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

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

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