| Joe Fugate's Siskiyou Line :: Forums :: Joe Fugate's Siskiyou Line :: Operations |
|
<< Previous thread | Next thread >> |
| OP Session, Apr 9, 1985 (2005) | ||
| Go to page 1 [2] 3 4 5 6 | |
|
Moderators: admin, joef, bear creek
|
| Author | Post | ||
| joef |
| ||
   Registered Member #3 Joined: Wed Dec 08 2004, 09:01PMLocation: Portland, OR Posts: 2112 | Dale deals with a bad order car on the Seagull West Here's an interesting angle you won't see once all the scenery is in. I'm actually standing in the Dillard area, peeking through a hole in the wall at the backside of the Springfield Junction area just outside of Eugene. That's Dale in the background, and he's pulling a car with too high couplers out of the train as bad order. We decided to perform serious maintenance on all the cars on the layout in January, but actually only got through about half the cars. The car Dale pulled here had no maintenance date stamped on the back of the card, so it's one car we have not yet gotten to. One of the things you will find is that on an operating railroad, you need to regularly maintain your cars. Even if the cars were perfect when you put them on the railroad (proper weight, proper coupler height, wheels all in guage, etc), as the cars run on the railroad, they experience wear and tear. So you need to recheck things periodically to make sure all is well. The real railroads deal with car maintenance issues all the time for the same reasons (normal wear and tear), so it's actually quite prototypical.  Joe Fugate http://siskiyou-railfan.net - 200,000 hits and counting!  In video ... | ||
| Back to top |
| ||
| joef |
| ||
| Registered Member #3 Joined: Wed Dec 08 2004, 09:01PMLocation: Portland, OR Posts: 2112 | The SLE reaches Dillard Jim Laycock looks on as Jerry Sheffield (extreme left of the picture) runs the Siskiyou Line East through Dillard. Jerry is a one-person crew on the SLE, acting as both conductor and engineer on his train. Jim is actually waiting as Engineer Dale pulls their Seagull West through Goshen and into Cottage Grove (just to the right out of the photo). Jim is conducting the Seagull West. Joe Fugate http://siskiyou-railfan.net - 200,000 hits and counting! In video ... | ||
| Back to top |
| ||
| joef |
| ||
| Registered Member #3 Joined: Wed Dec 08 2004, 09:01PMLocation: Portland, OR Posts: 2112 | Meanwhile, back in Roseburg Yard The Seagull East (Roseburg to Eugene) still sits in Roseburg all set to go, but since we're short handed tonight, it's gonna just keep sitting for a while. In front of the Seagull East, you can see a lone helper engine, one of the new Athearn SD45T-2 tunnel motors. And on the left, you can see a couple of water cars, all set to be cut into the train behind the head end power. It might be a while before we get a crew for this train, given the situation with lack of crews due to the strike ... Joe Fugate http://siskiyou-railfan.net - 200,000 hits and counting! In video ... | ||
| Back to top |
| ||
| joef |
| ||
| Registered Member #3 Joined: Wed Dec 08 2004, 09:01PMLocation: Portland, OR Posts: 2112 | Seagull West makes it to Cottage Grove Engineer Dale got the Seagull West to Cottage Grove, so now it's time to add some water cars -- back to work for conductor Jim Laycock. The train is short enough and has enough power that it doesn't need helpers up the hill ... there's none available anyhow (and who would crew it), so that's just as well. Joe Fugate http://siskiyou-railfan.net - 200,000 hits and counting! In video ... | ||
| Back to top |
| ||
| joef |
| ||
| Registered Member #3 Joined: Wed Dec 08 2004, 09:01PMLocation: Portland, OR Posts: 2112 | And back in Roseburg, the SLE pulls through town Engineer/Conductor Jerry Sheffield of the Siskiyou Line East has pulled through Roseburg and is on the east end of town. You can see Jerry's cut off the power and just getting ready to add water cars in when dispatch calls with his Track Warrant giving him clearance to move beyond yard limits and on down the line toward Eugene. By the way, Jerry pulled a drawbar on one of his three locomotives (sheesh, what else can go wrong in tonight's session?) so he set out the bad unit and is now down to two locos on his train. Joe Fugate http://siskiyou-railfan.net - 200,000 hits and counting! In video ... | ||
| Back to top |
| ||
| joef |
| ||
| Registered Member #3 Joined: Wed Dec 08 2004, 09:01PMLocation: Portland, OR Posts: 2112 | The SLE rolls on east out of Roseburg Jerry Sheffield has now added in the water cars and pulls on out of Roseburg and on up the line toward Eugene. However, Jerry's train can't pull Rice Hill on its own without helpers. But what to do, since we're short handed and don't have any helper engineers? Dispatch has ordered Jerry to double the hill! This should be interesting, since dispatch is also holding the Seagull West in Rice Hill on the siding ... who would think things could get so busy with so few operators? And now doubling the hill will triple the time it's gonna take Jerry to get over the hill since he will pull half his train up the hill, drop it off at top, then run back down and get the other half, then pull that half up the hill. But how do you do all that with a train already in the hole at Rice Hill, and also maintain the requirement that everything over Rice Hill has to have water cars in tow? Now this is gonna be interesting ... Joe Fugate http://siskiyou-railfan.net - 200,000 hits and counting! In video ... | ||
| Back to top |
| ||
| joef |
| ||
| Registered Member #3 Joined: Wed Dec 08 2004, 09:01PMLocation: Portland, OR Posts: 2112 | Seagull West waits in the hole at Rice Hill Dale peeks up at his train in the hole at Rice Hill ... hmm, that high narrow benchwork I talk so much about looks to be especially high for Dale. Meanwhile in the background, Jerry approaches Oakland with his train ... which is the bottom of Rice Hill. So now Jerry needs to leave the rear half of his train at Oakland, and take the front half up the hill behind the power and water cars. Joe Fugate http://siskiyou-railfan.net - 200,000 hits and counting! In video ... | ||
| Back to top |
| ||
| joef |
| ||
| Registered Member #3 Joined: Wed Dec 08 2004, 09:01PMLocation: Portland, OR Posts: 2112 | Jim gives Dale a leg up ... You gotta hand it to Jim Laycock ... he bends over backwards (or forwards as in this case) to give any newbie a leg up on operating his train! If only all conductors were so nice to their engineers, aye? Dale seems a bit height challenged here at Rice Hill, so Jim is trying to do what he can to make it a bit easier on Dale.  ==================================== --Joe P.S. Image link for the Yahoo crowd: http://siskiyou-railfan.net/assets/images/post_photos/aprilOps/DPP_0130.jpg Joe Fugate http://siskiyou-railfan.net - 200,000 hits and counting! In video ... | ||
| Back to top |
| ||
| joef |
| ||
| Registered Member #3 Joined: Wed Dec 08 2004, 09:01PMLocation: Portland, OR Posts: 2112 | Jerry starts doubling the hill ... Jerry is now pulling into Oakland siding, where he will leave the rear half of his train, and take the other half up the hill. Since the Seagull West is in the hole at Rice Hill, Jerry's going to take the main at Rice Hill summit. But then what, dispatch? Joe Fugate http://siskiyou-railfan.net - 200,000 hits and counting! In video ... | ||
| Back to top |
| ||
| joef |
| ||
| Registered Member #3 Joined: Wed Dec 08 2004, 09:01PMLocation: Portland, OR Posts: 2112 | Jim and Dale wait patiently while Jerry starts up the hill One of the things real railroaders will tell you about are the times the dispatcher had them waiting ... and waiting ... and waiting. So having to stand around and wait for another train is prototypical as well. I find it's actually kind of fun because it gives me time to railfan other activity around me. But I'm not above hassling the dispatcher (all in good fun of course) for making me wait! Jim and Dale seem to be just taking it all in stride ... I guess anything's better than the hour and a half in the dark earlier. Joe Fugate http://siskiyou-railfan.net - 200,000 hits and counting! In video ... | ||
| Back to top |
| ||
| Go to page 1 [2] 3 4 5 6 | |
Powered by e107 Forum System
{THEMEDISCLAIMER}