(Photo: John C)

ur group seems to form great teams of solid operators. A lot of layouts ask for us, even confirm that we can make it before announcing a session. Among other places that request us, there are the Virginia SouthWestern, the West Virginia Northern, the Florida East Coast and the Western Bay.

It’s a shame that if we did not actually build and maintain the Leigh, Monongahela & Ohio we probably wouldn’t have been invited at all. I mean, look at last night’s session.

First off, there was all the dramas before the clock even went hot. I actually approved of people swapping jobs on some run-squatters (bad description – I’m suddenly thinking of Jim M in distress). It’s great to make people move out of their comfort zones. And there was Zeus, taking one of the hardest jobs on the layout without a whimper.

But after that, what a literal shit-show (again, sorry, Jim).

Silver Bullet 2 rolls into Weirton while the Pittsburgh Local services Tenefrancia Marina (Photo: John DV)

A primary pain-point was our radio procedures. Yes, Zeus is new and was taking a long time on getting warrants out, leading to operator frustration (and if you think you can do better, see me for an exciting new job on the desk). Anyway, afterwards Zach and I gave him suggestions for improvements over beers (so late it was actually early). But the rest of you have no excuse.

Let me make myself clear – when you ask for a warrant, DO NOT complain or describe how late you were or how hard it was to get through. First, we don’t care. That’s what a briefing is for. Second off, when the phones are all in use and you waste time, the rest of us have to wait through your whiny diatribe. If we were sitting at a light and you dilly-dallied on the green, we’d all be on the horns. As superintendent, I asked some of you to specifically stop doing it yet you kept it up, station after station.

And really, some of your train handling needs improvement. I took the ore (452) over the hill last night with three four-axles. I checked with Martin Yard before rolling in and had a warrant in hand when I did. I’d advised the dispatcher that I might stall on the hill and I did in the Red Rock west turnout (Helper Jim should have been there). Told the DS my situation, fetched the helpers from Harris Glen (Pete was good enough to hold Silver Bullet 1 back so I could pull out and expedite). Ran down, pulled clear, let the varnish by and then ran it up the hill on the head end of the train. Dropped and ran down the east slope without a single problem (so many complaints about these cars and I had no issues). Ran into Calypso and dropped the bunch. While swapping my engines onto the abandoned rack train (153) someone else took the last mill job to put them into the unloaders. First off, I was grumpily informed that I had to line the yard for him to leave. Then there was the complaint that the mill engines couldn’t pull them (he was only at 39 on the throttle. You know, they do wind up to 99). And then four of the cars were tossed into the weeds off as being defective. I ran the train 2/3rds of the layout over the mountain in through the helix without a hitch and you can’t do thirty level feet without recriminations and roughing up the cars? Really?

The club canook blows down Main 2, dusting the waiting passengers with Anthracite. (Photo: John DV)

Other bad things. Saw a company officer move a train through the Mingo tunnel without a warrant. The Martin drops were all carded off the wrong end (and that’s on me – sorry, Jeff). The racks got abandoned in Calypso (but that was largely a misunderstanding between the crew and dispatcher, which the superintendent fixed). The fast freights did not tell the dispatcher they could skip Calypso (which was covered in the pre-brief). And Steve Hooper ran a train – I’m not sure what he did wrong, I couldn’t follow him, but I’m sure there was something. I mean, it’s Steve.

On the good side, Kyle snapped out Harris Glen. Mike did Nazareth and found it easy. I got to run my beloved Shelfton with my brass bulldog assisting. Zeus ran rough, but he did run twice as much railroad as he did last month so the metrics show an improvement there. Zach helped Jeff through the yard crush and my dealing cards off the bottom of the deck. So some successes, but some take-away’s, too.

Sorry I couldn’t make this a funny read. I can only do so many Jim poopy jokes.

I’ll leave you with this, altered from a political maxim: If you want a better operation session, be better operators.

Superintendent, out.

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The man (Photo: John C)

…and his plan. (Also John C)