Last Friday's operating sesion.

Another ops session on the SFRSD
    
     I have been holding operating sessions on the last Friday of almost every month of the year on the Santa Fe Railway Southern Division with exceptions for Christmas. These have been going on for many years however for some reason I have very rarely documented any of them. Some of my operators have taken shots during these nights with their own cameras but I do not seem to have thought of doing it for some reason or another. Maybe it is because in the past before moving to DCC and my car card system it used to take up to 4 hours to re stage the RR ready for the nights session.
     This past session held on the 30th of August I decided that the night needed to be recorded. A few of our friends were not well on the night so we only had eight of us to enjoy the evening instead of the usual 11 and sometimes 12.
     In moments of mirth if an incident like a derailment has occurred images would be taken and I would set about doing a newspaper article the next day to ensue that the culprit or culprits were given the amount of publicity as warranted.
     Since having my CTC panels installed and operating since January this year I have sat in the dispatchers chair, however I never get to run one of my own trains. For a change I asked Greg to sit in the hot seat ( he grabbed it for a while last time anyway) so he jumped at the chance. This gave me a chance to take some images run a train and just take a different approach to the night.
  
      So here are a few images taken during the evening.

This is a showcase miniatures kit. The cantilever is in process of being removed (it was never there in the first place)

I have just replaced all of the original turnout motors with these ones from J L innovative and added relay boxes where they should be

New to the roster is the N Scale Enthusiasts special run SF Track Geometry car

John C working the Augusta Yard

Ron Looking for cars at Winfield for the cement train

A very happy dispatcher. Greg is enjoying the night in the hot seat. Rumors are that he played solitaire between trains, Hmm

Dennis running through Hackney on his way to Winfield

Noel with his FLN / PON / FLN train heading past Perry. Noel got to run 5 trains on the night, well done Noel.

Brendan our young software master of all things signalling is in charge of Flynn Yard. You can see the fast clock we use in the background. Greg obtained permission to alter the face so it shows Santa Fe Southern Division. Thanks Greg.

And Charlie pondering his moves at Hackney with a grain sweeper.

    So a good night was had by all. The layout is running pretty well except for the odd ME turnout that still gives me an issue however we are getting on top of that pretty well. The new medium flange M/T wheels I added to all of my cars has made a huge difference to the performance of RR.

Enjoy your day.
Rod.