wo years ago, I was writing weekly pieces on train ops to a Facebook N-scale page. Reverend Jim and John DV know this guy who hosts it (“knew”, rather). Anyway, I’d also add our OpsLogs to his page so his readers could enjoy our massive sessions. And you know me – I try to punch up the sessions with drama and humor. Well, after one submission, the guy responds (I don’t remember verbatim – I left the page following this). Anyway, he told us me that  we needed to get better. This chaos and confusion was amateur-level stuff and clearly we didn’t know what we were doing. And that was that for me.

We ran trains last night with about 30 people (I’ll know more when I do seniority). We ran over 30 trains and had the steel mill at maximum output (all three furnaces burned). A dispatcher, two yardmasters, three superintendents. One near miss. Yes, we run lots of trains.

Nothing shows our congestion like the line situation at midnight. Below shows ONLY pre-warrants. Dark Greens and Browns show train ending destinations, the lighter colors show paths. The red blocks show that those tracks between sidings are assigned out. So yes, EVERY piece of rail has at least one warrant covering it. So, let’s see that elitist twit try this. Even our youngest members can cope. That guy should go back to his Lionel train and leave railroading to a club that runs at maximum capacity.

Here’s what I know from my dark Golem grotto: We were rolling good from the start, all trains off their start points and moving as intended. Harris Glen was a real problem early on and it was all I could do to parade trains across, three, four, or fine in elephant fashion. Calypso jammed up in the afternoon, worse than I’ve even seen it. At one point, two Westbound trains were holding in Bethlehem (or so I had written papers for this) and then Silver Bullet Two came out of a eastbound spray of trains over the summit. All I could do was run him down yard tracks in a personal moment of shame (I heard he did that in Martin Yard, too, but that was because of some “interpretation” issues with written orders (those reverends – always re-interpreting everything. And that Pittsburgh move, a slalom between two eastbounds, was ruined). For the record, I wrote something like 85-90 warrants; not the max, but I believe that session was one of the most intense ever.

414 advances the throttle and pumps air as Silver Bullet 2 glides past. All superior trains are ahead of him now. He’s got paper to Pittsburgh. (Photo John DV)

414 has cleared the midnight congestion on the river level and is now climbing to the summit, meeting 415, his empty counterpart, at Red Rock. (Photo: John DV)

Now at the Glen, 414 meets a second empty mineral train, 453, returning to the docks (Photo: John DV)

Engineer Miller prepares to run 153 West (MT racks) into the hellhole that is Bethlehem/Calypso (Photo: Christian M)

I must have done well. It might look good from the panel but it isn’t if everyone is overly delayed. But Zach came back at the end of the session and offered praise. That in itself means something. If Zach was happy, it was a really, really good session.

A couple of dispatcher notes:

• If you get a warrant that tells you to do something, do it. Do not be polite and “let the other guy go first”. Look, I ride a bike and nothing is worse than a motorist who stops in a multi-lane highway and waves me across. Follow the rules. Don’t “you first” someone into the grave.
• If you make a mistake, fine. Everyone does. But learn from it. Swear you’ll never do it again. You can even stand in the doorway while leaving and monologue about us ruing the day. Whatever works.
• If I tell you to kill someone who displays false signals at the Pittsburgh diamonds, do so. Bring me their head.
• I’ll note that our club president, a guy who runs real-world trains, is the only guy in our entire club (including the kids just starting out) who will run without a warrant. When I say something’s fishy about this, I’m not referring to the smell. Someone take him outside and explain it to him, please?
• Pick up the phone and listen before talking. Please.

Green signals! Ramming Speed! (Photo: Kyle S)

But overall, a great session. Everyone should be proud of what we accomplished. And that Facebook guy? He doesn’t even know how to get three trains by at a two-train siding.

Good run! Thanks for the fun!

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My best move of the night. X3900, a passenger Xtra, came up fast on a slower freight. Looped him around at Bethlehem in a classic overtake move. (Photo: Kaden S)

I was going to comment on just what that train was doing in the steel mill trackage, then I realized it was 974 returning from Nazareth, using the mill as a drill track for Calypso. Shorttimer Kaden watches this stunt (or shunt) from Lehigh. Good luck as your life moves on, Kaden! We’ll miss you! (Photo: Kaden S)

Calypso Yard. Currently, 973 works the cement plants, 153 holds at the passenger platform, ready to climb the hill. 414 has arrived with coal for the hungry mill furnaces. 247 eases in on track 1 with new business-flow drops for the Calypso area. Silver Bullet 2 moves past on track 2, to the shame of the dispatcher. And, to nobody’s surprise, the phone is in use. (Photo: Kyle S)

415, returning MT hoppers, rumbles down the hill with airbrakes set and dynamics coming on line. He’ll be meeting 414 down at Red Rock (Photo: Jim M)

Having operators handle all aspects of a steel mill burn seems successful. We ran all three furnaces. Here, bottle cars are dropped into the Basic Oxygen Furnace. (Photo: Pete F)