Today I hosted the mid-month operating session for our non-group group. As with every operating session (with the exception of a night time session) we gather at the local diner closest the person hosting.
Prior to hosting the session, certain preparations need to be made. I also take into consideration that my op sessions may take place during one of virtual op sessions.
Here's a list of the preparation that I did prior to today.
Freight yard has to be staged. A pair of engines needs to be in the yard to take a train to staging.
Industries along the wall need cars to be pulled.
Power plant must have empty coal hoppers.
My list of trains that can be run needs to be posted.
That being said, here's what it looked like prior to the session:
Rock Ridge Freight Yard - Ready!
Three Amigos Warehouse and Tank Terminal - Ready!
Cargill - Ready!
R.M.O. Electric - Ready!
Tropicana - Ready!
Intermodal Terminal - Ready!
Shapeless Steel - Ready!
C&P Restaurant Supply - Ready!
Mike's Lumber - Ready!
Freihofers - Ready!
Marcal - Ready!
Auto Rack Terminal - Ready
Ideal Auto Parts - Ready!
Morton Salt - Ready!
We are Ready!!
The caravan of cars arrived back from the diner at 1330 hours. A total of 9 guys came back; 7 of which were running trains. I had my dispatcher Rich with me as well as my right hand guy John, who assisted me with a few things.
We ran a number of trains, including intermodal, two local freight jobs, 3 manifest, the Amtrak passenger train and a couple of local moves within Rock Ridge. Total running time was close to two hours as some of the guys needed to get back home. Two guys drove over an hour to have some fun!. Some of the highlights...
Everyone had a fun time, not without some freight car issues, which does happen on occasion. The yardmaster Rich always does a great job for me and when he is at that position, I never need to tell him what to do within the yard. During a session I will notify him of what train is coming and how he wants me to route it to the yard.
Now that I've hosted, I need to restage the layout for the next operating session or virtual op session.
Thanks for reading!
Thank you for posting this after action report Sir Neal. The APRR is one very impressive model railroad! Great seeing all great looking trains, engines and the virtual ops industries being enjoyed during an actual ops session. To a person everyone caught in a photo had a smile on their face. Thanks for sharing this fun time with us.
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