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| Photos of July 1, 2008 Ops |
| I was running late the entire month of June so we ended up having the June Operations in July! It was the 1st so it was only a little into July. We had a good crew with one experienced, but first time C&M operator and one first time operator, period. I believe the railroad ran decently, however, we did have more "shorts" than normal and districts to minimize impact of a local short. |
| The Operators Rod Smith volunteered for the dispatcher's position. He needed only one more dispatcher session to earn his merit badge and he got it at this ops. Since Rod had dispatched the C&M before and is pretty familiar with the railroad, things went pretty smoothly, as expected. The Grand Rapids Yardmaster was Jeff Osborn. He has run that yard in the past so we expected big things from Jeff and he did not disappoint. Things got pretty full for awhile but Jeff kept things moving and took everything that was thrown at him. The yard ended up in pretty good shape. The Mackinaw City yardmaster was Sndy Schnur. Andy had run the Mackinaw City yard a couple of times, but he got pretty busy this ops. He was a real trooper and took just about every train heading his way. Great job by all of the "skilled" position operators. Bart Thurber (first time C&M operator) and a guest of John's Bill Veteran. This was Bill's first time as an operator at any layout and he did a pretty good job. I don't think we scared him away, but we probably came close! I am not sure that Bill ever knew that a bunch of wackos like us get together each month to run trains! As usual the Superintendent was Bob Osborn who also ran some trains. Here are some pictures: |
| Statistics: The total number of cars moved was 269 in a total of 30 trains: 4 1st class passenger trains 2 2nd class Fast Freights (#210 & #211) 12 turns (out and back) 7 through freight 5 boat interchanger's (estimated - out and back) Online customer deliveries/pick ups totalled 83 cars at industrial sidings and in addition, we even picked up/setout a total of 15 express loads in our passenger operations. |
| Here is the dispatcher, Rod. He was trying to earn his NMRA operator certificate and needed one more dispatching gig to pull it off. He did it so Rod is now certified! I would imagine that this is the last time he will volunteer for dispatcher in the near future!! Rod did his usual fine job, keeping trains from colliding with each other, even though the operators tried like crazy for a cornfield meet. Things ran well and trains moved pretty well all evening. Good can take his certification down to Starbucks with a five dollar bill and buy a latte!! |
| The Yardmasters |
| The Dispatcher |
| Jeff was the GR YM (left) and Andy was the MC YM (right). From the pics, it appears that they are both having fun. The traffic flow was good for Jeff, not so good for Andy (check out the Move of the Day, below. Both YM's kept the railroad rolling by |
| The move of the day: |
| time and I think we actually made some money for the I think everyone had a good profit when your employees work for cookies!!!! Thanks everyone, See you next month. |
| Click images to Enlarge: |
| taking everything that came their way, even if there was no room in the yard. Good job YM's and thanks for taking one for the team! |
| The move of the day had to be the Mackinaw City Yard. Although the pictures are not the clearest, it is easy to see that all 7 tracks in the Mackinaw City yard, including the passenger track, were full or nearly full. In fact, the three track Boat Yard, which normally has one track open, was also totally full. As the traffic flow went, toward the end of train that came his way. The last session it was Grand Rapids that got jammed, so does that mean that it will be GR that gets jammed next session. Who wants to run GR next session?!? |
| Even with blurry pictures but you can get the general idea! |
Yard - it is all filled
up!
up!
| Below you will see that we got started on the right foot with a meet of #86 and #87, the morning Commuters, in Traverse City, right on the advertised. Things went downhill from there, as the afternoon Commuters #88 and #89 were annulled (because of either a lack of interest, lack of passengers or a lack of crews. Take your pick!) |
| A sneak peek at what is to come. The Cadillac Produce Terminal is nearly complete. A picture of the Terminal was placed in it's future home. Can't wait to get it installed. Les is scratch building the structure and if it looks will increase in stature greatly. |
| Here are YM Jeff and crew John at the start of the ops, offering some friendly advice operate a railroad. Not sure what they could have said, but it seemed to work, as Bill, Jeff and John all did a very good job. |
| Here's Stanley working the Cadillac Turn. He looks pretty focused. Since a bunch of trains went through Cadillac while he was working, he needed to be on his toes. |
| As I said, there was lots of activity in Cadillac! |
| Here is Bill (left) and Bart (right) working an extra north through Cadillac and the frames in the black Pere Marquette gondola in front of Bart. They are going to someone please tell Bill that he is an engineer and I am the Here is Bill (left) and Bart (right) working an extra north through Cadillac and the superintendent/brass hat. I should wear the tie!!superintendent/brass hat. I should wear the tie!! |
| Les and John round out the crew. They are the "gray hairs" of the group and can handle anything that is thrown at them. Here they are working Petoskey and Traverse City, respectively. (Well, I'm ready to go - wait - what is this car doing here? Sound familiar John!) |
To the left are some pictures of the freshly
planted grass growing near and on the more
to come. I need to be careful who I tell that I
am growing grass in my Garage!
planted grass growing near and on the more
to come. I need to be careful who I tell that I
am growing grass in my Garage!
