Sunday, December 30, 2012

The White River Paper Co is now know as White River Board & Fibre


The White River Paper Co. is now known as White River Board & Fibre Co.  This change all started last June when I attended a clinic presented by Steve Mc about operations on his railway Carleton Railway http://carletonrailway.blogspot.com/ .  Part of the clinic was on the research he did for each of the industries on the railway.  My original plan for the Mill was to convert recylced paper into paper towels.  During my research I found out the largest use of recylced paper is to produce cardboard.  This is the first change in the Plant, during my research I found a paper on the chemicals required to produce different types of cardboard.  To produce a printable outer layer for cardboard, will require #2 coating clay and calcium carbonate, which are both shipped by 40ft tank cars that I have had to retire in the original plan. The other chemicals are shipped in box cars, 30ft tank cars,  and covered hoppers.  The Board Mill has at present has two 250 tons per day board machines, one machine produces the outer printable layer of the cardboard and the second machine produces the inner layer of the cardboard.  The middle layer is produced at another mill.  These layers are rolled on tubes to produce large rolls which are shipped out to a plant to produce the cardboard for boxes.

A few of the tracks at the Mill now have  different uses.  The second track in the Receiving Warehouse is now for boxcars carrying chemicals in boxes or drums.  The liquid chemical track does not change.  The old Airslide Track is now for Airslides and covered hoppers.  The old covered hopper track is now the Board Mill Shipping Warehouse.

The other mill, which housed the old shipping warehouse, is now the Fibre Mill.  This mill is based on a mill that I worked at when I was going to University.  One of the products of the mill is egg cartons,  you know the ones you get with a dozen eggs.  Other products in the family include berry boxes, plates you get your pizza slice on, the holder to carry your drinks at the fast food restaurant, the tray to hold fruit in shipping boxes, just to name a few products. 

The annex on the Mill has been removed and this track will be used to hold empty boxcars before going to the Fibre Mill and Bunker "C" unloading.  Because of the temperature requirements of the drying ovens, steam from the Boiler Plant can not be used, a Bunker "C" boiler has been installed to meet the requirements of the drying ovens.

The three outside tank unload spots on the old arrangement have be removed at present. 
The overall traffic at the two Mills will be down a few cars for now with these changes.

until next time

Doug

Saturday, December 15, 2012

Update Again

Time for another update.  Cleaned up the layout a  little so I could take a few pictures.

The first two are of Whiskey Falls, which replaces the old Bartown section.  There are now six industries in Whiskey Falls, Inland Cement, Team Track, Blue Circle Flour, Tank Unloading, A&C and W&S.


This is a view of the Team Track and Inland Cement

This is the view in the other direction, Blue Circle Flour is on the right, tank unloading upper middle, team track lower middle and A&C top left

 

This is the Farm Scene, which was the last UMG module that I built.  My plan as stated in the last post, was to install this module between Leo's Feed and R&C in Roseton, but things changed.  My plan was to increase the distances between the towns of Dogwood and Roseton and convert the old Bartown area to a rural scene with a couple small industries.  Then I used the old center section of Bartown to bridge the gap in the layout, a major town appeared instead of the rural scene.  So the module was moved again and place between Whiskey Falls and Roseton.  Ok I prefer "Ops".
This is the old UMG module, it needs some work
A couple views of Roseton.  The major change for now is the lost of Inland Cement, other may come later.
This is the view of Roseton from the Farm

This is view from the centre of Roseton
 The new "Ops" paper work is almost finished.  Need to run a few tests.  Also all the Train Orders and Schedules will have to be adjusted.  Ok completely revised.

Looking for the first Operating Session in the early January.

thanks

Doug
 

Saturday, November 17, 2012

Update Time Again

Tonight a test run was make over the "new" area between Whiskey Falls and Riverside.  I am not sure if this is the final arrangement, but I wanted to get the WRS rolling again, so I reworked some of the bench work that I had removed.  The other major change in the landscape happened at the other end of Roseton.  One of my old UMG modules was put back in service and added between Leo's Feed and R&C Transfer.  This required the removal of Inland Cement.  The module is just a place holder until I start the river scene.

Now it is time to start the clean up process and to finish a couple little item to complete this phase of the project.  Which may not happen until next week, since this week will be spend getting ready for the Dartmouth Train Show.

Pictures will follow once all the "junk" has been removed from the layout.

Doug

Saturday, October 6, 2012

No the WRS has not disappeared

I was looking and it has been three months since the last posting.  Where has time gone.

Construction on the WRS did not happen this summer as planned.  Still looking at options on dealing with the issues that came up with the removal of the bar.  Time to make a choice and move on with it.

The Railroad did operate once this summer, received a call that two most senior members of the Board of Director (my Great Nephews) were coming the next day to operate.  So the next 24 hours was spend getting the Railroad ready for them.  Trains operated from the South Yard to Whiskey Falls.  Which is now the end of the line until the section from Whiskey Falls to Riverside is replaced.
Most of the session was flats moving construction equipment to different locations on the railroad.  The interesting thing that came out of this session, was they found some 20 ft containers that were in storage and place them around the railroad as buildings, some of these will be staying.

Most of the summer railroading time was spend on the On30, with weekly construction nights. A total of six new modules were added to the group.  Also did a little work/repairs on Wayne's and mine modules.

Last Sunday, I attended the MFMR Clinic day in Truro.  The four clinics were great and I did learn a few things.

Now with the Truro Show less then a week away, it is time to get the On30 stuff packed for the show.

I am hoping that after the Truro Show, I will be able to get back to work on the WRS.

until next time

Doug

Saturday, July 7, 2012

Update

Time for a little update of what is happening on the WRS.

This morning, a train moved on the WRS, completing a run it started a month ago.

With a roughly twenty foot hole in then layout, The Electric Department of the WRS moved the Command Centre to the South Yard from Whiskey Falls.  They also upgrade the main bus line for the Paper Mill and Dogwood.  Dogwood needed it, Dogwood is series of old UMG modules with plugs ever four feet.  A couple of the modules had smaller then normal wire gauge on the main bus.  One of the modules had the two wires in reverse order because of the way the module was installed into the setup.  It took the Electrical Department  some time to find this and correct it.

The Bar is gone, there are four or five lumber piles, that will have to sorted.  Some of the lumber will be reused on the layout, some on other projects and some will find it way to the wood stove.

On the Other Project, research on industries is continuing.  The Paper Mill be not be a Paper Mill.  It will now produces two different products from recycled paper and cardboard.  More on this later in another post.  Also looking at what industry that will be replaced and what industries that will be taking their place.

later

Doug

Saturday, June 23, 2012

The Other Summertime Project

There is a second project this summer.  A couple year's ago I moved the Paper Mill by adding a balloon between Dogwood and Paper Mill, this area is now know as Greenfield, home of Green Mountain Limestone.  As you can see in the picture below there was not much room between Greenfield on the right and Bartown on the right.  Maybe two and a half feet at the most.  If someone was working Bartown, which did not happen on a regular basis, and if someone needed to get by, he had to stop and move to where Dave is standing.


As of today, the Bar, which came with the house,  is gone.  And there is a major hole in the railroad as the Bartown  secton was also removed.

After I finish cleaning up the "mess" from removing the Bar.  I will look at how the railroad is going to run thru the "new" space.  I want to have at least three feet if not four feet between the bench work.

Will update once I know more.

Doug

Sunday, June 10, 2012

Fall Out part 1

At the MFMR Convention Steve Mc presented a great clinic called Developing Realistic Model Railway Operations.  A few of the items that he presented will cause changes on the WRS. 

The first item is to develop a history of the railroad and why certain things are done the way they are.  Some of the history is in my head, which now going to be writen down this summer.  Some will take time to develop, like why WRS is still using cabooses.

Next major item is to list what each industry on the Railroad is, what they produce and what is received and what is shipped.  For some industries this is easy, others are just building with names on them.  More time will be spend doing research.

The second half of this is to list where (Company name and location) and how (which railroads) the item being shipped to or received from.  This will happen later, since at present this info is not on the paperwork the crew is handed.  Steve uses car cards and the WRS uses switch lists.  I am not sure there is room for this info, specially now that type of car has been added to the switch list.  I do not think the crews would like it if I when to an 8 font.

Steve also discussed developing a time table for the layout.  A form of this will now be required, since of another change that is happening on the WRS.  In the Fall, there will be a new operations plan.  The local switchers at Dogwood, Roseton and Riverside, are going to replace.  There now will be three North bound and three South bound Peddler Freights, which will service these area.  This was done to get regular service to Riverside & Bartown.  There will be two or three Main Line Freights, running between the Yards and serving the Mill.  They may also be doing drop offs and pick ups at sidings on route.  Since at present there is only one siding that will allow meets, which is the newly extended siding in Roseton.

It is going to be a busy summer.

Doug

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Report - Ops on the Fly Session

On Sunday of the MFMR Convention an "Ops on the Fly" session / open house happened on the WRS.  I had nine people visit the WRS and six even operated.

First, I would like to thank Scott, Derwin and Ewen from PEI for helping with hosting the event.  This was Ewen first visit to the WRS.  I believe during the day he was able to do all the jobs on the mainline.  Derwin was in charge of the North Yard Operations and did get out on the layout when he was not busy.  Scott did the South Yard once he had the Wi-Fi working so he could use his I-phone as a throttle.


Scott connecting the Wi-Fi to the WRS.
Ewen and Derwin working White River Paper Mill
The next operators to arrive were Ronald from Campbellton, NB ( http://www.chaleurrail.com/)  and Jean-Luc from Quebec.  After the tour and a few questions about the WRS, they headed out with the train for the White River Paper Mill.

Ronald and Jean-Luc operating at White River Paper Co.
Later in the day we were joined by Steve Mc of the Carleton Railway (see side bar for link), after touring the layout, he headed out with the Roseton Switcher.

Scott on the left switching Dogwood and Steve on the right working the Roseton area


It was an interesting day, we had three new operators, (Ronald, Jean-Luc and Ewen)  and also learned a few things with the questions that were asked.  A few items have already been added.  A few will take time for them to happen.  We also had a few people who just came to look at the railroad.  
I made a small mistake on my paperwork that I handed out and some people believed it was going to be a complete operating session lasting 4 hours, which they did not have time to attend because of distance they had to travel to return home and not just a series of small Local Runs, which you could do one to more.  

Steve Mc also did a clinic on Saturday on Operations, more on the fallout from this clinic on the WRS in a upcoming post. 

thanks

Doug

Monday, May 28, 2012

Ops on the Fly

This Sunday I will be hosting an "Ops on the Fly" session from 10 to 2ish for those in town for MFMR Convention.  I have made a change from the normal WRS Ops to back when the WRS began to operating sessions.  Each Area will be serviced by a Local Train.    At present I have 4 trains staged for the Mill and 4 trains staged for Riverside / Bartown in the North Yard, and 5 for Dogwood / Greenfield and 5 for Roseton / Whiskey Falls in the South Yard.  Also working on the paper work for more trains, which will require a switcher(s) to work the North and/or South Yards.

If you need instructions to find the WRS, see me at the NBR&N On30 layout at the Show.

Now back to list of things I have to get done by Friday.

Doug

Monday, May 7, 2012

MFMR Convention

The Convention will be held June 1st, 2nd and 3rd in Halifax, almost my backyard.  For more info see http://halifaxmodeltrains.ca/

 My orginal plan was to host an Ops Session on the WRS on Friday night for people who are from out of town, but a few things have came up.  The control system used on the WRS is also used on the NBR&N On30 layout.  My plan was to use a Zephyr to set up the layout on Friday Night and then install my Chief system on Saturday morning but with the issues at Shearwater, I had to dig my Booster out of hiding to provide more power to operate all those sound units.  So I am going to need more time then just an hour on Saturday morning to set up for the first time on NBR&N Layout, you know what happens when you pushes one's luck. 

The WRS will be open on Sunday for visitors, who wish to stop in and see the Railroad.  I will have a few trains staged so you can do a little switching on the layout.  I will be running the trains as Locals instead of Main Line trains with Switchers doing the local work.  You will have the Choice of following jobs to pick from:  Paper Mill, Dogwood/Greenfield, Roseton/Whiskey Falls and Riverside/Bartown.

For anyone does not know where WRS is located, see me at the Convention and I will give you directions.

At present the WRS will not appear on the Convention Layout Tour List.

Hope to see you all at the Convention.

Doug

Monday, April 30, 2012

Ops April 29

Yes, the WRS rolled again.  Two of regular crew, Wayne and Barry, were not able to report to work, but two others, Bruce and Jeff, were able to report this week.  It has been awhile since both of them have been able to arrange their schedule to align with the Ops session.  It was nice to see them back.  Also we had a new engineer, Jamie join us for hopefully the first of many sessions.

With the missing Crew members, a few people got to do different jobs. Pierre took over the North Yard Job.  Dave ran the Main Line Trains and the MEC Transfer.  Bruce did the Roseton Job and assisted on other Jobs.  Glen and Jeff worked the Paper Mill.  Leaving Jamie and I to do the Dogwood Job.  This was the first time that I had done a Job on the Railroad, except the MEC Transfer in a long time.  Man, I was rusty.

When Pierre had a little down time in the Yard, he and Bruce did the Bartown Job, yes this Job got done for once.

A few things have happened to the WRS since the last operating session, The head of the Electrical Department, found his old notes on adding a Booster to the Control system.  Rumour has it, this work was not done for the WRS, but for the NBR&N, were he has been moonlighting.  The other item was the Bartown Job was added to list of trains the North Yard Crew had to assemble, which was just it time.

WRS was hoping to have another session in May, but it is looking more like mid June, due to scheduling issues.

It was nice to see a few operators from the past, and a new one.

Below are a few pictures


Jeff and Glen  busy arranging things as Dave (nearest to camera) waits to drop off cars.


Bruce busy working Roseton



New Engineer Jamie working Dogwood

Pierre switching Riverside on the way to Bartown.


We all had a great time.

Until next time

Doug

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Ops Session March 25

Yes, we had another ops session on the WRS and it only took five weeks to happen this time.  After the usual amount of talking about what has happened since the last session, we head down to the basement to get the trains rolling.











Barry overlooking his paperwork as he is busy building out bound trains from the North Yard.



WRS 134 Switcher made an appearance working the Roseton Job.  The loco has not been used in the past because of control issues.  Last week the decoder from another S-4 was installed into the loco replacing the one that was in.  WRS 134 is now working, the same can not be said about the other loco.  Looks like a bad decoder.



 Pierre was busy in Roseton with WRS 134


Glen was switching  Dogwood  again this session.  The paper work for this job was changed since the last session.  The main issue was the paperwork did not use the same format has the other jobs on the Railroad.  Now it does, and when from one page to two full pages for the same work. 
Wayne did his usual job of operating the mainline trains, but this session he was at the controls of a pair of MEC GP38-2 leased from him.




The Mill Job was operated by Dave, as seen here as he checks the cars that Wayne just dropped off to him.

Later in the session Gary arrived and when to work with Pierre in Roseton.

The session when well, so well, that we were finished 30 minutes earlier then normal.  I think it was because the Crews were not so "Rusty".  The new locos and paperwork worked out great.

I am hoping to have another session in late April / early May.

Doug

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Busy Day on the WRS

Friday, Riely and Connor,  two members of the Board of Directors, came to operate the WRS.  During the four hours of operating, most of the rolling stock on the railroad moved. For more then an hour all that moved on the railroad were flat cars moving heavy construction equipment between the different business along the railroad.  Think that was because of their trucking background.

The WRS Management will spend a day or two relocating the rolling stock back to their correct location before the next regular ops session with the regular WRS Crew.  Also a few minor issues came to light that will have to be addressed in the future.

I think at the next Board of Directors meeting, there will be a request for more flat cars.

Doug

Monday, February 20, 2012

Ops Session Feb 19

The first operating session of the year finally happened.  As a bonus we had one new Engineer operate on the WRS and had another one return after a long period of time.

The day start with assignment of the jobs on the WRS.  Barry head for his usual job at the North Yard .

Barry busy in the North Yard

With the usual Mainline Train Engineer Wayne unable to work today, Dave stepped up and operated the five Mainline Trains and was also seen operating a RDC to provide passenger service to the people along the WRS.

 Dave passing thru the Paper Mill with one of his Mainline Trains as Gary (with clipboard) looks on.

Pierre and returning engineer Gary was busy all day dealing with the switching duties at the Paper Mill.

Gary and Pierre working the Mill Switcher.

Glen was the Engineer on the Dogwood Switcher for the day.  And First time Engineer Ric, visiting from the Valley, was working the Roseton Switcher.


Ric in foreground and Glen busy in the background.

Because Ric would only stay for an hour, the second half of the Roseton Job was done by Dave and Barry.  This is the first time Roseton has been switched in three or four sessions, much to the joy of local industries.  The people in Bartown and Riverside are hoping that some day one of the trains that thunder by, will stop and switch their industries.

The session was great but  had it usual little issues.  The tracks need to cleaned more, think most of it was from the "dirt" on the rolling stock .... need to run trains more often.  The locos need so maintance, since they have been setting around ... again need to run more trains.  This session a few of the Crew changed their jobs, which has pointed out a few issues with the paper work that needs to updated or adjusted.  Management has long list of items to address before the next session, maybe next month.

The main thing we all had a great time.  It was nice to see Gary return and for Ric to finally be able to operate on the WRS.

Until next time

Doug

Sunday, January 8, 2012

Year in Review

It was a quiet year for the WRS with only three operating session for the regular crew and another session for a visiting crew, but a few new engineers did get to work on the WRS this year.
With the work on the On30 modules, which requires setting the modules up in the middle of the WRS, and the schedule of shows last year, did not leave too many weekends free for operating sessions.
The Railroad did see a few changes this year.  The major one being the swapping of the function of the North and South (MEC) Yards, because of issues with the Classification Yard in the South Yard . The North Yard, which now is the "working" yard, had three new tracks added to complete a five track Classification Yard.  The South (MEC) Yard trackage was reworked to be a "Staging Yard", five double ended tracks, a run around track, caboose track and engine terminal.
The change in the Yards also required a few adjustments in the Schedule of the Trains.  There are a few more adjustments that maybe required as we have more operating sessions.

That is all for now
Doug