‘ve read a lot of books about World War One aviation, and the one thing that really killed early aviators (especially those with rotary engines) was spins. If they stalled and tipped into one, chances were they’d spin all the way to the ground. And that would be that.

The reason I mention this was that, while running the Ashbury hostler job (moving engines in a turntabled engine house), I put a huge steam engine into a spin. Pushed up against the fascia by a knot of people that had formed (because of elsewhere trains doing elsewhere jobs, all in my aisle space), I couldn’t quite see the address I’d toggled into the digital turntable control. Needed 23, but accidentally entered 33. Since that roundhouse position doesn’t exist, around and around I went. Embarrassing. Greg K (co-owner and host for today) came over and gave me a “turntable reboot” (I was expecting an “armstrong slap”). The only thing that lessened the shame is that Kyle did the same thing in the PM session when he took over. Oddly, I’ve never seen that happen on the line, then ONT scores the daily double.

Kyle S works Harris in the AM shift. Note the placement of the foreground brown boxcar and the green one, next track over. Buzzer noise!

After hostling (and spinning) all AM shift, the PM shift put me out on the road. Worked a Harris Turn out of Blackstone, shuffling about. Found a couple of boxcars Kyle had reverse-indexed into the classification yard (I can’t say much here since, working the Harris industries last time, I pretty much mucked up the spotting up at Hilltop and only realized it when I went to hang the cards up). The rest of my work was road running, a pleasant enough thing to do on the WVN; you just roll along with your wonderfully-controlled units, listening to the finely-tuned sounds and basking in the eyeball-aching scenery.

One thing I’ve never experienced was a traffic surge I encountered at the end of the session. I used to methodically check the string diagram and made sure all overdue trains had arrived – this time I didn’t. I believe the crews were running pretty hot and fast in the waning session (well, except West-End Donovan, who was trying to work out east and west with a pocket compass over in Asbury). Anyway, I grabbed the next train on the list, the daily scheduled work train (that shows how meticulous the Komar’s MOW effort is on the layout – they have an MOW

Our author works the PM job at Harris. If you look close, you’ll see the boxcars properly swapped. All better!

train that runs daily, on the timetable). Now, the railroad runs on a captured block method (sorta like the LM&O’s interlocking works, where you capture the signal and establish your own rights to the line). Anyway, the daily MOW was out of Clifton Forge and making its way through Harris on the main when my facing signal blinked red – oncoming traffic. Worked the braking system and got the train stopped and waited. A Harris sorting job came up (I’d already set his turnout to the siding- it’s right in the tunnel portal and I didn’t want a face-full-of-alco). Anyway, he came in but didn’t drop the signal – a second train (with helper) was also coming up. In the end, I had to back up the Blackstone branch just to give the helper room to drop off the front and allow the uphill movement (in this case, coal) to slip by. Now, I’ll mentioned that a year or so back, the same thing happened with a goofball crew at this point (with cars all over the place) and it was such a cock-up that Gail shut us down prematurely (I think she’d had enough of the troglodytes – it had been a rocky session). This time, their “A-Team” (as our hosts nicely called us) literally worked it out on the ground, getting everything out of the way and getting four movements past in tight confines – it was actually fun to watch when good operators pull something like this off.

Donovan works Ashbury. I could hear his muttering over in Harris.

But that was only the start. I followed the helper down through the winding mountain scenery (looking for fresh beer cans the helper crew tosses overboard in place of fusees). He (well, “she”) tucked out of the way in Elkwood but then I saw Kyle taking a coal train into the siding just ahead at Darby. Set up a quick verbal meet with him, my work train going down the main. Just as I got there, in came Royal with a PFE movement, following the coal. This was one of these moments that, had I known he was coming in, I’d had held at Elkview and allowed the reefers to speed by. The advantage of not having a dispatcher is that you can blame him for everything. Anyway, Kyle got the black diamonds on with professional moves and rolled out, Royal right on him. I didn’t see how it resolved in Elkview (I’m hoping Gail ran the PFEs upgrade to Harris first (you did, didn’t you, Gail?). As for me, the PFE was the last train and so I just rolled it down the New River waterlevel, just enjoying running the train.

For me (outside of they dizzying turntable episode) it was a flawless session. I didn’t find any reason to meet any other operators outside for a pounding (or later, in a blogging). The group ran great, lunch was great, and traffic home was non-existent (Kyle and I looped up through The Villages and shared cringes at the stucco mausoleums there). Again, thanks for the Komars for allowing us to join that august assembly and run trains on their absolutely perfect layout*

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* Well, except for the turntable addressing thing.

All photos Greg K!

Gail rolls the vanish through East Ashbury, happy since we didn’t break her session. Maybe we’ll be able to come back.