FIRST OP SESSION -- October 31, 2010

This week I completed benchwork construction, built a temporary model of the Anne Street overpass at New Castle Jct., and conducted my first real operating session.  Because it's such a milestone for me, I chose to photograph the session as I went along.  Pardon the lack of scenery, amorphous buildings and large red track pins:-)

It's a cold November morning as we head to the New Castle Industrial Park.  We get a glimpse of the railroad as we cross the Anne Street Bridge.  CSX dropped seven cars on the industrial lead overnight.  Looks like PCA has a full compliment of boxcars at the warehouse/dock and there are a couple cars on the storage track... 

We arrive at the north end of the industrial park, off Commerce Street, where RS-11 no. 318 is kept tied down.  Our engineer arrived a few minutes before we did and 318 is already alive and idling in the morning sun.  He performs his walk around inspection and we go inside the office to retrieve our paperwork...

We find our switchlist in the fax machine:

ISS New Castle   7 November 2009

CSXT Inbound
TR 405543 Pulpboard
TR 405418 Pulpboard
RBOX 303309 Pulpboard     *Spot Warehouse*
NAHX 99628 Mg02     *Spot Premier*
EEC 3150 Pulpboard     *Spot Warehouse*
GTW 306636 Pulpboard    
WC 21084 Pulpboard     *Spot Dock*

New Castle Holding
RBOX 33604 Pulpboard     *Spot Warehouse*
CSXT 136007  Pulpboard

PCA Dock
CN 405690 Empty    *Pull*
CNA 419309 Empty     *Pull*

PCA Warehouse

CNA 419341 Empty     *Pull*
CSXT 136026 Empty    *Respot Dock*
CSXT 141068 Empty     *Pull*

We go over the switchlist on the way down to New Castle Jct, thinking about the moves we need to make.  Here we are at PCA.  Stopping to unlock switches and remove derails at the plant...  

Then we tie onto our inbounds, charge air and inspect the cars...

 

Inspection and brake test complete, we pull north a few carlengths and prepare for our first move...spotting the Premier hopper.  We make our cut on the main...

Then we go into the holding track, grab the two boxcars and bring them out on the main...  

With the holding track now clear, we can tie back onto the hopper and spot it at the far end of the holding track, near the underpass...

It takes another 30 minutes or so to build our inbound loads into spot order and deal the others into the holding track...

Now we run light into the plant spur to grab the outbounds... 

CSXT 136026 is an empty, which PCA requested to be respotted at the dock for scrap cardboard loading.  To do this, we tie a handbrake on the CN car and leave it on the PCA spur...

This allows us to kick out our CSXT car, coupling it to our inbound loads on the main...

Then we go back and grab our empty CN...

Spotting the inbounds.  With all the fork trucks and personnel at the dock and warehouse, we try to make one pull out and one shove back in.  Much safer than shifting cars on the plant spur...

Two cars spotted at the dock: a loaded WC hi-cube and the empty CSXT...

Setting off the outbounds.  Viewed from Anne Street... 
 

Time to warm up in the cab and complete our wheel report as we run light back to the end of track at Commerce Street...

THE REAL DEAL

A SMS Rail crew prepares to drill inbound cars at the Pureland Industrial Park in Swedesboro, NJ.  Photo by Carl Perelman courtesy of railpictures.net.

Below is a video I shot in 2009, showing an SMS Rail crew switching within the Pureland Industrial Park in Swedesboro NJ.  

Trackage at this end of the industrial park is very simple, nearly identical to the New Castle Industrial Park plan.  There is a mainline/interchange track, a siding used to store cars, and a warehouse spur (in this case the Home Depot Lumber Distribution Center).

A Conrail Shared Assets local shoved inbound cars onto the interchange track from the east.  The video opens with the SMS crew rolling up to the interchange from the west to classify and spot the cars.  The video follows the crew as they drill the cars via switchlist using the mainline and siding. 

As you watch the video, you'll notice a few interesting things:

• Watching a savvy crew shift railcars can be fascinating.  Note how the conductor and brakeman work efficiently as a team.  One is making cuts and hitches, the other tends the main switch.  Later, the brakeman rides a few carlengths, then drops off  so that he is in a position to make a cut after the conductor makes the hitch.  Using similar practice, even small layouts like the NCIR can provide three people (engineer/conductor/brakeman) with an hour or more of fun. 

• Notice how the crew begins by making the "big pull", then effectively builds two trains by dealing cars into the siding and  interchange track.  This method is much quicker than "cherry picking" individual cars, yet the shifting still takes some time.  And sorting the interchange was only half the day's work.  The crew still needed to pull the Home Depot spur, sort out empties vs. cars to be respotted, then shove the new loads and respots back into the warehouse.

So without further adieu:

SMS Baldwin 9069 from Jack Hill on Vimeo.

My goal is for the O Scale NCIR to give operators and viewers the same perspective as seen in the video.  The track is near eye level, resulting in a view like that of a conductor on the ground.  My main track and siding are on a convex curve, so I have to "walk the train" to find car numbers and make cuts.  The size of 1/48 scale locomotives and rolling stock nicely captures the mass and inertia of the real thing...i.e. sometimes I really do need to put slack on the pin to uncouple!

Until next time...