Today, I finally got a chance to work on the NEB&W railroad today at my first operating session. I usually don’t get a chance because more often than not, I’m comatose on Saturdays and have forgotten the past several operating sessions to get to bed at a reasonable hour so I wake up before the operating session starts. I didn’t know that operating sessions actually start at noon and go for quite a while, with trains starting throughout the afternoon. I’ll be adding my pictures of the adventure to Flickr.
My Train
I was driving train AT-6, a 200 level train which was supposed to start at 3:02 and be led by a couple of RS-3s. At the start, my train consisted of 15 empty hoppers, a couple of additional cars, and my caboose. My first pick up was at Chateaugay, where I was to pick up a few more cars then head out to Port Henry to drop off my 15 empty cars and pick up 15 full ones on two different tracks. Unfortunately, I got stuck at Chateaugay for quite a while because an engineer ahead of me was doing work in Port Henry. As I waited, the yard dispatcher ordered me to pull ahead out of the yard and switched me onto the main line. I backed up my excessively long goods train past the south switch into the yard and waited as another engineer entered a siding to my west and pulled her passenger train out of Chateaugay.
A rough view of the model railroad's layout.
Chateaugay to Port Henry
I finally got clearance out of Chateaugay as the engineer in Port Henry was finishing up his work. I said goodbye to the yard operator at Cheateaugay and made the short jaunt to Port Henry. When I arrived at Port Heny, I discovered that track 3, where I was supposed to drop my cars was too short, so I ended up splitting it between a siding and track 3.
While I was getting my train ready for the next jaunt to North Bennington, a milk train heading north needed to pass me. As it passed me and cleared the yard, I heard the yard operator at Chateaugay clear the milk train on the main line. Unfortunately, this was interpreted by a sitting goods train to be an order for them, so he headed out as well. A few minutes later, there was a near collision just north of the yard - someone’s hand stopped the two trains from actually colliding.
As the crisis was taken care of, I headed out of Port Henry after gaining clearance from dispatch.
Port Henry to North Bennington
When I left Port Henry on the main line, I was ordered to stop just before a switch to a siding at Vergennes so an equally long goods train could pass me. After the goods train passed me, I continued down to Lake George, where I again sat on the main line. This time to wait for a very long passenger train going north from South Hero over the Causeway. As the passenger train entered the Lake George siding, there was a derailment. In order for the operator to get his cars back onto the track, I had to pull my train forward, which worked out for me anway because my train was severely late. I gained clearance from dispatch and proceeded to North Bennington. I got in contact with the North Bennington dispatcher and he had me wait just outside the yard at the bridge at Grand Isle. When I finally entered the yard at North Bennington, my engine was ‘refueled’ and my caboose switched.
North Bennington to Rutland
When I was all prepped and ready to leave North Bennington, I asked dispatch up to where I was clear, received my orders, said goodbye to North Bennington dispatch, and pulled out of the yard. I was clear all the way out to Summit, where I was to wait again, as a passenger train behind me overtook me on the main line. After the passenger train pulled ahead of me, another goods train heading in the opposite direction passed me. Then I was cleared by dispatch to proceed as far as the switch just outside Johnsonville where the main line turns into double track.
The passenger train that had passed me was doing work at Saratoga, picking up a couple of cars to add to his train. I helped him speed up his work by switching the crossover track so that he could pull his cars from the siding at Saratoga over to his track and couple them to the end of his train. Once he was all set, he was cleared by dispatch to head to his final destination at Troy’s Union Station.
He left and I was given clearance into Saratoga, where I was told to wait. Dispatch cleared up the track ahead of me and I was given orders to cross over onto the east track on the main line. I would ride this all the way through Cohoes, Green Island, over the Green Island railroad bridge, and into the Rutland yard. I ended up almost overtaking the passenger train when I was ordered by Rutland dispatch to hold at the switch just after the Green Island bridge. With a bit of confusion, I was ordered onto track 8, which actually ended up being track 7 of the yard. Four hours on railroad time later, I arrived at my final destination. I dropped off the cards associated with each of my cars and headed out to enjoy the last few hours of daylight.