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| Op Session, Aug 12, 1985 (Nov 12, 2005) | ||
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   Registered Member #3 Joined: Wed Dec 08 2004, 09:01PMLocation: Portland, OR Posts: 2112 | Here's the November op session report on the Siskiyou Line! We had a great turn out (16 guys total) and several guests, and the railroad ran pretty well. I've got several good photos from the session, so I'll be sharing them here. This time, I'd like to concentrate on the paperwork we typically use during a session. [ Edited Fri Jul 28 2006, 02:26PM ] Joe Fugate http://siskiyou-railfan.net - 200,000 hits and counting!  In video ... | ||
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| Registered Member #3 Joined: Wed Dec 08 2004, 09:01PMLocation: Portland, OR Posts: 2112 | Train Call List Here's the train call list for this session. Each time I restage the railroad for the next op session, I make up one of these train call lists. The call list varies a bit from session to session because we also just leave the trains where they are at the end of the previous session. This makes the next session startup seem like you are picking up a railroad in operation midstream, not starting out nice and clean. This "leave them where they lie" approach to the trains and the next session makes for some interesting startup scenarios. For example, we picked up right away with a large Coos Bay Hauler in Roseburg all set to go at the start of the session, which got things off with a bang! The other interesting twist this session was that we started right off the bat with a Dole Turn all set to go. Typically the Dole turn starts about 10 am, so this was an interesting change. If I find some patterns I like, I generally alter the call list to make the change more permanent. For example, this session's approach to the Dole Turn sounds interesting since I like how it gets one of the toughest locals to switch out on the road right away, and gives the operators lots of time to switch this industry. It typically takes an hour or more of actual time (not fast clock) to complete this job. The Roseburg Yardmaster gets a copy of this Call List, and so does the Dispatcher. [ Edited Wed May 03 2006, 02:01PM ] Joe Fugate http://siskiyou-railfan.net - 200,000 hits and counting! In video ... | ||
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| Registered Member #3 Joined: Wed Dec 08 2004, 09:01PMLocation: Portland, OR Posts: 2112 | Crew Signup Sheet When you first walk in the door on the Siskiyou Line, you sign up on this sheet. If you have a job preference, it pays to get there early since that means you get your pick of job, and it also means you will get out on the road sooner, rather than be stuck in the lounge for a while. We use two 12-hour shifts, or "tricks" for an op session, and we run a given 24 hour day using an 8:1 fast clock. This gives us a full 24 hours in about 3 hours. You can see from this list that Jordon Dobson signed up as first trick dispatcher, Jerry Sheffield is first trick Roseburg Yardmaster, and Brandon Thompson is first trick helper engineer. And everyone else is regular road crews. [ Edited Wed May 03 2006, 02:01PM ] Joe Fugate http://siskiyou-railfan.net - 200,000 hits and counting! In video ... | ||
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| Registered Member #3 Joined: Wed Dec 08 2004, 09:01PMLocation: Portland, OR Posts: 2112 | The Coos Bay Hauler East train procedure sheet Each train on the Siskiyou Line has a procedures sheet like this one. This sheet displays, in step-by-step fashion, what you are expected to do with your train. The conductor gets this sheet and attaches it to a clipboard, along with the car cards for the train once he responds to a crew call. Remember this train is already in Roseburg, and has already added the water cars and helpers. So it's on to Cottage Grove! Included on the sheet are two blank track warrants, which may be enough to get your train over the road. If you need more blank track warrants, we have pads of them handy at the entrance to the layout room, so you just go grab a few more blanks off the pad if you need them. Looking at the crew list above, I worked my way down the list to assign the crew for this first train of the day. I picked Jim Moomaw as the experienced conductor, and then paired him with Jim Null, the first visitor down the list. Here's the track warrant clearance given by the dispatcher to this train crew:  This track warrant tells the crew of 7961 that they can run from Roseburg to Rice Hill and once they get to Rice Hill they are to take the main (not the siding). This will be as far as they can go. Once they get there, they need to contact the dispatcher for further orders. Because this is the final paperwork from the session, we see they did make it to Rice Hill and reported clear at 2:54 am, which meant they fulfilled this warrant and the dispatcher acknowledged this fact by 2:54 am. Once reported clear, the track warrant is no longer in effect and the train cannot move until given rights via a new track warrant. By the way, you can also see the warrant was issued at 12:47 am, reported clear at 2:54 am, which means it took the train 2 hours and 7 minutes (8:1 fast clock speed, or 16 real minutes actual time) to get from Roseburg to Rice Hill. Joe Fugate http://siskiyou-railfan.net - 200,000 hits and counting! In video ... | ||
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| Registered Member #3 Joined: Wed Dec 08 2004, 09:01PMLocation: Portland, OR Posts: 2112 | The Coos Bay Hauler East pulls out of Roseburg It doesn't take long for the Coos Bay Hauler east crew to get their train out of town and on its way to Eugene. Here you see helper engineer Brandon Thompson shoving away as the train begins to roll east out of town. This is a nice long train, approaching some 30 cars in length. Love to see those SP style long trains on the Siskiyou Line, because that's what I designed it for! Out of site behind Brandon are conductor Jim Moomaw and newbie engineer Jim Null (you'll see them in later photos). This train started out all set to go, with the water cars already entrained and the helpers already cut in. So it was grab your paperwork and throttles, get clearance from dispatch, and roll your train, boys! Joe Fugate http://siskiyou-railfan.net - 200,000 hits and counting! In video ... | ||
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| Registered Member #3 Joined: Wed Dec 08 2004, 09:01PMLocation: Portland, OR Posts: 2112 | The Coos Bay Hauler East - Head end Moving up front we can see the Hauler East is powered by Cotton Belt GP-40 7961, followed by SP TEBU 1608, followed by Cotton Belt GP-40 7966. The two GP-40s are TEBU mothers, specially altered to work with a Tractive Effort Booster Unit or TEBU slug. The SP in the 1980s ran GP-40s and TEBU's down the coast branches in the mid to late 1980s. So this is a first on the Siskiyou Line! A TEBU and TEBU mothers. From this point forward we should see more of this kind of power on the coast branch haulers. And that's the side of rookie engineer Jim Null's head on the far left, and then to his right is the back of Jim Moomaw's head. At the extreme right edge of the photo is the back of helper engineer Brandon Thompson's head and shoulder. MODELING NOTE: That TEBU is actually a kitbashed Stewart U25B mechanism with a scratchbuilt shell (the SP used GE U25B's to build the TEBU slugs). I purchased this model off ebay on a tip from Jon Cure. This is one *very nicely* detailed model and it runs like a top! Joe Fugate http://siskiyou-railfan.net - 200,000 hits and counting! In video ... | ||
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| Registered Member #3 Joined: Wed Dec 08 2004, 09:01PMLocation: Portland, OR Posts: 2112 | The Coos Bay Hauler East - Monitoring helper performance Brandon's checking the coupler slack in front of the helper set to tell how well they are pushing. Of course the prototype engineer can't do this, but the prototype engineer learns how to judge the "feel" of the loco in the train, which is something that Brandon can't do here. The idea with helpers is to watch the coupler compression *in front* of the locos to make sure it's just a few cars in front of them. This means the helpers that have been cut in about 2/3rds back will be pulling the cars behind them, and pushing a few cars in front of them, leaving the head end power to be pulling just over half the train. If the helper pushes too hard, you could bunch the train and put cars on the ground. Or if the helpers run too slow, the head end power could pull the train tight, and then stringline cars onto the ground on the inside of curves. Running helper operations with DCC is very fun, because you actually have independent control of the head end and helper sets, and the two crews need to work together -- just as the prototype does -- to keep things moving consistently and keep things on the tracks. Joe Fugate http://siskiyou-railfan.net - 200,000 hits and counting! In video ... | ||
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| Registered Member #3 Joined: Wed Dec 08 2004, 09:01PMLocation: Portland, OR Posts: 2112 | Meanwhile, back in Roseburg Yard As the Coos Bay Hauler East pulls out of town, Jerry Sheffield takes the Roseburg yardmaster position and begins working the yard. With the Coos Bay Hauler out of the yard, and the Dole Turn on its way to Dillard, Jerry can begin doing some switching in the yard. There are more Dillard cars in the yard because the Dole Turn train size is limited to fit into the siding at Dillard and the rest of the cars just have to wait for the next turn. Jerry's working here to get all the Dillard cars moved out of the way so he can work on the next priority, building today's Oakland Turn, also known as the "Rice Hill Rocket". The Oakland Turn's train symbol is ROOKT, and the dispatcher typically gives a track warrant that is a work between Roseburg and Rice Hill, so the crew has unhindered access to the east Oakland siding turnout for runarounds. Hence, the prototype's nickname, "Rice Hill Rocket". Joe Fugate http://siskiyou-railfan.net - 200,000 hits and counting! In video ... | ||
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| Registered Member #3 Joined: Wed Dec 08 2004, 09:01PMLocation: Portland, OR Posts: 2112 | The Dole Turn Arrives in Dillard Conductor Mike Baynes and engineer Dan Haneckow bring the Dole Turn to a stop on the siding in Dillard. Mike (foreground, looking down) checks his paperwork to see that things are all in order as he prepares the switching moves needed to work this complex. This one industry will hold well over 50 rail cars all by itself, and it has at least 7 different spotting locations for cars. Working this mill can easily take up to half the session, and it will completely engross you the entire time. If you are into industry switching, this is *the* job to get on the Siskiyou Line! Joe Fugate http://siskiyou-railfan.net - 200,000 hits and counting! In video ... | ||
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| Registered Member #3 Joined: Wed Dec 08 2004, 09:01PMLocation: Portland, OR Posts: 2112 | The Dole Turn on the siding in Dillard This session's Dole Turn is powered by an SD9 lashup with full lights and sound, which adds to the fun and realism. This industry needs several structures made for it, but for now I've built some simple cardboard standins (without roofs -- the final structures will all have roofs) to at least give you some idea that you are working a mamonth mill complex. This one industry is a major contributor to keeping the entire Siskiyou Line in business. Sometimes the railroad switched it *twice* a day when the mill complex was running full-bore. MODELING NOTE: The good and bad of Soundtraxx sound units is they don't have any keep alive feature so if there's any dead spots in the track or any dirty spots, the sound unit will find it. Some of the track in the Dillard mill is due for a cleaning and the sound unit would cut out badly whenever it hit such track. QSI sound units, on the other hand, have a keep alive capacitor, but it sucks power like crazy when you power up the railroad. If you have a booster that's sensitive to current surges, it may see the current surge as a short and refuse to power up the railroad. Digitrax boosters seem especially sensitive to current surges. At least the Soundtraxx units don't have this problem since they don't have huge keep-alive capacitors like QSI sound units do. One of the "joys" of having a large layout is the need to maintain it. Plan on making time for that if you want the layout to operate well. I sometimes don't get to everything as I prepare for an op session and believe me, if I miss something, we'll find it! And they did.  Joe Fugate http://siskiyou-railfan.net - 200,000 hits and counting! In video ... | ||
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