OpsLog – TBL – 2/1/2025

OpsLog – TBL – 2/1/2025

ecided on this nice open weekend to head over to the club for a quiet solo run of the Tuscarora Branch Line. The wife came along to read in the back (that’s what she said, anyway) and Pete came out, and later, Mike.

So that became a bit distracting. We were either talking or putting run-through, time-jump units on the line. I was trying to run the tower and the scheduled jobs (and didn’t do very well with either). JB and Pete took a mess of pictures. So yes, some blunders on my part.

The worst goof was setting out the afternoon outbounds on the outer industrial for WE-1 to scoop up. This I did not do. I only spotted it when a later Eastbound freight came in – the C&O box was sitting over in the freight house, a pain in the ass facing point pick-up. I could imagine in the failing light the crew calling the Dispatcher for their missing car (not in the Outer Industrial as detailed on their typewritten orders). Then the Dispatcher calling the Station Operator, and then everyone going out into the dark to find the missing car. Then I had to run the zipper to get up into the spur, then shove the car down the east main, then runaround once to get behind my train and push it together, and then runaround again to get on the head end.

Let me tell you – if you are going to miss a move on the Tuscarora, don’t let it be that one.

Not “The” New River Bridge, but “A” New River bridge. Bill White’s river is coming together!

Bitching Betty waves from TUSK (A late photo entry by Pete F)

I’ve been thinking about this other thing for a while now. Late session pickups (like the one I missed doing) should be re-dropped up in Bexley. Then after the Eastern Turn, before TW-1 lights out of town for an evening departure, there is the clumsy move to fetch out the Bexley car. I’ve been thinking about this a lot and decided to just hang onto the car (and not worry about two nearly back to back car-handlings). It’s actually more fun to run the car up the Easton, do your switching work around it, then come home with it.

Truthfully, I’d added the two deadhead PRR cars to my run. With those and the fetched out box, my turn to Easton was about five cars, a respectable Tuscarora run. So I’ll be changing the orders to skip that Bexley busywork. Makes the session run smoother, and honestly, that late in the session, we are just looking at finishing up.

I did a little light scenery around Westly, just to get a jump on it before the river goes in. Have to check it Monday night.

But even with all the pictures and chats and calls for help (honestly, Pete kept me busy with dragging fuel tanks, broken grab irons and requests for canopy glue), I still had a great time.

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All Photos Jane Raymond

Midnight under Moonlight. MT-1 rattles down the final grade into Tuscarora.

Pete crashes my Ops Party, running his sci-fi engine through my 1962 world.