I don’t think we’re in Pennsylvania anymore…

???

So, maybe it was the OpsLog title that cued you, Tusk Valley? Or the picture of Espee power working East Tuscarora with one of those signature brown boxcars sitting at door 1 of the freight house? Are you honestly saying that one of the world’s smallest layouts has a new ops location – again?

So first there was Tuscarora (officially Tuscarora Branch Line). That was all Pennsy stuff for the first year we ran it. Then it did a cameo as Tusk Hill (an English Midland’s railroad). And then a college kid brought in Tusk Coast (which is the ACL line running down through Georgia and Florida. And recently, that dovetailed with Interstate RS’s running coal down from the Carolina foothills (and encountering snow requiring plowing).

A crew pauses – this signal doesn’t show up in the Southern Pacific Railroad rulebook. What to do?

But now, my buddy Jack (owner/operator of Yosemite Valley Railroad, which I’ve had the delight of operating on), wanted to run local from his perspective. Since I also have my own (somewhat defunct) Cuesta Grade, it was really no big deal to set today’s op session to the Central Valley of California (the section of the Coast Route running through Salinas and King City), toss on one of Jack’s movers (we don’t get a lot of six-axle power here because of the tight curves) and away we went. The off-road boxcar was replaced by an SP one (lifted from the club’s Nazareth freight house) (wow! A transcontinental house-to-house run) and I tacked on my most recent caboose (hoping for better weight and wheels). Also, the usual LM&O refer was swapped with one of my PFE cars and it was California or Bust for our light session.

There wasn’t much to say about the session – since it was a two-man gig, Jack ran the scheduled trains and I was leverman, working the tower. I hardly get a chance to do this – there’s usually a line. Still, I’m not as fast as Zach and Kyle at it and Bitching Betty came out to reprimand me a couple of times. Still, if we’re going to find fault, I noticed that some of the locals were jumping their signals, and motorists on California 101 reported a bloody nose unit almost becoming more bloody.

People come to Westly. Three miners walk up the street to their pit. The proprietor of the general store (mine script only) calls down to them. A woman with a baby waves to her husband, praying for no cave ins. A woman pays a young mower for his efforts. And a possum gets into the back door trash. Another day on the west end.

But we ran through the paces the way the layout was designed – light switching, some open running, just that casual way the TBL (or TC or TV runs) (alas, TH is not so “casual”) works under. We had a good time with Jack calling the shots (and learning the various tricks) and me getting a bit better by the end of the session on those levers. In the end, we did a new move I’ve been considering – if you aren’t restaging for another session, just let the final train – EM-2 or the “PeeDee” – head directly in. Since everything’s coming up anyway, why not. And it’s nice to see that last train rattle away in proper fashion, winding along that river valley and into the tunnel above Bexley (where it thumps into the foam backstop hidden there).

Ah yes, another day and another session. And now I can collect a reciprocal run on the Yosemite. Watch this space for details!

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All photos Jack F. Thanks, Jack!

The End