Year in Review

January and February, saw the completion of two major construction projects, the Staging Yard and the Paper Mill.

On the Building side, Ross constructed a copy of the Superior Paper Company in foam core. This provided a start to the White River Paper Company Complex. Since then WRPC Construction Division have added to the buildings at the Mill, with an addition to the Main Building for the second loading track. The Receiving Warehouse and the Chips Unloading have been added. The Foamcore Construction Company has also constructed buildings for T&T Warehousing, VGA Frozen Food Division and the Warehousing Division, and North Star Industries.


Management of the WRS has adjusted the Crews on the Railroad a few times this year to help improve operations. There has also been adjustments made to the Train Orders and Switch Lists to correct for a few issues the Crews were having.

This year seen the return of three of the Company's S4 from the Contractor after they received the Company colours. The Company also was able to pick up a pair of C424, a RS11 and 44 Tonner to help with the increase in traffic on the Railroad.

There were nine operating sessions this year. A couple new guest Crew members help operate the WRS. Two new Crew members have joined the WRS, Barry and Wayne.

WRS Management was also able to be a guest crew member on five other Railroads this year, which has helped improve operations on the Railroad.

Thanks to all the people that have made this another great year on the WRS.

Doug

Design Update

After some discussions with people over the first design there has been a few changes.

Most major change, is the Paper Mill has moved from the lower level to the upper level. This was required because a couple of the building were over twelve inches tall, which was the different in height between the two levels at the old location. Also, I wanted the buildings to be better seen by operators and visitors. This will require other changes, Roseton is now moved to the lower level where the Paper Mill was to be located. The town of Dogwood will have to be down graded as a switching area because of the Paper Mill being located above it. So it will have more scenery and less industries serviced by rail.

The Southern Yard has been re-arranged moving the Main Line and Arrivial/Departure tracks to the back of scene and the Classification Tracks to the front.

As per Scott's comments, a switch has been added between the Northern Yard and Meadows, which will go to a track in the Northern Interchange (hidden storage). This will allow for a loop on the upper level to break in locos. And it will also allow my great nieces and nephews to operate a train on my layout.

That is it for this update. There will be more changes as each area is developed.

Now back to working on the schedule for trains and people on the WRS.

Doug

Layout Visit

Our operating session this week was not on the WRS, but we when to visit David's layout. David has a very large layout and as you can see below many very well developed scenes.

PS this is only half the layout. The pictures from the other half did not turn out. Got to learn to hold the camera still and take more pictures.

Season Greetings

Doug

WRS -Southern Sub

The Southern Sub is the new lower level. With the Main Yard and the Paper Mill. This level will be around 44" as zero. There will a track that is 64 feet long around the wall, which will take you from the Southern Sub to the Northern Sub.




click to enlarge

later

Doug

WRS Northern Sub

Below is a drawing of the proposed Northern Sub of WRS. (Upper level)

Trains will enter the Northern Sub at Meadows from the rest of WRS. This level will be in the range of 60" from the floor, which will mean most of us will require a stool to operate this level. There will a ductunder (60" +-) just past Meadows to allow Crews to move in and out of the layout.


click to enlarge (I hope)

later

Doug

Update

WRS Maintenance Department has been working on the railroad improving some of the issues that have a surfaced during the last few operating sessions.

After the issues with the Freight Agent in the last operating session, improvements have been made in how the paperwork is generated. The computer will do more of the work and the Freight Agent will do less.

The Loco Shop is still working with WRS 134, the switcher assigned to the Paper Mill. It has had a mind of its own lately, taking off on its own and not wanting to restart after being put in reverse. Not sure if the issue is with the loco, or the NCE decoder. Since another S4 with the same NCE decoder had the same issues at the Dartmouth Show and would clear itself if one set of wheels were lifted from the tracks.

The Planning Department has been busy working on the addition to the WRS. The Northern Division is also complete, except for a couple passing sidings and if a fourth track is required at the Northern Yard. The report from the Traffic & Operations Division on the requirements for the Northern Division should be competed soon. The work on the Southern Division will continue over the next month.

later

Doug

Nov 30 Operating Session

Sunday saw another operating session on the WRS, with Bruce, Barry, Pierre and Wayne as the operating crew. So I was required to assist as brakeman. Sorry no pictures, they would not give me any time off.

The first session had Pierre working the Mill Job and Barry doing the Mill Run. Bruce worked the Ridge Run and then the Bar Run. Wayne and I did the Dog Run with newly acquired MEC RS11. (Note: Wayne models the MEC)

Second session had Pierre doing the Ridge Run and Bar Run. Barry and Bruce took the BAR GP-38 (visiting power) to do the Dog Run. Leaving Wayne to do the Mill Job and I to do the Mill Run. By the end of the session Wayne had a better understanding of the double slip switches in the Mill Complex.

The Freight Agent is under review, since he had cars not at the correct location on the Crews paperwork. But cars got picked up and delivered as they should have been.

We all had fun, trains moved and that is all that is important.

later

Doug