Avery Depot

Avery Depot
It took very long to build, but now it is nearly ready - the depot!

Samstag, 18. Juni 2011

The Farewell Session

As I'm writing this post the last session of St Paul Pass I itself is history. Only 7 attendants (one of them late) appeared and that made it a very relaxed (some say too relaxed) session. The last time there were fewer than 8 participants was in December 2008! Due to the fact that only 2 through trains each way were running it was not too compelling for the dispatcher as there was a gap of 12 fast hours between them.
However, it is known that for a good session we need at least 10 people.

Since there will be a longer pause until the next session and for the first few sessions a large crowd won't be needed, this is not really a problem anymore.

Here are a few pics my son Florian and I made during the session:

This is the last track cleaning train at the beginning of the session.  I use the CR and 2 SP units that don't see use in many trains. Here CR 6338 will soon be splitting the signals at Kyle West switch.


A little while later we see it somewhere between Kyle and Adair
 and finally approaching Avery....

This small sawmill is a masterpiece from my son Florian (that was before he found out that there are girls out there...) It will be saved and get a fine place on the new layout.

The 936/937 job to Ethelton is seen here (at least the tail end) - in the background we have the gas tube ...oh my... it's in the way of level 3. I forgot it completely when planning the St Paul Pass II! Fortunately, the track will fit under it. It's not beautiful, but there is no way removing it...

East Portal West switch is on the upper level and Hobo Ridge on the lower one. The name comes from the hobo camp at it's base.
 Adair and the cement mill.

Marmoraton Mining Limestone Works will be saved, too. It already has a place on my plan (level 1).

Marble Creek will not be a junction any more. This is the last #925 moving out of the tunnel. On the left are the first two towers of Kelly Creek trestle which will also find a home on the new layout. The white spot on the right is the hole I battered out of the gypsum mountain to find two missing locos. (Long story)

The other half of Kelly Creek trestle. I thought it was a good idea to separate the levels with a 2-turn helix. As it turned out this was not the case. 45 cm ( 17") radius combined with a more than 3% grade is taxing all locos to the extreme. Sometimes even 4 6axle SD40-2 are not enough. This is a part of StPP I that would have been changing anyway.

Here is a detail shot of the lumber cabin, made by my son Florian (before, you know...), complete with interior, for example a stove, beds and drawer.
 This is Mr. Lumberjack himself, sitting on his bed. In the background there is his nice lamp.

The last through train.....

Little Joe #22 waits for an assignment.

The area of the roundhouse with a few helpers waiting for trains that won't be coming any more....

The ready track with an NW2, SD40 and U23B

The wrecking track. The wrecking train will be moved to St Maries (where it belongs).

Wolfgang as an eager-to-learn Yardmaster has done a very good job to keep the yard clean...

SD40-2 #157 (with long hood forward!) arrives at Avery. The helper is uncoupled (just now - as you can see the 0-5-0 in the back) and will soon find an empty track at the roundhouse.

#932 in Calder. Seems that stealth NW fans are among us as we have a long hood again!

The next signal shows red-over-red, which is quite correct....

Mr Hobo and his friend are chatting. They sure hope that Sherrif Smith won't be coming along..
Yes, the Milwaukee even has modern concrete ties laid down....
 The US Forest Service loading track.
 The overpass at Calder which leads to the USFS track.

Yellow over red at East Portal
..the end of the line for now.

5 Kommentare:

  1. As one of the regular operators of St Paul Pass I, I want to share my sad feelings that this version is going to be teared down. We had a lot of fun with it and even though sometimes things weren't going as planned I get great enjoyment out of the operating sessions.

    I especially enjoy switching trains so the locals are a natural choice for me when it comes to bidding on jobs. It has been a while since I last ran a train though as I have been working as yard master and made my first steps as a dispatcher lately. So I just had to run a few locals during the last session to bid the layout farewell.
    Running 932 the empty log runner from the west to Avery was as much fun as always, and I am proud to point out that this time I did not forget to collect the log car at Pocono. I especially enjoyed watching the long empty log train wind around the hilly landscape.
    Later I ran trains 937/936, the Ethelton turn and had fun switching Marmoraton Mining Limestone Work. This job will be less challenging on the new layout as there will be an additional runaround track there. But as we ran very few trough trains this session blocking the main line for longer periods of time was no problem at all and I left my train of loads for the return trip on the main for quite some time while delivering the empties.

    I chose to relieve Michael from his post as dispatcher for the second part of the session and we ran a few unscheduled trains - even number 16 the Olympian Hiawatha - in addition to the scheduled ones. The task was still not very challenging for me as a dispatcher as there was plenty of capacity on the line for more trains. Still, it was a lot of fun!

    I want to thank Michael for letting us operate his wonderful layout and I am looking forward to the construction of St Paul Pass II and especially the many improvements that will make it even more fun to operate!

    Thanks to all for playing and see you soon at the throttle of a hot shot or local or grain extra bearing down the main line over St Paul Pass II!

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  2. Robert,

    thank you for your kind words. I appreciate that. In todays world, change is inevitable, even the only constant.

    We should always try to get better - and we will!

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  3. I have to strongly object to call this session a very relaxed one! It was not – at least for me as yardmaster! Of course most of the switching was routine work, or would have been routine work for an experienced yard master, but it was only my third attempt to do this job, so nothing at all was routine for me. In addition there were some minor discrepancies between paperwork and reality (e. g. train 932 arrived with cars arranged in reverse order) and especially train X 197 West was a real challenge: it consisted of 35 cars, which was a little bit out of proportion for Avery yard. In addition 17 cars scattered along the train had to be set out. For some time this train blocked the westbound switches – I even had to use the caboose track to get a helper from the roundhouse in time! But I think (I cannot say for sure because the clocks were not working) all trains leaving Avery were almost in time.

    Fortunately I was able to finish the switching at Avery early enough to work the 201, the last westbound train of this session and actually of St. Paul Pass I. It was great pleasure for me to be engineer again but on the other hand it was a really sad feeling to know that this was a fare-well ride.

    But – as my former boss phrased it – change is the only constant in life. So I want to thank Michael for the many many hours of pleasure he and St. Paul Pass I offered to me during the past two years and I am looking forward to attending many rewarding sessions on St. Paul Pass II !

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  4. When I reread the first paragraph of my comment above, I felt that it could be misinterpreted. To make things clear - I really liked the session. I like switching, I like to solve problems, and I like to overcome difficulties, so the yardmaster job meets my interests perfectly. Challenges like the ones I mentioned above are needed to make work interesting in the same way as salt makes soup tasty. Thanks Michael to set up this “yardmaster exam” for me! And I want to add that it was very satisfying for me to complete the job correctly and (almost) in time and to leave the yard tidied up for a next session (which unfortunatly never will come on this layout).

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  5. Wolfgang, no need to worry about: You made yourself perfectly clear.
    However, you are pointing out an important issue. We need to concentrate on some operations software and more pre-session communication for StPP II to help keeping the railroad fluid.

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