Just for fun and I'll start: You Know Its a Serious Op Session When You... Derail the train and you have to pee in a cup.... Hear anguished cries "I can't deal with TWO ATSF boxcars with number 574362! Bathroom reading material is "Hostler" magazine Have (on a UP themed layout) the dispatcher calling in from Omaha for maximum realism. Can't have your girlfriend run the train, even if you hear that has happened on Amtrak! Any other ideas of how to tell?
Jeff: Your girlfriend could be a qualified engineer. I rode the Z-LACMEM-2-31 from Winslow to Belen on 01/01/00 with Mindy Chiaramonte at the throttle. She was in the first group of female engineers trained and cetified by the ATSF. She is very petite (5'2"?)and if she's lucky when she's VERY wet she weighs maybe 90lbs. It was an excellent run including a stop for a faulty signal (Y2K issue?) and then proceed with permission to the next block @ restricted speed. Got it all on video.
You get by a red signal and you are suspended until the next session, and only after having a check ride with the road foreman may you operate again.
I love it. Here's an actual event that happend on the Southern Alberta Rail..... About a year and a half ago we had an engineer pull out of a siding without lining his switch. Thinking that he didn't have enough power for the climb that begins out of the siding he applied more throttle to no avail. He then decided that backing up and getting a run at the grade might help. Bad idea after splitting a switch with a 47 car manifest train. End result... numerous cars on the ground and three tank cars on their sides scattered across the ROW. After the assorted MOW vehicles assesssed the situation two Front End Loaders were sent up via tri axle flatbed trailer. The easily rerailed cars were coaxed back on the tracks and the tank cars, fourtunately empty, were moved far enough from the right of way to allow room for traffic to pass. The engineer was instructed to pull what was left of his train, at restricted speed, to the next set out, Burmis, for closer inspection. A crew trapped behind the train ran light engine to retrieve the rear portion and pull it clear back into the siding. Of course the trailing train was a loaded coal drag and the crew had to isolate their tail end DPU before they could proceed with the rescue. After all was said and done, 55 minutes later, a 5 MPH slow order was put in place at the derailement site that lasted for the next 3 op session before the cars could be placed on flat cars and taken "home shop for repairs". The engineer was fired after tying down at the Burmis back track.......
A Model Railroaders Lament. I believe you were asking for "Serious Ops Session" right? You know it's a serious ops session...: When a retired railroad DS is handling all the train assignments and he won't let you out of the hole, no matter how much you moan, groan, whine and resort to cussin-in. Under your breath of course. When everything you do results in a brownie and not the kind you eat. When you share a real rails story and no one listens. When you bring your own train and the club won't let you run it...wrong couplers. When you show up with the same train mentioned above and a club official must check the gauge and cleanliness of the wheelsets before you are allowed to run it and you just switched out everything to Micro-Trains. When you must build a modular or layout to the standards of the club before you are allowed to operate on their pike. Oh and an official of the club must approve and sign-off. When everyone in the club is constantly correcting you including..... everything you say. Gauge is scale and scale is gauge but only when...and...and...! When the language and lingo of the prototype railroads isn't recognized and new model railroad lingo has taken over. Turnout vs Switch, switch vs toggle and so on... When some one constantly refers to an AC locomotive as a Cab Forward when it was also called a "Back-up" and similar names by the rails that operated them. Denying such was true. When you find out everything you say is judged on a scale of 1 to 10 including your farts. When someone leaves the drop bridge up and you run your brand new U.P. Callenger off the tracks and it makes a type of panic scream as it leaps to it's uncertain destiny. I wonder if they built that realistic noise into it? When at the end of the session you are handed a plague congratulating you on becoming an official member of the flying diesel and steamers corp's. When you can't see the trains without the use of an optimizer and lot's of coffee. When you haven't paid your dues and the club members bar the door. Or did they say you needed a bath? When you discover the only couplers that match each other in height, is on the same car. When operating a train seems like work. When you learn you won't be invited back. When it's no longer fun! Serious: Right?
JOMT - Mike's post made me think of my gaming days: Just One More Turn, er I mean Train. Just one more Train The symptoms are giddiness, bleary eyes, people drinking burnt coffee, someone comments on the sun coming up and somone else comments they are going to be in soooooooooooo much trouble when they get home. Another wonders if flower shops are open this early. This single guys snort and wonder where the best place to get breakfast is and...
- You make anyone with UP power sit on every siding they come accross for 3-8 hours. - You pick up your buddies in a van and make them sleep in a hotel
- You perform operations testing on your operators. - You fail an ops test because you didn't say "over" while talking to the dispatcher via radio. - It is a requirement to wear steel toed boots and safety glasses. - You derail a tank car and Haz-Mat needs to be called.
....When you need to make an air brake test, and get a good release before leaving the yard. ....When the RFE or Trainmaster is hiding behind the ground foam (with a red flag in hand) looking for violations under restricted speed conditions. ...When you have a missing horn on your loco, and you are required to flag every crossing, and proceed not exceeding a prescribed speed.
Seriously, I recall reading a while back about a guy who has a mammoth layout but only operates once every few months. Guys come from hours away to run and the operate for something like 48 hours straight. His wife actually runs a van to/from the local hotel and they operate in shifts!
