Large Scale Central

Playing Trains

This afternoon I was out playing trains on the ol Rock, Root and Pup Poop Railway despite the temps in the 40’s and the biting wind. After running the scotchbrite pad over the rails the Alco S4 was called to duty to push the plow in case of derelict leaves and twigs got in the way. After a few laps being Sunday the first Sunday Railfan Steamer trip of 2013 hit the rails. Today the Bachmann Climax was fired up to haul 3 passenger cars, the open air car was left behind due to the cold temps. While the fans were enjoying the trip the diesel S4 put aside the plow at the Wye and continued to the main yard to pick up a work train but stopped dead in the tunnel due to dirty wheels and track I thought. This tunnel goes under a addition on the house and is about 12 feet long and the S4 was way out of reach. When the Climax came around the passenger cars were uncoupled and the steamer went into the tunnel hitched up to the S4 and dragged it out. It’s not everday a steam engine rescues a diesel. Once the trains were clear the crew (me) crawled under the house which is probably a 20" clearance and scrubbed the rails til they were shiny. Not a pleasent place to be under the house so hopefully I won’t be back there any time soon.

Once cleaned up the trains were back on their way. Sorry no photos but I think you get the idea.

When I first went out I had planned on getting a train going then to rake the yard but for some reason it was funner to keep playing trains. :slight_smile:

Its always more fun to play then do yard work. We had a great 3 days temps in the 50’s and mostley sunny. I ran friday and saturday (actually my 4 year old did all the running). I had gotten him an older HLW 0-4-0 engine but it never worked well using track power. I turned it into battery for him and now he loves it. While he ran trains I worked on the RR.

I fired up TrainOps and created train orders for a weekend run. The first order of business was to put everything back where it belongs on the indoor division then build the “set-out” train to populate the industries.

It was chilly early Saturday but by early afternoon it was pleasant to be outside. Including the “set-out” and “sweep”, 4 trains were run over the course of the afternoon. A little yard work was done in between trains,

Today we spent more time in the yard, part of it pulling up small Rose of Sharon bushes with my car. I got the front yard raked of pine debris and helped Marilyn spread some of the mulch we bought Saturday evening,

I did get to work on the railroad a little, widening the raised area at the entry to Coal Dump Curve to make room for that birdhouse building I’m working on.