Op Sessions

It looks like I will be doing two separate types of Op Sessions. Kind of like I did before.
One is a monthly on the second Tuesday of the month. Mostly for the local retired folks in the area.
The other will be for the more distant folks. Starting this weekend I will do every two months on the last Saturday. This alternates months with another layout on the same last Saturday of the month. In case the monthly session doesn't draw enough, I will pull from the local group, of which there seems to be enough extras.

Getting ready for the next session

For the next session I will be bringing Portland online. This will add three trains during a 24 hour day.
Belfast (with the wye to St. Albans) was reduced to a single track and the old main is now a siding for the creamery. This added a new industry and reduced the signals by three. Of course a lot of re-programming to these changes.
A bunch of rolling stock added along with four more trains and one more track to cover the new train to Northern Maine Junction.
Then there is the paperwork to go with it all. Nothing is ever done until the paperwork is done.
This Saturday I will have a new person over to learn the Dispatcher's station prior to the actual op session. He has been here before but has not done the dispatching before.

The Great Searsport Flood

For the first time in days I was not working on the railroad. I was woodworking a project for a donation to a fund raiser. In the process I needed to go down and find the dust pan from the train room. Lo and behold there was water on the floor. At first it appeared to be coming from the floor and closer inspection of wet boxes said otherwise. The regulator shown in the first picture was weeping out of the bell cap.
Searsport got a little wet. Some dripped to the floor. Once dry I will turn everything on and find out what, if anything, needs to be done.
I know that no electronics was impacted. I believe only one Tortoise possibly got wet. Some buildings got wet and boxes below the benchwork got a little wet on the bottom.
Stay tuned.

Portland is ready for ops

Portland has been wired up and tested. When you open the swing gate the tracks on either side are protected by a tortoise wire between the rails. Now it is on to the supporting paperwork.

Portland updates

From the last session I did the necessary fixes. Now it is on to Portland. I needed to run wires from the current layout across the bridge. That would require seven wires, two for DCC, two for Accessory power, two for the CMRI power and a CAT-5 for the CMRI. I checked that I could fit those wires in a protective case for the floor and they would fit so I went ahead and started.
The DCC on this section will be powered from the booster, so I had to run wires from it. The CMRI is only needed for a few items. Mostly for protection when the swing gate is open. Unfortunately I spent a lot of time with this yesterday and something was not right. I'm sure I'm forgetting something, so I will get back to that shortly.
Today I wanted to make positive progress, so I ran the DCC wires for Portland. I made and connected all the drops for the current track. I also connected the swing bridge up. Tomorrow I will have to connect all of that to the power bus. At least that way I can run trains across the bridge.
The other day I also printed out a lot of new waybills and changes to existing waybills for the new track in Northern Maine Junction, Belfast and Portland. So I will be able to get that going also.

Follow up on yesterdays test session

Today I already removed the troublesome turnout and two signals in Belfast. It is now a single track main line connecting to the wye. The old main is now one long siding. For now I will put in the dairy, but if I believe I can handle another siding on this section of single track, I will split it into two sidings.

I also added another temp track in Northern Maine Jct., so I can add another train there to alleviate the stuck traffic in the yards. I already have spare tracks in the other locations, so I only need to add the trains. So I will add one train out of both Rigby and NMJ and two trains out of St. Albans. One going to each yard.

This and Portland coming online will clear out some of the yards. Portland it self will add 2 to 3 trains once we get it up to full potential.

One more thing that will help is more industrial spots for Wood Job traffic. That will take some time.

Another Test Run

Today we're not as bad as I expected. I had a lot of track tweeting issues over the winter and I found them late in preparation for the next session. I got most of them corrected but did not have enough time for testing. We did decide that in Belfast at the wye I will remove a passing track that would eliminate at least one troublesome turnout. We never used it for a meet anyway.
I should be able to add a siding in its place. I need a couple more dairies for the milk train anyway. We shall see on that.
Due to a miscalculation by me I had way too many cars for Northern Maine Junction and St. Albans. They showed up badly in the yards today. It is time to add one more train in NMJ and Rigby, with two more out of SAN. Changing some waybills for what is all ready on the layout and getting Portland finished will help with that. AND getting enough engines for those trains.
It is either sit in an easy chair or have the Joys of Model Railroading.

Chuck