The new Harry sessions

Midland

Sphenodon Punctatus
The Merry Wives of Wingersheek




Looking from the ship's port side bridge Harry lifts the 5 VR V louvres from the docks.





Harry runs round them and very gently puts them onto the rear of the passenger train.






Leaving Newcastle to head through the Bad Lands with the Thespian Thexpress.





Always approach the eastern end of Anderson carefully. It's a busy yard.
 


A big SAR Northern waits for Harry to clear before departing with a large freight.





Goodies for the farmers and manufacturers.





A light load for Harry but fast delivery essential.
 
The Tempest




Well of course it's gonna be raining... Welcome to Wingersheek, sunshine capital of Austral Bay.






Out of the gloom and murk a freight rushes by on its way to Hoskings. Now you know why you should wait before venturing out any further...




Cheers

Nix
 
Here are some more shots from The Tempest.





Backing onto the louvres at the freight shed.





Pushing the train in clear. I hope you remembered to run round the louvres and put them on the carriages. You can always cheat but the challenge is working out how to do it following the company's rules.





This is your maximum speed as far as VMD station. You really can operate Harry from the cab by looking at the various gauges. Try it, it's great fun and a real challenge. The top large gauge is the speed, the one below it is the boiler pressure, the small upper right is brake cylinder (no pressure as the brakes are released) and the lower right gauge is your brake pipe pressure (70 lbs on older locos).





Keep the fire nice and bright and do remember to keep an eye on the water level in the tender. High speed running really drains the boiler.



*
 


There you are atop a JX wagon at Boots, screwing down the lid and trying to keep dry when you hear a long drawn out whistle. You look up and out of the driving rain going hell for leather comes the Thespian Thexpress. It must be going at least 70 mph. You button up your Drizabone and head back to the office for a much needed coffee.





How's the water level? Do you need to stop here or do you feel lucky? Well do you? If you do stop have a look around. There's always plenty of rolling stock and the occasional locomotive to look at in the Basin Harbour yard.




Nearly finished. You've crossed all those irritating trains at eight minute intervals along the Beside The River section and now you're at the top of the Anderson Bank. Of course you professional enginemen know what you're doing and your boiler pressure will be right at the top and your boiler water level will be high enough to cover all boiler tubes on the grade. If it isn't you might have some explaining to do to the shed driver at Anderson loco...






Coasting into Anderson. The regulator's shut off and you should have had at least a 10 lb reduction on the brake from 3/4 of a mile before this shot. If you haven't you may well pull right through before you stop. The trick with high speed braking is to make a very big reduction at first to grab the speed. When it gets down to 20-25 mph kick 'em off and when recharged make a minimum reduction. If you judge your speed and distance correctly you should be able to stop on a minimum reduction. If you misjudge and have to stop on anything heavier than a minimum reduction you'll find you hit a brick wall at the moment of stopping. You passengers won't like you for that. Some of the really gun drivers would actually release the brakes just as she was coming to a stop. Stopping on releasing brakes gives the smoothest stop but is tricky to get it just right.


The next session should appear sometime during the coming week.



Cheers

Nix
 
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