t was a quiet night at the club, one of our Friday Night “Just Run Trains” events. I usually go to them to be the troubleshooter/babysitter (you gotta have a senior member present, if only to unlock the gates and door, and to plunger the toilet, right?). Since Zeus was up from Miami and not much was going on, we tugged Tuscarora out, quickly set it up and ran a fast session, just tower and local.

Zeus took first shift running while I did leverman. There wasn’t much to say about it, which (like an airplane flight) is really how you want it to be. We worked through the various trains. I was a bit rusty as leverman; it’s always that way (I’m not as fast as the young guys). I did bungle a lever op or two but otherwise we got through to noon when we switch over.

MT-1 rolls down the final grade into Tusk Coast at 12:30 AM, dead on the dot.

Only two things went wrong in the later half of the session (and since it’s evenly divided, I’m not shoveling blame all on one guy (especially me)). It’s like spitting a cookie, one with, perhaps, little turd-chips instead of chocolate.

So yes, when I came through with an eastbound freight, I was due to pick up a tank car at the outer industrial. Of course, it wasn’t there. Just like my last session, the freight crew was delighted that they had rumble around a twilight industrial area, looking for the car (obviously, it was at Jacobs Petroleum). It was a trailing point move but I had to run the zipper to get there so Zeus got instant karma as he worked the levers. That was on him.

Mine was when I ran over to Easton to work that town. I don’t want to explain all that I needed to do – I was on the siding with cars in front and back of me. The caboose was in the wrong place. So I started making my moves and suddenly (about a half-dozen levers in, and half-way through a runaround) realized that the caboose move was a total newbie move that I’d overlooked. This mean that something that should be been done as part of a greater move resulted in more lever-throwing indexing. Zeus suffered that one. And that was on me.

Shunting cars, it’s what the Tuscarora family of ops sessions are all about. And yes, everyone blew at ever grade crossing.

But you know, those were two small failures in what was just fun and casual operations between friends. And Zeus knows my layout almost better than I do. My whole Easton Turn (an imagination-station pretend scenario) that always requires a suspenson of disbelief and muttered death threats – he’s comfortable with now. So I ran 612 over, messed up the caboose-move and puttered back on 613. Just an easy session with a good friend who knows the layout nearby as well as I do.

And this is what Tuscarora is all about.

Thanks, Zeus! (And all photo credits are his!)

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The AM leverman watches the Drill return to Tusk Coast. Since we’re using ACL power, this is officially a “Tusk Coast” session.