OpsLog – LM&O – 8/26/2015
OpsLog – LM&O – 8/26/2015
onight was a pretty amazing night at the club, full of all sorts of highs and lows.
Route 50 is just a disaster, especially when it rains. It’s like running on a layout with a new dispatcher, everyone waiting for each other. When I finally got out, I saw four cars in the parking lot. Well, this was shaping up to be a disaster. But eventually people trickled in, held up by the road delays. We actually staffed up for a pretty decent session.
I gotta say, it all was worth it early on in the session – had 202 on the siding with Silver Bullet 2 passing, running up to Mingo on the main. Up the line, the Mingo Turn was just out of Martin Yard, having gone through the crossover to work Patterson Quarry and then on to Mingo (when he’d go into the industrial track). Then Zanesville Turn called from Martin. Things were stacking up. Tossed out a really strange order to him – something I’d never attempt if my career was on the line – telling him to proceed up track 1, restricted speed, and into the siding at Mingo. This way, regardless of who got to Mingo first, one would go into the industrial, one into the siding. They both clearED as I was kicking out a warrant to Silver Bullet 2 to proceed to Pittsburgh Station once both locals arrived, with 202 running under restricted orders to not foul ahead of SB2, but ride his observation car to Martin Yard. Man, and it all clicked just the way it was supposed to. When Zanesville Turn called in the siding at Mingo, I told him I was glad he was still alive.
And later in the session, the wallwart under Martin blew again. Frank, yeah, you thought it could carry the load – it didn’t. So I dropped what I was doing at the panel, ran in, borrowed some jumpers and, with another wallwart from the back, rewired the Martin Peninsula as trains were still running, getting two yards back online in five minutes. We really need to fix that.
While I was under there, Yardmaster Matt ran back to cover my panel. After the session, I found out why. There must have been twenty cars in Martin without yard track destinations. Zack and I went out to one of the trains and found a total scramble on the consists. If all the trains are this bad, Bruce and I are going to have a very interesting (i.e. long) routing session. Seriously, Matthew, I’m going to be amazed if I find any correct car placements!
Anyway, it was a long, exhausting, grueling, yet fun session. Glad we were able to staff up enough to run. And the three passenger trains we ran – they all came in on the dot!