Layout operating session no. 85

I note in my layout records that the operating session I hosted on Friday,  September 29 was the 85th on the present version of the layout (adding to a few dozen on the previous version). As it happened, this was kind of a special session, organized to take advantage of a visit to the Bay Area by Bob Hanmer, well-known layout owner and operator from Chicago. 

Having enjoyed operating on Bob’s excellent GN and DM&IR layout in Chicago during Naperville RPM meets in several previous years, I was delighted to help with hosting. My session was one of three organized so Bob could attend. The first session was at Jim Providenza’s Santa Cruz Northern, and my session was second.

One thing that I revived for this session, that hasn’t been included in the last half-dozen or so sessions, is the operation of the ballast train. I described the idea behind this, and showed the company “Bulletin” provided to crews and agents to make them aware of the operation, in a previous post (you can read it at this link: https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2019/11/more-operating-sessions.html ). The idea is that re-ballasting is taking place elsewhere on the division, and this train is picking up empty ballast cars that have been spotted in different areas as work progressed.

The crew for this session, in addition to our guest Bob, were Dave Falkenburg, who teamed with Bob, and John Rodgers and Richard Brennan. Below is a view of Bob and Dave (left to right), operating at Ballard. Bob was the conductor here,  and Dave the engineer. Looks they are switching the area north of the depot, judging by the refrigerator cars being moved at this point.

Meanwhile, at Shumala on the other side of the layout, Richard and John (from left to right) were working through the switching they needed to do. At this point, Richard was the conductor (as may be evident from his thoughtful expression) and John was the engineer. I’m not just blowing smoke about that “thoughtful expression.” I have watched many crews switch the first shift at Shumala, and this was one of the best-organized jobs I have seen.

The next day, Saturday, there was an operating session at Paul Weiss’s very large and impressive Central Vermont layout, and Bob participated, with several different train assignments. Here he is crewing a passenger train, CV’s No. 1, with Cydney Abatecola (at left). You can see their train at far right, passing alongside East New London yard. (I was yardmaster here.)

It was great to host Bob Hanmer for these sessions, and the varied styles and requirements of these three layouts were bound to have been a varied and interesting experience for him. And the rest of us had a good time too!

Tony Thompson