An Ops Moment

Last Sunday, I had another Ops Moment. I got a chance to operate on the NEW Arcadian Coast Eastern (ACE), built by my friend Sandy Eustice. Sandy's ACE is a prototype model of the 6th Maine 2-Foot Gauge Railroad. And if you are thinking that "Wait a minute, there were only five Maine 2-footers." Well, you should talk to Sandy because he has a sixth in On30.

Sandy's Map of the Arcadian Coast Eastern.

The ACE connects with the Maine Central in Hancock, runs along the coast past Sorento to a wye at Frenchman Bay. From there, the main continues along the coast to Winter Harbor at the end of the main line. However, a branch runs off the main at the wye at Frenchman Bay to the town of Tunk Lake. In essence, the layout is three major switching areas, coming off a single wye. It is a novel design, and it allowed Sandy to have a nice operating On30 layout in a spare bedroom.

Trains originate from Winter Harbor, and either run via Frenchman Bay and Sorento to Hancock, or via Frenchman Bay to Tunk Lake.

ACE #6 with the Winter Harbor engine facilities in the background.

Apparently, someone important is either departing from Winter Harbor, or arriving as there is a fancy car waiting at the station.

Sandy and I each took trains. On the first shift I ran a turn out to Hancock and back, while Sandy worked up to Tunk Lake. Trains are fairly short 5-7 cars, but they are just right for the towns. Hancock resides on a 16" wide shelf, which is not a lot in On30, but there is enough track to get the jobs done, if you think your way through it. Hancock is also the location of a highly efficient interchange with the Maine Central, that rapidly transloads cars between trains.

A GGYV&N box car takes on cargo from the Hancock Freight House and an REA Truck.

The Hancock station is a popular place.

After my run to Hancock and back, I straightened out the yard and spotted cars from Hancock in Winter Harbor. That allowed me to build the afternoon fish train to Hancock and the afternoon turn to Tunk Lake. Tunk Lake resides on the third peninsula of the layout room. Since there is no run around track in Tunk Lake and the grades into town are steep, the engine needs to push cars from Frenchman Bay to Tunk Lake. I first ran the Fish train to Hancock while Sandy handled a few RIP cars and was able to return in time to take the afternoon train to Tunk Lake.

The Hancock County Growers Association, an industry in Tunk Lake.

Tunk Lake is home to a large sawmill complex.

While I ran to Tunk Lake, there was one final run to Hancock and back to catch the evening connection with the Maine Central Calais Branch which Sandy took out. Returning to Winter Harbor, we put away the evening cars, and tied down the engines. Another day on the ACE had come to an end.

Car movements are governed by a 4-cycle car card system. There are a few modifications to the cycle to allow cars to be unloaded and reloaded in Hancock so that the town remains fluid, but the system works well.

Tunk Lake and its car card box.

A layout does not need to be large to be fun to operate, just well thought out, and the ACE qualifies as a well thought out layout that is a pleasure to operate.

Cameron Turner

An Ops Moment

Following up on Thursday night, I went to another round of operations sessions on Saturday, in the area around Aiken, South Carolina, hosted by the District 9 of the NMRA's South East Region. First up that morning was Steve Prevette's Burnt Hills and Big Flats Railroad. Steve's railroad was featured in the 2015 Great Model Railroads issue from Model Railroader. However, he has rebuilt part of the layout since then. Steve's layout also has more moves on it than I could count, which speaks to its construction and design principles.

The Mount Pleasant Area on the BH&BF RR.

 I operated the X35, a local that ran most of the length of the railroad to the town of Sidney. In Sidney, I have a fair amount of work to do while staying out of the way of several other trains. This end of the railroad operates under Timetable and Train Order Operations. But once I got to Sidney things were pretty quiet. I even worked within yard limits to help a long train from the D&H turn at Sidney to make its run down the mainline. A quite entertaining N scale railroad. Steve was a great host and fed us a great lunch.

X-35 working towards Sidney.

Mayfield Yard.

Sandy Eustice, my ride for the trip working Scranton.

Steve (in Blue) watching us work the railroad.

Next up was Don Barnes HO Scale B&O Baltimore and Cumberland Division Railroad. This is a massive layout, which will eventually model the complete run from Baltimore to Cumberland Maryland, with if I recall correctly, only two sidings missing. Don models 1949, and every car and locomotive can be documented to have been on the line then. Even the schedule is a match for the run. The layout is mostly unsceniced and about 60% complete. 30 buildings are on the layout, all scratchbuilt by Don's "guy", with 104 to go. There is a massive roundhouse, the Ellicot City freight house and others to admire.

A 19 (Yes 19!!!) Stall Roundhouse...

WB Tower with 3 Brakemen to the Right.

Harpers Ferry Station.

 I ran one of the three yards in the layout, located in Martinsville, WV (I may have the name wrong), and had a great time. The locomotives were exquisite and the handlaid trackwork was beautiful. It was fun to operate even without the full layout in place, and scenery. I hope that we get to operate there again when things are complete. And Don is a wellspring of knowledge about the B&O.

Martinsville, WV Yard.

 Our last stop of the day was at Robin Riley's place for dinner and a layout tour. Robin is building a layout to model the CBQ Hannibal Division, in N Scale. Being later in the day, and it being a smaller layout, I did not take as many pictures, but it was good to see. The craftsmanship Robin put into his layout was amazing. He is busily developing a full signalling system that will soon be tested first with manual wood signals. Robin organized the weekend, and was a great host throughout.

The CBQ Hannibal Division.

The Oil Refinery on the Hannibal Division.

A big thank you to Steve, Don and Robin for their hospitality this weekend, and to Sandy for driving. The 16 hour day was well worth the fun of the adventure. Hopefully it will not be my last visit to the layouts of SER Division 9.

Cameron Turner

An Ops Moment

On Thursday night this week I took a break from layout work to attend the August Operations Night at the Central Railway Model and Historical Society Layout in Central, SC. They have a large double deck HO scale layout that runs through an old house in Central (open to the public 9-2 on Saturdays). Because it is a club layout open tot he public, the layout is designed as a large loop, and so operations must fit within the display parameters of the layout. Therefore, the club has developed a set of scenario cards that define jobs. These jobs typical become like for like replacement operations, but they do mean that cars do systematically move around the layout over time so that the layout is not entirely static.

The Crescent Approaches.

The layout is based on the operations around the town of Central in the late 1950s. My job last night was operations around a large paper mill complex off the mainline. The job was enjoyable, but the layout was not its most cooperative. Electrical gremlins were afoot. I even learned that there is a combination of switches that you can throw in the paper mill that leads to a short that will shut down the layout. Of course, I did just that.

The first paper mill switcher sidelined due to electrical gremlins.

The Paper Yard.

The replacement switcher.

The complex is very neatly detailed, and posed a solid challenge to operate. Gremlins are never fun, but part of the hobby some nights. It did remind me that I want to make sure I do not have any long reaches to turnouts - a couple in the paper mill exceeded 36". But even a single major industry can provide an interesting evening of switching.

Cameron Turner