452, Ore East, rides the signals through BETH interlocking for its exchange at Calypso. (John DV)

tough night at the club. Heavy rains caused several of our members and guests to turn back (if you remember Charlie Brown on the pitcher’s mound in a monsoon, you’ll get the punchline). Worse, someone brought a WAZU-infected train to the club, meaning that our layout started in full glitch-mode, trains losing addresses, chips, their minds, everything becoming an electric sheep’s dream. Even though we’d cleared the booster, it took a long power shutdown, a behind-on-dues member sacrificed to the elder gods, and repeated booster-clears to get things somewhat right (through rumbles in the system, like rumbles in the distant clouds, echoed over us all night).

So, yeah, expletive.

Ohio Flyer 2 makes its station stop, running on time, at least for now. The Hill awaits (Kyle S)

Anyway, we finally got rolling, but didn’t fill 223 with a crew, not at first (hey, guys, if you don’t think you can run a full freight, as long as you bring along anything with waybills (the front six or seven at minimum) you can run an “abbreviated” run). The west side was running the opening-morning script, with trains doing what they were to do. BETH tower and I opened communications with 231 and 441 (Shemp on the double-bonus Limestone run). After that, I got a flood of early morning eastbounds back over the hill. And then the problems began.

The disaster at Harris unfolds, with meet after meet there. I think I used Red Rock for one pass all night, and those trains collided. TV, stay with your train, okay? (Kyle S)

202 (the Terry-n-Gary teamup) cleared, followed by 414 and Ohio Flyer 2, the last trains through. Shortly afterwards, 244 made the attempt with Bill C at the controls. He started to spin halfway up, and helpers needed to drop down. With only one throttle-knob, the question was how to do it (and no, we didn’t want to MU under fire, thanks). Kudos to President Zach who came up with the unique approach  of putting the helpers to 30% (now they were spinning) then dialing up the road units and feeding in power until they train was underway again. Once they got to the summit, the road units stopped, the helpers were re-acquired, stopped, then rolled into the topside pocket. This was all thrilling to write, of course, but the thing is that helper rescues take an hour, maybe two. By the time he was clear, I had 66 coming up from the west, 415, 247 and Flyer 1 from the east, more on the way. I started by trying to make a four train meet at the summit, which the crews instantly scrambled by picking whatever rail they preferred, rather than what their lawful orders stated. Zach noted “So, who was it who tried to never meet trains at Harris?” Working it on the ground, TV ran 414 down the hill for a meet with 66 at Red Rock, a hard meet, the hardest, since nobody (not 66, not 414, and not whomever left Red Rock last) realigned the turnout. Unlike the recent Spanish disaster, this was NOT the fault of the dispatcher – this was the crews. Anyway, Pete untangled TV from his front coupler and then, in a moment of surprise to everyone, raptured off the siding and went outside of a rainy-night smoke. But the repercussions of all this made the mountains a total junk yard of idling trains for most of the night.

Our pretty signals, all decked out for the holidays. (John DV)

Oddly, the water level route ran smoothly, the locals finishing their work in peace before returning home. Zeus in 902 decided he really liked Sheflton, saw a house on the market, and seemingly left his train to move there. I never heard from him again.

I think what this shows (from the confusion and poor operations we had) that we need to get back to solid cleaning and booster-reset the week before, with the signup sheets out, first dibs if your fingers smell of alcohol. That will make the session start smoother. Happily, Pete returned (smelling of tobacco and rusty roof water) to run 66-2, the second section. Matthew did his usual work at BETH tower, getting trains through (and even backing them to run-around chip-failed trains). The yards? Who knows? That’s yard-stuff and nobody knows what those gnomes do anymore.

TPEX-E2 rattles out of Mingo Jct. for Tipton (Kyle S)

Final note – yes, it was a difficult session yet lighting and our boosters were not the only thing sparking. Apparently some crews lost their cools under fire. Please, if you find yourselves losing it, be like Pete – go outside and air out. Everyone loses their tempers at one point or another (see: WAZU Explosion, Raymond-Wells incident). It happens. But try to keep clear of it.I don’t need any more reports, not before club elections and my family over the holidays. We are a social club as much as a train club, so keep tempers and trains on the rails, kay?

Anyway, had fun all the same, and November will even be better.

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Engineer John goes for a loads-in, empties-out approach, combining two operations into one 40+ car switching move (John DV)

A compensating-for-something Shelfton Turn sets brakes for the 5% side to Shelfton. What he doesn’t lack in horse-power, he lacks in warrants. And we never saw him again. (John DV)