I’m beginning to think these events never happen due to the lack of documentation !
Being a post whore
this post has been edited by : Rooster
Hope all have a great time! Safety should be secondary to fun. It makes better stories.
Ken Brunt said:
One shudders at the thought, Ken.
And he only lives about an hour and a half away from me, too…(http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)
" Rooster " said:
I’m beginning to think these events never happen due to the lack of documentation !
I’m thinking that there will be very few pics for quite some time, especially since the event hasn’t started yet.
" Rooster " said:
I’m beginning to think these events never happen due to the lack of documentation !
Bruce Chandler said: I’m thinking that there will be very few pics for quite some time, especially since the event hasn’t started yet.
Now you know why this keeps surfacing!
Shut Up Rooster!
OK…so now the event HAS Happened…when will we hear something, or anything about it ?
Pictures would be appreciated, and with the number of “Whiz Kids” carrying silly telephones around these days…all with cameras…pictures, you would think, would be flying around like mad…
But…please, let’s hear of the great things that may have happened, and the great times had by all…I’m sure they are worth bragging about…or you would think they would be…this silence, makes one wonder if it even happened…as David points out…!!
Don’t ignore the evidence. It must not have ever happened.
We were very unhappy to miss this year’s event. However, we witnessed our eleven year old grand daughter, Payton Golding, win and receive her first Buckle for a First Place in the Goat Tying Event at the Illinois Junior Rodeo Association State Finals. All I can say is “PRICELESS”.
Hope everyone had a great time at Train Ops 2016.
Friday and Saturday were incredibly hot and humid, around 95f (or around 35c for the rest of the planet).
The usual suspects showed up Friday for run-what-yew-brung, including Richard Beverly who brought four of his B&M diesels to haul around one incredibly heavy caboose, I suspect. Everyone ran around once or twice, then ran for the shade. Pizza was ordered and consumed for dinner.
Saturday ops started about 10:00. We only ran two complete ‘days’ of operations, and a couple trains of the third. Again, it was incredibly hot and humid, and baking in the sun drove lots of people to shade. The threat of a bad squal stopped operations right before dinner, but after dinner, we ran a few more trains in the cool of the evening.
Sunday at Stan’s was cooler, and many trains were operated. Bruce and I had a Bat House to Chama run; we pulled a Pan Am by waiting in the yard for the train to be made up, and once we pulled out of the yard, expired on time, had lunch, and ran the train in the afternoon.
All in all a fun weekend, as usual. Good to see so many friends.
Aside from sweating to death, I had a great time and would, once again, thank Bob, Martha, Stan and Debbie for a great weekend.
Am sorry we had to miss the event, but am not sorry I didn’t have to sweat that much… Was cooler here… (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-sealed.gif)
Bob, Thanks as always for hosting hopefully next years weather will be cooler. It was wonderful to see the progress on your layout and improvements you have made.
Thanks Bob and Stan. All of the CVSRy crew had a great time. I have a few pictures, but internet at the campsite was awful and we got in late this afternoon, so probably won’t dump the camera for a day or so.
Yes! Many, many thanks to Bob & Martha, Stan & Deb. It’s a great weekend and Jean and I really appreciate all of the work that goes into hosting such an event.
We got there early and it was a beautiful day! I managed to get some shots before all of the cars got put out.
Here’s a shot of Pearce, with Burke in the background.
The grade down to Majestic.
Majestic, with a nicely rusting Colliery.
Leaving Majestic, there’s a couple of new sidings. Here’s the Mine Loader at Steppes.
And the obligatory shot from the deck.
On the left: Franklin Falls, then Burke Yard, and the town of Williamsport. Leaving Williamsport, down the grade to Pearce - that’s Goodson’s with the 3 tank cars. The track circles down to Majestic. There’s a branch line (to the right of Majestic Coal) that goes down to OakHill.
The main loops around crossing over the bridge and the trestle and finally ends up in Franklin Falls - far left in the back.
Friday morning Jean and I went birdwatching over at nearby Walden Pond.
It was not nearly as dangerous as the sign would indicate. (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-foot-in-mouth.gif)
Not very many birds, but lots of folks swimming and boating. Very pretty area.
For all of you English majors, here’s where Thoreau’s cabin was.
All very relaxing and SHADY!
A side benefit is that the trail around Walden Pond comes close to the commuter rail.
Then it’s over to Bob’s for a time to socialize and informally run trains. That’s Richard Beverly way back at Franklin Falls, then Maggie (Jon & Marilyn’s niece). Bob, Jon, Marilyn.
Looking towards Burke Yard: Williamsport on the left, Franklin Falls on the right. Dead Rooster Gulch in the foreground.
Ken was here! And it’s Saturday, so time for operations.
The Canadians arrive. Doug on the left, Paul on the right. They’re taking a look at Burke Yard as Maggie looks on.
Burke Yard is a popular place to start running. Jon sets the switch while Maggie drives the train. That’s Don Sweet in between over at Franklin Falls, the other town where trains originate.
Jean and I took the 3rd train out of Burke that morning. We leave Burke yard and head around towards Williamsport.
As we head towards Pearce, the Cat Rock keeps a look out.
We have to wait for trains coming the other way. Here’s Don working Majestic.
Once clear, we move down and drop off some hoppers.
We also have some work to do at the Mine Loader at Steppes.
Our train crosses the trestle…
There were lots of visitors. Ellen and Randy are good friends of Bob & Martha but had never seen an operations session. I let them take my engine down to Oak Hill. I instructed them in some basic concepts: what a wye is, how to use a runaround to switch facing points, etc.
Ellen didn’t want to push any buttons, so she chose to be the conductor; Randy would be the engineer. (I guess I didn’t explain the jobs that well. (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-embarassed.gif))
In spite of my instruction, they enjoyed the experience and were soon headed up the grade towards Burke.
They did have a meet in Williamsport. Stan looks on.
They made it back to Burke! (Instead of another train, they decided to keep their marriage intact.(http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-foot-in-mouth.gif))
Jean and I decided to run a train from Burke to Franklin Falls. I used bottle caps to mark the cars we needed to move.
My little critter worked out well in working the yard.
Our train going under the viaduct.
We finish the run in Franklin Falls and take some more time to socialize.
On Sunday we head over to Stan & Deb’s. I get a quick tour of the changes from last year. First up is Bob’s gorgeous building. He was given the honor having the first ever building on their RR.
Down the hill, behind the shed at Chama, the excavation is about done and he has started putting down some track.
My boxcab waits to start the run. We take the “Deck Local” which heads up to Bat House Yard.
On the way to Bat House yard.
This is a very difficult railroad to photograph. It’s hard to show the long runs in the woods. We probably had 10 trains running but it seemed like no one was around. (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-laughing.gif)
Meanwhile, we finished up at Bat House yard, turned the locomotive on the wye and are returning to Deck.
Next, Bob and I decided to run from Bat House Yard to Chama. The train call sign is “BHCH” and covers almost half of the railroad.
Bat House Yard is a VERY busy place so we have to wait for our train to be built. Meanwhile, other trains are arriving.
But soon we get ready to leave.
As we leave Bat House, our first work is in Hidden Valley, we run across this “small” trestle.
We do a bit of work in Sandbox Junction then head down grade past Sublette and Cascade. We can take up to 12 cars down hill. If we were headed uphill, we could only take 9. Capacity is listed on each engine card.
Our train emerges from the tunnel on the way to Stiege.
We run around Stiege Loop to make it easier to work in Stiege.
We finish our run after turning to locomotive at Cumbres.
What a great weekend. I just wish I had taken more pictures!
Thanks again to Bob & Martha, Stan & Deb. Wonderful hosts and a great TrainOps 2016!
Happy now, Rooster? Is that enough pictures?..(http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)
Thanks… Bruce C. for all of the photo and story with them. Bob’s layout sure looks great and interesting. Looks like a great time was had on your trip.
Thank you, Bruce.