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

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

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

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

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

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