Large Scale Central

Bluestone Southern Ops May 2018

Operations
#1

May 19 -20, 2018 Bluestone Southern OPs for May, 2018.

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Last Wednesday, we had a Gateway Garden Railroad Club Wednesday morning “Gathering” at Andy and Jane’s railroad.

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The GGRRC has modeled these after the IPP&WRR of getting together on a Wednesday morning to just work on the railroad. Over the years, we’ve tried to get people to just come over and help with a certain project, run trains, see what’s going on and socialize.

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Well the Gateway Garden Railroad Club is a garden railroad club with an eating problem. There seems to be more talk and action about food than trains, in fact the last monthly meeting was held at a restaurant instead of a layout. Oh well, we live with the addiction.

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Lots of times Andy and Jane will have “a gathering” before the first Ops of the year and that was this past Wednesday morning. Trains were run. Some track maintenance was done and, of course, there was snacks and we went out for lunch afterwards. As I said, the GGRRC has an eating problem. Anyway, it was a good time and it was fun to see old friends and start the season.

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Tracks in pretty good shape. There was a few places turnouts needed to be addressed, some of the newer track needed heavy ballasting and some of the well established track needed touch up.

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Some of us get together for a meal, see there it is again, and operate on an HO layout on Friday nights. Well the next couple of weeks on Friday evening we are having a change and we are getting together on the Bluestone Southern for indoor ops or maybe even sticking our noses out the window, if the weather and the mode is right.

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May 19 - 20, 2018 is coming quick. If you haven’t made plans, give it a thought. A good time is possible and there may be a little food planned for somewhere.

#2

Hope someone takes photos of the event. I love to look at this RR! Have fun, great weather, and be safe.

#3

Photos have been taken of every session since before 2010, I imagine this one will continue the tradition.

#4

Photos have been taken of every session since before 2010, I imagine this one will continue the tradition.

#5

We heard you the first time Ric

#6

" Rooster " said:

We heard you the first time Ric

Shut up Rooster

#7

Quiet !

#8

Sean McGillicuddy said:

Quiet !

Won’t be if I make it out there. I ain’t leaving empty handed either …I’ll just borrow his AMTRASH and then let Ken return it. The old bastard has store bought phase 3 stuff that I want as it was my college fund!

#9

What College fund??? (innocent look)

I didn’t even know your could spell “'college”"… (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)

#10

He can’t. He used spellcheck. (https://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-sealed.gif)(https://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-tongue-out.gif)(https://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-foot-in-mouth.gif)

#11

Joe Paonessa said:

Hope someone takes photos of the event. I love to look at this RR! Have fun, great weather, and be safe.

Joe, you need to come out and see the layout in person. It’s a great trip. (Come in October!!!)

#12

I would love to be able to make the trip to see this RR. I have to catch up on some stuff and maybe down the road a bit, we’ll see.

#13

Joe Paonessa said:

I would love to be able to make the trip to see this RR. I have to catch up on some stuff and maybe down the road a bit, we’ll see.

You’re a tad closer than we are, but we decided to take an overnight stop on the way out, just to reduce fatigue, plus we found a nice restaurant in Corydon, IL (now closed (https://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-frown.gif)). On the way back, we do it in one day and that has also worked out. YMMV.

#14

Joyce and I are going to make the trip all the way from Lebanon . You can bet it will be a GREAT day, on the railroad and in the house !

#15

Sunday morning arrives on the Bluestone Southern trackage. Another day of great railroading fun.

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Friday was a slow, steady, much needed rain event. Not one of those days where the canoe rental was in high demand, the streams weren’t running wild, but a soaking rain for the plants and grass to really suck it up.

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This left the ground wet and muddy on Saturday morning and the afternoon muggy. However, Saturday showed a wide variety of weather was around from that damp morning and a sweltering afternoon to heavy clouds rolling in in the late afternoon. The evening was about as nice as could be described by the best of authors.

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For me, the day was a variety of setup trains. Starting with MCL2 Setup pulling 17 cars. 2 boxcars to drop off at the wharehouse in Sparta and then 15 covered hoppers to be placed at Okawville. This may have been one of the smoothest runs I’ve ever had on the BS and EWRR trackage. We’ve had 3 short events here over the last month and a lot of track maintenance as been brought up to standard and also very obvious that the groundskeepers have been working hard at vegetation control. The railroad looks great!

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My second run was the Bluefield Evansville Setup and that is an 18 car run to the Evansville Yard. Routing was a little different, but the crew followed the instructions and the task was accomplished. Must have been some maintenance on the BS mainline around Overlook or something. Management just keeps us in the dark.

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After a required rest period and some quality time with my dog, I ran the Overlook Setup of 14 cars. I was accompanied by 3 year old Rutger, his Dad and Grandfather and the 3 year old’s enthusiasm was hard to control. All kids love trains, no matter what age they are.

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Threatening skies, made us scurry to get motive power back to the Bluefield Yard and then we all watch the clouds roll through as we prepared for an evening meal and some much deserved socializing.

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0750 and the day begins.

#16

Glad you had a chance to get some Operations in. All we’ve had for the last 4 days is rain. Gonna need a bailer to get the grass done…:wink:

#17

We had a great weekend, even with all the threatening thunderstorms (most of which never materialized)… Only real deterrent was when the sun came back out, was like a sauna out there…

Everyone was happy and that’s all that counts…

#18

Andy Clarke said:

We had a great weekend, even with all the threatening thunderstorms (most of which never materialized)… Only real deterrent was when the sun came back out, was like a sauna out there…

Everyone was happy and that’s all that counts…

Didn’t happen without pics Dad!

#19

Posting from Carlock, Illinois as we move on to more train stuff and fun.

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On Sunday ran the “Overlook Local” in the morning with Dale Loyet. After lunch and a break from the heat, ran the BluEva. Tried some interesting car movement to keep the mainline open outside the Blufield Yard. This can be a big bottle neck if the rolling stock is not in the right location of the train. Track is in very good condition and pushing a long string of grain hoppers went with out a hitch. Train left Bluefield for Evansville with the manifest in the correct order.

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1545 - began hauling hauling equipment from Evansville back to the Bluefield Yard. Brought 18 cars up to the double track between Hilltop and Overlook, with Train masters permission went back to Evansville for a second train of 18 cars. Got them to the Overlook location of the first 18 and worked with the Bluefiled Yard crew to get the 36 cars into the yard.

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Retrieved the rolling stock in the Industrial Park, to complete the day’s work for this crew. Great time! The railroad runs better all the time. Inside trackage at the Bluefield Yard is amazing and a treat to operate. Amazing what a pair of those GP38’s can control.

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Thanks Andy and Jane for a great weekend! Excited for the June Ops to get here.

#20

Finally got some proofs back from the photographer…

Below is a crew at the town of Freeman Spur…

And a crew below at the town of Overlook…

And a different crew at Overlook…

Dave and I in the basement as Yardmasters…