| The Dispatcher |
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| Bay Rails 09 - March 21, 2009 |
| Welcome to all of our very important guests. This was Bay Rails weekend and the Chicago & Mackinac RR was in full operation. We had a great group of operators on both days but this page is for the Saturday, March 21sth operations. |
| The Operators The records dropped like flies today. We had a full compliment of crew members for the first time in awhile and operate they did. Trains were running all session long. Today's crew was from Washington State, Utah, Arkansas and California. In the Washington contingent were: Barry Anderson, Allen Frasch, Jack Tingstad (all from Freeland), Rich Thom (Coupeville) and Tom Enloe (Duvall). Charles Laggan was the lone operator from Arkansas (Hot Springs) and Gary Peterson was from Utah (West Valley). Bruce Morden (Carpinteria) was our only guest from sunny California. Our two C&M regular crew members were Les Dahlstedt and Jeff Osborn (#2 son). What a great crew. Good guys and great operators. We set records for number of cars moved in one session and number of cars delivered to industries in one session. The shippers on the C&M are absolutely ecstatic and because of our low wage base, we must have made money! |
| Statistics: The total number of cars moved was 417 in a total of 28 trains: 4 1st class passenger trains 2 2nd class Fast Freights (#210) 17 turns (out plus back) 8 through freight 3 PRR interchanger's 3 boat interchanger's (estimated - out and back) Online customer deliveries/pick ups totalled 107 cars at industrial sidings and in addition, we even picked up/setout a total of 10 express loads in our passenger operations. |
| The Yardmasters |
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| Tom took on the Grand Rapids Comstock Pk yardmaster job. In this photo, things look like they are under control. Because of the volume of trains moved, it was nip and tuck all session long. But Tom kept thing going when he needed to |
| Here is the record setting crew. Judging from the smiles, it looks like everyone had a good time. It always amazes me that a group of guys that have never seen the railroad can make it hum. It was a real pleasure hosting this group of guys. Should any of the group get back to the Bay Area, give me a call and we can get together. Some of the C&M regulars need to visit the Pacific Northwest to see some of the railroads. I know the people are great, based on who was here, now we need to check out the layouts. And I am looking forward to learning how to make trees in Allen's upcoming magazine article. We sure need a couple thousand trees on the C&M. Well that's it for this Bay Rails session. Hopefully I will see you all soon or at least in 2 years for the next Bay Rails. The Superintendent/Company Photographer Brakeman Bob Osborn |
| Allen took over the dispatching duties and did a super job. Based on the number of trains that he moved and the car count, he must have really got tired!. From the pictures he seems pretty focused and focused he had to be for all of the activity that was going on. Allen, loosen up a little, you are making me tired just looking at the pictures! Great job Allen. |
| On the left, Jack is working the first Cadillac turn. He is waiting for the southbound passenger #101 to finish it's station stop and get out of town so he can get back to work. In the middle is Richard in Petoskey. He is a real gluten for punishment, as he took two straight Petoskey Turns in a row. I understand Rich made a call to the suicide prevention hotline on the way home! On the right, Barry is working the Traverse City Turn. TC is pretty tight and I heard that after the session, Barry got the suicide hotline number from Rich! |
| Here are a couple of hard working regular C&M crew members. Les is shown helping Tom in Grand Rapids and Jeff is shown changing batteries in one of the throttles. Thanks alot guys. No-one threw anything at you or spilled soda on your head, so you must have done a good job. Really, Les and Jeff, that's a million. Couldn't have done it without you. |
| Here are Tom and Les again. I like this pic because it shows the Northwoods Fast Freight, train number 210 high balling with a solid CN reefer train heading for the boat. As usual, it ran late, but it is a very big revenue generator for the C&M. It is going through Boardman Lake on the "transistion" level, just above the GR yard against the wall. Hey, that yard looks awful empty! |
| Bruce handled Mackinaw City yardmaster duties. MC can be problematic because it is a tight little yard, but, like Tom, Bruce kept things moving all session. Kudo's to both yardmasters. |
| We started the session, as usual, with a briefing. No-one fell asleep so things started off well. |
| On the left is Gary working the Grand Rapids Industrial Turn, affectionately known as the Grind Job. From the middle picture,it looks like Gary is taking a rest after the Grind Job! Hey, it looks like the dispatcher and the Assistant Superintendent are loafing on the job. Get to work guys, what are we paying you for. Oh yeah, you aren't getting paid, oh well. Charles is on the right. He also looks like he also is loafing. I guess he has a lot of practice, as he has worked for the railroad for many years! Just kidding Chuck. Chuck gets the prize for the crew member coming the farthest to operate. He came in from Hot Springs, Arkansas. I wonder if he took the train - no he couldn't have, he got here on time!!!! |
| As an additional treat, Bruce emailed me his pictures so here they are. Click on them to make them bigger. Thanks a lot Bruce! |
