hat I’m going to tell you can save your life!”

This was my attention-getting opener for my clinic on Time Table & Train Order and, as hoped, really got attention and jacked everyone up in their seats.

Al Sohl held this clinic/open house at his place – it wasn’t really an NMRA “official” event, just his club hosting clinics and an op session for people to have fun. I was third up; Eric M and Chip P had already gone (very good clinics on how the Western Bay scenery and how to present to judges for your show-pieces in working towards a Master Model Railroader certificate). Then there was me, followed by visiting west-coasty Joel Morse, who runs the New York Ontario & Western Railway. That was a clinic I’d have paid to see – he talked about all the considerations that go into making your layout operational; I found myself nodding along. Next time I’m over there (possibly for La Mesa) I’ll have to beg a session out of him.

My words fill the hearts of the crews with dread as they discover what they are in for!

My session was about (of course) TT&TO, something I love which the Western Bay runs on. I’ve been working for years to edge them towards it and it seems we are almost there. Anyway, since TT&TO is pretty new (or old?) territory for most operators, Al had asked for me to present it and the crowd seemed very receptive towards my presentation.

I don’t know why I suddenly realized this but while sitting in the crowd, watching Chip wind down, I suddenly realized that my clinic repeats itself at one point. Some quick card editing and a toss of one card and the speech was a little tighter. So, yes, that was good.

And after pizza and things, we went out to run trains.

Took the dispatcher curtained cubby. Unfortunately, we were a little short (John L had to drop out for a family emergency, so it was just Jim M and Terry B from ONT, with Smiling Jack Ferguson in our contingent). Jim took on a slightly different Station Operator footprint (Navajo, Placerville Junction and Dulce. He and I have worked this layout together for several sessions over the last year or two and he’s got my back on this (especially when Al takes off his headset and wanders off).

The session was great. Even with a lot of newbies, everyone was rolling hot (my only issue was that even though I’d gathered the conductors and reminded them that they needed to obtain clearances before coming onto my iron, they uniformly did not, meaning I had to hold them at their first official station and have their conductors come in and fetch them. But I worked around it.

We were supposed to run an extra during the session – the assigned crew would run it when they could find time. I’m not being critical and everyone runs how they see fit, but Extra 51 came out behind 123 and followed him east on the First Division. I thought he should have pushed a little tighter and nipped around 123 at Dulce but that’s experience talking – in my first time as an extra operator at La Mesa, I was so timid that Steve King (the father of TT&TO ops) chewed me out. So yeah, X51 had to hold at Dulce to meet opposing 124 (since 123 and 124 would be meeting at short little Alpine). Hey, the thing about TT&TO – you run how you deem it safe (and it’s easier to be a back-tender conductor when your ass isn’t in the engineer’s seat).

That was suppose to be THE extra but it turns out a freight working Dulce goofed up their pickups and setouts. Rather than face Al’s scorn, they decide to run extra back before end of session to fix it. Their run would be Alamosa to Navajo to Ute Junction (where the line cuts away to the second division, the turnout and its signals controlled by me) to Dulce. Since we didn’t know how they’d get home (back west or continue east) I only gave them rights to Dulce and we’d work out their return at that point.

But the ultimate cool thing thing was that regular freight 391 would also be using the route (up to Ute Junction, when it would run the second division) at the same time as the local! This was CLASSIC TT&TO, and I actually had to poke my head out of the curtains to see how it would play out.

And it really was TT&TO. The extra chuffed down the Navajo siding, passing 391 with a brakeman running ahead to throw the lead turnout and flag 391 to hold. Hot words were exchanged as the extra picked up speed out of town, the brakeman swinging back aboard. I’d lined up Ute so they’d stay on the first division and they ran at track speeds to Dulce where they fell into their work with haste. They did work out with the superintendent (grumpy that we were going through these moves) that they would run back tender-first to Alamosa). I wrote up the return order. But here was the deal…

Evan impresses the crusty dispatcher as handles his train like a pro.

391 (delayed by the extra’s passing) was working Navajo and cleaning up to leave “on the advertised” (their young engineer Evan impressing the shit out of me because he’d actually listened to my clinic and was now a TT&TO hogger). I carried the order over to Jim M at Dulce who gave the extra their ticket to Alamosa. I then pointed to the departure semaphore, reminding them that signaled the Ute Junction alignment. Since 391’s departure was coming up soon, it was aligned to second division. If the extra departed and ran the signal, they’d go on the ground in the snow-shedded turnout and Al would eat their livers. Conductor Eric looked up from their paperwork and nodded. “Understood”. I looked to Jim. “Call me if they are ready to go and want to try to run to Alamosa before 391 departs.” It was a real race against time. And 391, already pissed with X51, would plow them given half a chance. The animosity was delicious!

Back in the cubby, I was watching the clock. It was 1:50 PM, ten minutes before 391 would roll out of Navajo.

“Dispatcher, this is Dulce. X51 is ready to depart.”

Really? Wow. This was knife-edge stuff. I don’t even know if I’d cut it this close. But it was their call. I threw the Ute Junction turnout, raising the exit signal out of Dulce. Then I poked my head out to watch.

X51 was backing at track speeds, holding their breaths to clear the shed before 391 rolled. Jim and I stood in the DS doorframe, watching. 1:53… 1:54… 1:55. Suddenly the tender emerged. 391’s conductor threw the turnout to line the extra down the siding. They cleared with two minutes. I reached in an realigned Ute to second division. Once the extra had cleared, right on the dot, Evan leaned into his throttle and 391 rolled out of Navajo.

Standing next to me, Jim smiled. “391, departing Navajo at 2:00 PM.”

I nodded back. “Got him out at 2:00 PM.” Then I leaned into the cubby and updated the sheet.

TT&TO the way it was meant to be.

Thanks to the Western Bay club for making this all possible!

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Eric conducts with jabs and curses in his Capt Bligh persona. Terry and Jack endure.