Bear Creek and South Jackson Operations - Sessions
op sessions


Bear Creek Operations
TT&TO Op Session Documentation

This page is provided to help regular and boomer operators on the BC&SJ run the railroad efficiently and to avoid confusion.

Some of this material falls in the category of hints and tips. Some is reference material (such as the lists of train blocking orders in the yardmaster guides.

If you'd like to take a yardmaster or station operator position, please look through the appropriate materials. Hopefully it will prove useful.


  The Bear Creek and South Jackson railroad

The railroad

The Bear Creek and South Jackson railroad is situated in Oregon. It represents a trunk line bridging Salem in western Oegon's Willamette valley, with Idaho to the east, and California to the south.

The Deschutes branch reaches north to eastern Washington. The Siskiyou branch reaches west to Coos Bay on the coast and south to Roseburg. When complete, the Toledo branch will reach west to Toledo on the Pacific coast.

It may help to think of it as a free-lanced version of the Southern Pacific in Oregon. Although it's not the Espee, there is SP influence.

Train movement

Operation on the BC&SJ was designed to efficiently move freight from shippers to consignees. There are through trains and locals. Two yards move traffic on and off the branchlines. Haulers and express trains block swaps at the yards, locals serve online industries, and passenger trains move people. Trains are either "regular" (listed in the Time Table), "extra", or "yard engines" (within yard limits).

Train movements are authorized and governed primarily by Timetable Authority and Train Orders, but certain trains operate under Yard Limit rules. Trains operate across several segments and may pass through an Interlocking Plant that connects the endpoints of the represented run with the entry/exit to a helix which provides access to several in-staging distant destinations. A dispatcher in an isolated office controls train movements using FRS radios (until a phone system can be installed) to communicate with Station Operators and Yard Masters.



  BC&SJ track plans and track schematics:

   
  Upper deck track plan (.pdf) Main staging track plan (.pdf) Track plan schematic (.pdf)  


Yard operation:

Bear Creek Yard - Yardmaster Guide
C. Comstock - version 4.0 - June 24, 2015 - (.pdf)
South Jackson Yard - Yardmaster Guide
C. Comstock - version 2.0 - May 8, 2015 - (.pdf)

South Jackson Yard Master - hints and tips
C. Comstock - November 22, 2006 (.html)


Train order station operators:

BC&SJ Station Operator Handbook
C. Comstock - version 1.0 - June 24, 2015 - (.pdf)

The Train Order Operator
R. Kang - version 1.1 - June 24, 2015 - (.pdf)


Train lineups:

 
The planned list of trains that run in an op session in departure time order. Of course the actual departure times vary for extra trains...
 
  May 9, 2015 train lineup (.pdf) June 13, 2015 train lineup (.pdf)  


Dispatchers record of train orders and clearances:

 
   
 
Dispatchers record of train orders and clearances from the January 2019 session with Timetable 12.
 


Train instruction sheets:


Employee Time Table and Rule Book:

Employee Timetable No.11 - March 14, 2015
Employee Timetable No.12 - July 31, 2015


Switching Oakhill:

Switching Oakhill - June 16, 2007

A guide for crews switching Oakhill staying off the main and using the wye for run-around moves. Yes, it can be done!


Running helper locomotives:

BC&SJ Helper Handbook -
June 26, 2015


This page last updated June 13, 2019.
This page and images Copyright © 2006,2007,2008, 2015, 2019 by Charlie Comstock. All rights reserved.