Coaltrain
September 22nd, 2003, 04:51 AM
After nine months of building scenery and not operating, Friday night I had two other friends over and we ran the Roanoke and Southern. Things went good except for one of the staging tracks lost power, but we worked around it.
The night starts with four trains in the staging yard. These are mainline trains that supply the branch (the modeled part) with cars. The trains are backed in and ready for their departure times, car cards are in their boxes.
http://www.railimages.com/albums/jeffkraker/abc.sized.jpg
Last time the R&S was operated, a local freight worked its way up the branch. It made all of its set outs and then tied up for the "night". Leon finished this run by picking up GP-7 #205 and gathering all of the pick-ups. Branch line trains are limited to return with no more than 10 cars. Because Leon had to only pick up a few cars in this town, and there were only a few cars to pick up in the next town, he filled out his train with a few loaded cars of coal.
http://www.railimages.com/albums/jeffkraker/abd.sized.jpg
Once Leon was done switching he had to cool his heals and wait in the hole for a meet with the first mine run. The first mine run is being handled by Bruce, and that ex-Conrail RS-3 on the lead is his own. I model 1953 so really there could not be a Conrail locomotive, much less an ex-Conrail. But this a hobby and we have fun and that's fine with me. His RS-3 also has a Soundtraxx decoder as do all of the locomotives running that night.
http://www.railimages.com/albums/jeffkraker/abe.sized.jpg
The next photo is a little blurry, but it shows a coal train supplying the branch with a fresh batch of empties. In one operating night, the branch line will need between 50-60 empty coal hoppers and will return about the same loads. Three of the four staged trains are coal empties; the other is a freight only train. That's me running the 0-8-0 as the yard goat. I backed it up the branch to clear the way for the empty coal train.
http://www.railimages.com/albums/jeffkraker/abf.sized.jpg
Leon brings his train into the yard after making one quick stop at Derby, VA to pick up a box car and three more cars of coal to fill his train out to 10 cars. The locomotive will be cut off and run into the engine terminal and I will break down the train with my trusty 0-8-0.
http://www.railimages.com/albums/jeffkraker/abg.sized.jpg
Here is the GP-7 getting serviced and readied for the coke job. The coke job switches the two sets of coke ovens located at Derby and Roda. We make this job its own train because it is a difficult job alone without adding more switching to it.
http://www.railimages.com/albums/jeffkraker/abl.sized.jpg
[ 30. September 2003, 13:21: Message edited by: Coaltrain ]
The night starts with four trains in the staging yard. These are mainline trains that supply the branch (the modeled part) with cars. The trains are backed in and ready for their departure times, car cards are in their boxes.
http://www.railimages.com/albums/jeffkraker/abc.sized.jpg
Last time the R&S was operated, a local freight worked its way up the branch. It made all of its set outs and then tied up for the "night". Leon finished this run by picking up GP-7 #205 and gathering all of the pick-ups. Branch line trains are limited to return with no more than 10 cars. Because Leon had to only pick up a few cars in this town, and there were only a few cars to pick up in the next town, he filled out his train with a few loaded cars of coal.
http://www.railimages.com/albums/jeffkraker/abd.sized.jpg
Once Leon was done switching he had to cool his heals and wait in the hole for a meet with the first mine run. The first mine run is being handled by Bruce, and that ex-Conrail RS-3 on the lead is his own. I model 1953 so really there could not be a Conrail locomotive, much less an ex-Conrail. But this a hobby and we have fun and that's fine with me. His RS-3 also has a Soundtraxx decoder as do all of the locomotives running that night.
http://www.railimages.com/albums/jeffkraker/abe.sized.jpg
The next photo is a little blurry, but it shows a coal train supplying the branch with a fresh batch of empties. In one operating night, the branch line will need between 50-60 empty coal hoppers and will return about the same loads. Three of the four staged trains are coal empties; the other is a freight only train. That's me running the 0-8-0 as the yard goat. I backed it up the branch to clear the way for the empty coal train.
http://www.railimages.com/albums/jeffkraker/abf.sized.jpg
Leon brings his train into the yard after making one quick stop at Derby, VA to pick up a box car and three more cars of coal to fill his train out to 10 cars. The locomotive will be cut off and run into the engine terminal and I will break down the train with my trusty 0-8-0.
http://www.railimages.com/albums/jeffkraker/abg.sized.jpg
Here is the GP-7 getting serviced and readied for the coke job. The coke job switches the two sets of coke ovens located at Derby and Roda. We make this job its own train because it is a difficult job alone without adding more switching to it.
http://www.railimages.com/albums/jeffkraker/abl.sized.jpg
[ 30. September 2003, 13:21: Message edited by: Coaltrain ]