Bear Creek and South Jackson Operations - BC&SJ III Op Sessions

BC&SJ III Op Session Gallery
April 18, 2015

Click here to start a photo tour.

Click here for a slide show.

Saturday, April 18, 2015

February 2015 marked the first BC & SJ op session with the full five mile mainline. In March we ran the first session that used the new and definitely under construction yard at Bear Creek and discovered a number of issues that had to be dealt with.
On April 18, 2015 we ran the second op session using the under-construction Bear Creek yard. This time things went a lot smoother. We ran all 19 trains on the train line up. We did finish a bit late, but they all ran. There were a few problems, but they were handled swiftly and the trains kept rolling.
So what changed from April last year? After the November 2015 op session,

The mainline expanded two miles to its final five mile length

Bear Creek yard replaced South Jackson as the main yard on the layout. South Jackson is now a secondary yard

When we started running using TT&TO a year and a half ago, a single operator copied all the train orders and OS reports for the entire layout. In April, we added a second operator position.

The temporary Salem staging area is gone - both Pocatello and Salem staging is handled in the main staging area on the lower deck of the peninsula.

The peninsula backdrop now extends the full length of the peninsula effectively isolating crews from each other and making the layout feel longer.

The backdrops necessitated adding several additional fast clocks so train crews can determine the time from any where in the train room.

I'm happy to report that aside from occasional lapses the crew's TT&TO skills continue to improve. There was a headlight stare-down, but that was an exception, normally things went pretty well. The new yard a Bear Creek servces industries on the Siskiyou branch, Junction City, and in Browning. Once completed, it will also serve the Toledo branch. Needing to track blocks going between the yards has added excitement to the yard master positions and they fight valiantly to expedite cars through their yards.
The company photographer managed to take some photos. Selected shots are presented here for your enjoyment.

Click 'em to expand 'em.

Charlie Comstock Superintendent of Nearly Everything
The Bear Creek and South Jackson Railway Co.