The Dispatcher
Click images to Enlarge:
Operations - October 20, 2009
We are back.  We had a small crew, small in numbers only, but ran a good session, moved a lot of cars and it appeared
that everyone had a pretty good time.  Everyone kept pretty busy.  We also broke in a new crew member which pushed the
Superintendent/Dispatcher into running a couple of trains.  Here are the stats:
The Operators
We had six crew members plus the superintendent.  The yardmasters were Seth Neumann at Grand Rapids (again) and Andy Schnur at Mackinac
City. The other operators were John Blunden, Les Dahlstedt, Jeff Osborn and Mike McMillen, a first time visitor to the C&M and a relatively
novice at operations.  Things ran rather smoothly.  The yards kept flowing and all the operators were busy the entire session.  Unfortunately, we had
some switch issues, some derailment issues and some motive power problems, but the crew got through those issues and ran the railroad masterfully.
Statistics:
The total number of cars moved was 280 in a total of 23 trains:
2 1st class passenger trains
0 2nd class Fast Freights (#210)
8  turns (out plus back)
8 through freight
2 PRR interchanger's (out and back)
2 boat interchanger's (out and back)
1 Ann Arbor Interchange run (out and back)

Online customer deliveries/pick ups totalled 52 cars at industrial sidings and in addition, we even picked
up/setout a total of 0 express loads in our passenger operations.  
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     The Yardmasters
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to Enlarge:
Seth took over Grand Rapids Yard
again and really kept things moving all
session.  He even had time to do a PRR
Interchanger by himself.  Here he is not
smiling, although I think he was having a
good time!
For the third ops in a row, the
Superintendent did the
dispatching (a pretty good job, if I
do say so myself).  He also was
the Company photographer, so
the photos are what they are.  
The Super had a good time, but
didn't take many pictures and
none of himself again!!!
The Move of the Day
Here is Andy, the Mackinaw City Yardmaster.  
He is shown here running a through train with
D&M #479 at the point.  Both YM's kept their
yards flowing all night plus had some time to
take on another job for a brief period.  Andy
is out of focus, but his train is sharp.  The
photographer knows the important part of the
photo!!
Here is Andy's train, Extra 479 (see above
box), in Walton Jct.  He had five cars for WJ
and needed to pick up 5 southbounds from
the setout track.  Jeff was working the WJ
Turn and really worked well with Andy.

Five in and five out, in no time flat!!

The Company plane documented the move
which came off without a flaw.
Random Photos
Here is Jeff working the Walton Jct
Turn.  This Turn keeps getting better
and better (see the Move of the Day
above).  Jeff worked that Turn for
several scale hours, setting out cars
for pickup by the passing north and
south bound through freights.  While
he was there, Jeff also worked the
Kalkaska interchange.
Good Job everyone.  I had a great
time and I hope you did too.  Thanks
for making the Chicago & Mackinac
RR come alive one more time.
Photo coming?
Great Job
Yardmasters,
Thanks for
stepping up.
John jumped on the Cadillac Turn.  He
started out with the Commuter then the
Cadillac and then several other trains.  
Busy, Busy, Busy.
Here are Les and Mike working the Petoskey
Turn and apparently have a pretty good time.  
They paired up for the Commuter run then the
Petoskey Turn.  Les broke Mike in on C&M
operations.  Thanks Les.  Good job Mike.
NORTH PETOSKEY
FORESTATION

Here is a through train going
through the new forested
Northern Petoskey section.  Not
sure if it looks good, but It sure
looks a lot better than it did!!
New Feature
News Flash !
We set a new record during the
operating session:

We set a new record for eating
cookies during an operating
session.  The six man crew
consumed 1 pound, 2 ounces of
Oreo Creamy Chocolate
Cookies!!  
Obviously, Oreo's must be a favorite for C&M Crew
members

Totally amazing!!