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| Photos of Marin/Sonoma County Ops Session June 16, 2007 |
| On June 16th a group of operators from the Marin/Sonoma County visited organized by Vern Alexander (of the C.R.A.P railroad) and consisted of assistant superintendent. Here is a very brief pictorial tour of the operating session. |
| card system and various other historical, geographic, operational and general information about the Chicago & Mackinac. Timetables were distributed and briefly discussed and we adjourned to the We were scheduled to have 8 visiting operators and all eight attended. We had three volunteers to operate the fixed positions: Dispatcher, Grand Rapids yardmaster and Mackinac City yardmaster. Vern Alexander & Gus Campagna volunteered for the Grand Rapids & Mackinac City yardmaster jobs, respectively, and after a bit of silence, Jim Providenza finally volunteered to be the dispatcher. The other operators functioned as the train crews and included Ron Kaiser, Ed Merrin, Charlie Siebenthal, Scott Kew and Phil Smith. Completing the team was Jeff Osborn who functioned as assistant superintendent and all around railroad employee and Bob Osborn who was, of course, the superintendent. (If you build it, you can be the superintendent!!) |
| All in all, we moved a total of 235 cars in 26 different trains. We ran 8 turns, 6 through freights, 6 passenger trains, 4 PRR interchanges and 2 Boat loadings/unloadings. Our customers and our partners/investors are ecstatic about our great service. With happy customers and investors, the management is also very pleased. We may keep out jobs for a little longer. We had no serious accidents, hopefully no major insurance claims, only one cornfield meet and no-one died. Therefore, it MUST have been a good session! |
| Click images to Enlarge: |
Here is Jim working the dispatcher job.
He had some great ideas on making
the train sheet more usable and
developing a lineup sheet for the
trains. In the future I will develop a
dispatcher job description to help
define the dispatcher job.
He had some great ideas on making
the train sheet more usable and
developing a lineup sheet for the
trains. In the future I will develop a
dispatcher job description to help
define the dispatcher job.
| Here is Jim checking out Scott in Traverse City (nice shot of the back of Scott's right arm). This is just after the cornfield meet that happened just north of town. Good thing we run at restricted speeds on the C&M!! |
Vern takes a break from his Grand Rapids (Comstock Park
Yard) yardmaster duties to smile for the camera. Jeff is resting
in the mole hole corner. From the looks of yard, it appears that
Vern better get back to work and cleanup that mess!
Actually, both yardmasters functioned extremely well during the
session. Vern just happened to get a large PRR ingerchange
into the yard just before this picture.
Yard) yardmaster duties to smile for the camera. Jeff is resting
in the mole hole corner. From the looks of yard, it appears that
Vern better get back to work and cleanup that mess!
Actually, both yardmasters functioned extremely well during the
session. Vern just happened to get a large PRR ingerchange
into the yard just before this picture.
| flying colors. Both yardmasters kept the traffic moving very well. Ed (see the back of his head) is running a passenger train and sliding by Gus in the picture. As mentioned, both yards were fluid all session long. |
Here is Ed bringing in the southbound Local Passenger
train #101 into the Grand Rapids Passenger terminal (on
the lower level - below Mackinac City yard). If you look
close, you can see the Pere Marquette (C&O) E7a pulling
the head-end express cars. The express cars are
followed by a Pennsylvania RR baggage car, RPO and a
coach, all in Tuscan Red.
train #101 into the Grand Rapids Passenger terminal (on
the lower level - below Mackinac City yard). If you look
close, you can see the Pere Marquette (C&O) E7a pulling
the head-end express cars. The express cars are
followed by a Pennsylvania RR baggage car, RPO and a
coach, all in Tuscan Red.
| Here's Vern again. He's looking at his yard, after Charlie brought in the PRR interchanger, and is wondering if he should have volunteered for some other job! Phil is being a rail fan in the background, taking pictures of the GR Engine Facility. I hope the pix turn out well. |
Charlie is bringing a PRR
interchange run into Grand Rapids
from Fort Wayne. Charlie will drop
off cars for the C&M and Vern will
give him cars for the PRR for his
return run to Fort Wayne.
interchange run into Grand Rapids
from Fort Wayne. Charlie will drop
off cars for the C&M and Vern will
give him cars for the PRR for his
return run to Fort Wayne.
Ron is working the Petoskey turn out of
Mackinac City yard. He was heard saying
something like he thought he'd never return
from Petoskey.
Mackinac City yard. He was heard saying
something like he thought he'd never return
from Petoskey.
| Here is the whole gang. From the top left, Gus, Scott and Phil. Middle row from the left is Jeff, Ed, Charlie and Jim. Next row is Ron, then Vern on the bottom. From the smiles, it looks like they had a good time, or maybe they are just happy to be leaving! Your choice. |
| Jeff is still resting in the mole hole (not an operating position, but a good place to rail fan all of the activity - close and at eye level - while you get a little rest). |
| Thanks everyone. I had a great time. Let's do it again. |