o it was going to be a busy day – up at 7am. A run over to TRF Hobbies in Melbourne to pick up a gift card for the club Christmas Party. Lunch somewhere (McDonalds, it turned out, but nice anyway). And that evening, I’d have to open the club for the HO committee because nobody’s bothered to get a key (that will change). Turns out while I was there, I mopped, swapped out a dead overhead light and cleaned the toilet bowl (ugh. Some of you need to fit sights on your peters for better aiming).

So with all that going on, I could just wedge an ops session at Smiling Jacks at midday on the Yosemite Valley Railroad (NOW with Merced Falls!).

So Jack’s line is a comfortable bedroom layout, set up for three people (a dispatcher/disciplinarian, and two switch crews). Originally it had two industrial places but Jack laid a nice long run over to the aforementioned Mercer Falls) so there are three places to work. Like the Tuscarora, the clock is simply a sequential arrangement – at 1pm, these trains do these jobs. I’m all for that – it makes for some friendly casual railroading (which on the Tuscarora admittedly and specifically for September 6th didn’t happen).

So John L and I met up there, had a cookie or two, then dove in. John ran the heavy freight down from Merced Falls. I stood by in the El Portal yard to receive him and cut his consist up like a salmon from a nearby stream, serrating him into three choice cuts – 915, 931 and 951. These would be the locals that would run out. I’d have two of them.

The switching on the YVRR is always fun – there are generally some trailing and facing point switching (and in Merced Falls, it’s actually the trailing point that’s a total ass-pain). For all my work, I was using my own new Digitrax throttle and even being careful and trying to de-allocate the engine when not in use, while working the Wawaona job, I took a moment to help John with something and turned back to find that I’d shoved an intermodal car clean through the back stop and onto the ground.

The funny closeout note – wile working Merced Falls, I was building my outbounds on the “main” that goes off-layout (and into the backdrop). The last bit of track is an truss bridge. So I shoved my cars there. Later, I picked them up and ran back to the yard at El Portal. At session-end, Jack was running the full freight home to the interchange at Merced Falls and there on the truss was the final car off 916, sitting all on its own, hidden in the girders. I’d not noticed it didn’t couple and pulled away, leaving it. Well, all I can say is that I saved a round trip to Merced by leaving it there. And I blame my brakeman who didn’t ensure the final car was coupled on. Yeah, it was his fault.

Overall, I really had a good time – still, it was a long three hour session and, thinking of my own four hour ones on the Tusk, I might have to enforce a short break at the 11am switchover. It gave me some things to reflect on. Like, specifically, how I’d pissed off Pete. I guess every operations has a “tired guy”. I was close to being one at session’s-end here.

And tomorrow, I’ve going to Tampa for the WVN, so I’d better catch up on my sleep. If there is anyone more tough on operators, it’s that hosting couple. Not that I blame them – that’s a railroad that deserves and demands full attention.

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STOP THE PRESSES!

I didn’t realize that Jack was shooting pictures. I just posted this up and then saw that he’d emailed me his shots. So here’s the actual session, and not some old picture I’d dug up from 2023.