A granddadughter operating session

My granddaughter recently stayed with us for 10 days or so, including a week’s professional ballet training, and as part of her visit I set up a small operating session, as I often do. This was also a chance to exercise my new steam switcher, SP 1284, in operations (it was described in a four-part series, ending with: https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2025/05/an-sp-steam-switcher-part-4.html ).

We began with that switcher on the ready track at the Shumala engine terminal, just getting topped up with water. This is where the switch crew picks up the engine, photographed across the foreground caboose track.

Her first move was to rearrange some cars in the small yard at Shumala, orienting them preparataory to starting the switching. Here the steam switcher is alongside a diesel switcher (not being used in this session).

With that preliminary work completed, the switcher, just visible above the ice deck, moves back to the engine lead.

Two empties, first a gondola at the sand house and then a tank car at Associated Oil, are picked up at the rear of the layout.

Here she is bringing these cars back past the yard office, returning to the small Shumala yard. Later she will spot a loaded gondola at the sand house.

Finally, she needed to run around this cut, and thus used the main line to head for the other end of the siding. Once the run-around is complete, cars at the front of the string on the siding can be switched to East Shumala.

We continued with the rest of the Shumala switching, nicely done and fun as always. And we both enjoyed seeing the steam switcher work.

Tony Thompson