trains. The first train through arrived at the Calypso drop point with nothing to jettison. When I called the yard, I found out it had been overlooked. Already the second eastbound was coming into yard limits. “Okay,” I told the yardlet with three trains on the horn holding for warrants. “The cars that should have gone on the first train? Combine them with the second and put them all on 244”. Seemed a good solution. But somehow the yard bungled it and put all the outbound cars (three trains worth) on 244. And that train, with its can-do outlook and five heavy engines, accepted the mega challenge. There were some issues in Pittsburgh (this bloody monster train was too long to fit through the double-back diamonds). Thankfully he got over the hill without stalling (since he was part of my eastbound parade and I needed to keep things moving). But yes, that was a crazy long train, and it was a crazy busy night, and now I’m blogging with a crazy happy smile on my face.

Oh, I know there were problems on the floor as well. I’m sure I’ll hear about them in the next business meeting.

All I care about is that trains didn’t hit and we moved a lot of traffic with very few delays. Great run tonight, guys. Next time, the paperwork will be a little clearer.

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