If you count the setup on Friday, today will be the 3rd day of Ops in October at the Clarke’s. Both Friday and Saturday, we have been plagued by high winds but trains have run. Around a dozen people were there for yesterday and even with high winds, everything went well. Track is in very good shape with only minor maintenance needed in a few areas. Jane and Andy have been working hard at maintaining the railroad through the Pandemic. Some video and pictures were shot, but whether they make it past the cutting room floor is always open to discussion. It all cranks up again around Noon today and weather is forecasted for late afternoon, so results may vary. (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)
Sunday’s OPs was operated with a looming threat of much needed rain coming in the afternoon or evening. Nice morning and it got into the 70’s. Operated the “Ossipee (sp?) Timber Turn” on the switchback climbing the hill toward the County Line Trees on the south edge of the Clarke’s property. I had not operated this before and used a single GP-38 to climb the hill with the tourist cars. At the Lumber Camp the disconnects and skeleton cars were ready to be hauled down the hill. Left the Tourist cars at the camp and worked the log loads down to the mill outside of Evansville, Indiana. Did a caboose hop back to the top to retrieve the tourists that were enjoying the camp and higher cooler temps. Once everything was at the bottom of the switchback, we worked our way back towards Blufield through Evansville and Overlook on the Hilltop Sub. Look forward to running next time with the geared engines, that were being shopped and unavailable. What a great run!
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The rain held off until 1600 and as we left the Clarkes’, we were in rain before getting to Nashville, Illinois. By the time we were the 28 miles north in Carlyle, there was 1/8 of an inch of rain in our gauge and by this morning, we have had just under 3 inches of much needed rain. It is so dry, there is literally no run off. We have had terrible cornfield fires around us over the weekend. Pretty spooky stuff. Almost feels like California on some days.
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Another great weekend of Operations at the Clarke’s. It was the last scheduled run for 2020 and I don’t think anyone will miss this year getting done. Already planning for 2021 and really looking forward to it.
Was a great weekend… I thank everyone that could attend… Being as I had medical problems since last summer and
unable to almost nothing, Jane has been working overtime all during the spring, summer and the beginning of fall to
get the railroad in shape for this OPS…
Also would like to thank Ric, Mark G, and Tmark for their help running trouble shooting trains for a few Fridays
before the OPS… Very much appreciated…
Edited to add: Pictures were taken, but will be a few days before I get them all lined up to post…
Andy Clarke said:
Edited to add: Pictures were taken, but will be a few days before I get them all lined up to post…
Glad to hear that! As a picture taker, I can certainly understand the amount of work necessary to get them posted - so no rush! Just happy to know it was a good weekend - and so sorry to have missed it!
Will start the pictures with operations on the Switchback… These tracks were not actually prepped
to be used during this Ops session, so not geared loco’s were charged… As you can see in the
pictures, an Alton & Southern GP-38 was used as power… Tracks were maintained during the
first climb to the top…
The below picture is kinda of an overall shot of the switchback… Tracks at the bottom are the
freight Yard at Evansville… Brain Post is at the top, talking to Jo Ann who is painting the backdrop
in my basement.
Below is Brian Post operating the Geep coming down from the top… Also with Brian is his dog, Bosco.
The below shot is at the top of the switchback…
more to come
During Sunday’s Ops, Ric decided to run the switchback…
Below is an overall view… The bridges in the foreground are on the Memphis sub… Bridge behind
it is the bridge that leads into Freeman Spur, which is to the left… Going up the hill is the switchback.
Below is a shot looking kind of from the opposite side… The lumber mill at the base of the switchback
is the green building area just behind Matt R who is operating the coal train… Towards the middle of the
picture is Freeman Spur… To the right, you can see one leg of the switchback.
Below is TMark working Overlook… The double tracks to the right is the Hilltop Subdivision…
Below is a shot of the Overlook Local moving thru Bluefield heading for the Bluefield Yards…
Below is traffic on the Sparta Sub in Bluefield… The red building in the lower part of the picture is
Jane’s Milling… That manufactures Metal parts for other industries… the track that the logging
equipment is on is used to set up trains or other folks engines to operate… In this instance, we had
set up the logging train to run out to the base of the switchback.
More to come…
Below are some shots of the Coal train being operated… Matt R is operating it as it runs thru Woodlawn.
Below it is departing Woodlawn, heading for the Memphis Subdivision…
Below is an overall shot from Overlook looking back towards the house.
Below is an overall shot looking from Freeman Spur across Woodlawn and towards Overlook at the top
of the picture…
And still more to come…
Cousin Matt operated that consist 1 handed !
The Freeman Spur Local departing Bluefield.
And departing Sparta…
And departing Woodlawn.
Mark G arrived at Freeman Spur to work the industries…
Work completed, the local is heading back to the Bluefield Yards…
more…
Jan G was my yardmaster during this session and did a fantastic job…
A shot from the back of the basement towards the window that runs outside…
Shot of the crew lounge… Left to right, Mark G, My Mom, Ric standing…
Left to right, my Mom, Ric still standing, and TMark…
Enjoy…
I see some AML covered hoppers that aren’t being used. They need to find a new good home. I’m willing to adopt them?
Craig Townsend said:
I see some AML covered hoppers that aren’t being used. They need to find a new good home. I’m willing to adopt them?
Craig, when we have a full blown Operating session, they are all in use… So Sorry… (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)
Andy,
What a beautiful home and layout! Might you share a drawing of your layout, it looks to be huge?
Michael
Andy Clarke said:
Craig Townsend said:
I see some AML covered hoppers that aren’t being used. They need to find a new good home. I’m willing to adopt them?
Craig, when we have a full blown Operating session, they are all in use… So Sorry… (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)
Haha. Actually I’ve now seen about a half dozen of these for sale on Facebook in the last two weeks. Too bad I’m spending my hobby money building the new layout. One wonders if AML will ever rerelease these ( or that infamous GP60).
Looks like a good time was had by all. Sorry I missed it. Looks like the weather cooperated, too.
I can see who Andy gets his smile from … (https://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)
It looks like you all had a good time … Jane the Pike looks great !
Thanks for all of those pictures - the railroad looks great and it looks like a great time as well.
Due to the circumstances of the Covid-19, the amount of folks attending was much smaller than other
Octobers… But, we all had a great time… Weather was about perfect… Not too hot, nor too cold…
Rain on Sunday held off until we got all the Pickup trains back into the basement…
Folks that couldn’t attend were missed…