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...