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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. [ 30. September 2003, 13:21: Message edited by: Coaltrain ]
Back at Roda, Va. Bruce is still swapping empties for loads with his RS-3 rattling away. Leon takes the second mine run up the branch. His first stop is Derby. Then he will have a meet with the first mine run at Roda when the first mine run is ready. Leon at Derby. Here is the meet at Roda between the first and second mine run. It takes 3-4 mine runs to clear the branch of all of its coal, plus the freight that was run earlier that also picked up a little coal. The first mine run "speeds" into Appalachia yard, while my 0-8-0 sits on the main out of the way. [ 25. September 2003, 17:02: Message edited by: Coaltrain ]
Later, Leon brings in the second mine run but has to stop just short of Appalachia yard as a loaded coal train heads out on the main. After the action settles down I go back to work with my 0-8-0. I get another chance to empty my yard by sending out another train to staging, this one powered by a 2-8-0. That was it for that night. Three hours had passed and we only ran half of the trains. The next time we operate, we will run the other half. There are a few more photos from that night at http://www.railimages.com/gallery/jeffkraker Thanks for letting me share. [ 25. September 2003, 17:03: Message edited by: Coaltrain ]
Awesome, Jeff! Great pictures! The layout looks fantastic! That water tank was my favorite structure in the pics. Great painting/weathering.
Thanks. The water tower is an Atlas tank and roof on scratch built wood supports. The plastic tank was painted a medium light gray and washed with acrylic paint. I like that water tower also, it added a lot to the scene.
Jeff, Great pictures!! Looks like you guys had a lot of fun. You are a very good host Jeff, for letting your friend run his Conrail RS3 even though it didn't fit your era. I learned to be tolerant of those things when I was active in my local model railroad club, and I always admire others who do the same.... Your layout is coming along nicely....can't wait to see more. Take care 2slim
Sensational Jeff.... I particularly like the attention to details like the 'old track' sleepers you have laid without rails in one of the early pics... Looks great!
Thank you all. That track without any rail, just the left over ties, will represent an old railroad that my railroad purchased. I am building an abandoned interlocking tower to go between the branch and the mainline (next to the black RS-3 that is waiting for the F units to clear the yard). Since these photos were taken I have just about finished the Wathers fuel company that is also in this area. The tall flat brick wall with all of the windows next to the fuel company is just a stand in. A 3D flat of the Pepsi bottling plant located in Norton VA will be built for this spot.
