Snow High Valley Distr Ctr (High Resolution 950x532) Approx

Wishing good outcome with your Re Skin quest...Can't wait to see......

Southern1581 said:

Nice shots blue! Gonna try and put in a little bit of work on the GP15's tonight, wish me luck.

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Thank you sir........Real busy in the industrial Yards today, and I had such a big train put together, I couldn't add Caterpillar or the Corn Sweetener Plants......And that's a good thing, u would want me board now would you.....:hehe:

Will have another Crew grab them with some NS Locos.

May the Trainz God and Re skin Image rs lead you in your quest..........

I sure you'll be fine,,,,,slow and steady wins the game ole friend.

Lots of Shunting going on today

Good Monday morning all,

Well, we made it to our Signal and will hold here for a bit till the local from Newcastle gets by us into the yard. Then it's a hustle and whistle our way to the Crowhart Mine and get our manifest loaded for Power Plant.

Back over at the yard we are snatching all the loads we can from local industry's, will miss Corn Sweetener at Chem Plant and another from Cat too. We just have to many loads and not enough time, another Crew will finish those loads for us, and hold till Coal manifest #3331 gets in today.

Green cars have fruit, we just had them ice down a bit to keep everything cool. Next to them is another Chem plant and will grab those next.

Making a joint here with the Chem Tankers.

Now grabbing all the empty Propane tankers, we won't run out of propane either, in this area we use a lot for biz and residential heating needs.......

Will use CSX #7662 to haul out our consist we just made.

See you later tonight.........

Junk Train CSX #7033 on it's way out.

Evening all,

CSX Manifest Junk Train #7033, now Junk doesn't mean it's Hazmat or Garbage,:hehe: just means we have a little of every industry in this load. And we have a bit of cars, if you look to the right, our Train stretches all the way up to the ramp to Heather Feed and Supply, as we tacked on some of their empties too.....So it worked out great.

We are pulling partially out of the yard, and then a quick reverse move and pickup our Conductor with his Caboose, and we have a Brakeman on this trip, as we need to get the Coal loaded quickly for the Power Plant....

These units on the front will pull with no problem........

We r now doing a reverse move into the yard to get the Caboose.

NS #3401 and EX Illinois Central # 429 Switcher on lease to us, are waiting for us to clear, and then they, clear out Caterpillar, Penn Chems, and the rest of the cars in the yard for another Junk Train out tomorrow.

Reverse move is almost done, one car length more and will have Caboose.

It looks like our Coal Train is going to be loading in the middle of the night. Unusual, we would normally do it in the Day Light, but this is special request.......The Mine has enough product ready for us so it only takes a couple of their workers to operate ORE loaders for our cars.....It's quick too.

Thanks for dropping by......

Nice shots Blue!

Southern1581 said:

Nice shots Blue!

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Copy that, good luck with reskin projects, the previews look great, can hardly wait to see how NS 15 Switchers come out....... Any news on your finals?

Junk Train CSX #7033 on it's way out II

Good Day all,

Looks like we have everything and the Caboose all hooked up and ready to go now. Dispatcher has given us the clear all the way to Newcastle Yard. Going to take a while to get there, I expect by Dark will reach there, we some curves and stretches that keep us at 10-15 MPH, but safety and no derailments is one heck of deterrent if you know what I mean.

As we head out of the Yard, you can see Cat Equipment tied up and ready to go......Our other power will handle that and other loads one we clear the Ladder Switches in the Yard.

These are the leftover Empties and Loads to pick up later today.

we our passing are ole Friend the Vegetation Train, he will hold tight here till (Crew has gone home for the day) Mine Train gets loaded and clear of us. Won't move this consist will sometime tomorrow. That's why we have a passing siding here.

It's getting later in the day as we pass thru our slow horseshoe curve at 10MPH.........

Coming down the line through the forest. Will see how we do later tonight, should be in the next yard and clear for Manifest Coal Train to pass us at the bottom of the Yard Tracks.

Thanks for dropping in folks, and looks like we have some rain in So Cal for the next 2 days, I just finished my outside Deco Lights......Talk about timing.

Time Flys when going cross country

Evening all,

So our "Junkster" is headed into the yard not far away, this signal says the Yard Switch is set ,a someone is on the other end of "WYE" that be Coal Hot Shot awaiting our move into the yard, how do we know all this, well it's something called a Radio where Engineers and Crew talk to one another, he already heard us calling out our Signals as we progress towards him.

Of course our day light is starting to drift away......But that's OK as we are just about in the Yard and ole Hotshot, well, he will be putting the Pedal to the Medal so to speak.......He needs to get to the Crowhart Mining!

And there's are Green and we are on the move.......

We just made it into town, it's very late, so we are trying no to make a ton of noise, just using our bell, no horn.

Ok, we are out of town now, and at the Mine. Waiting to call there office and let them know we are ready to load a bunch of empty's.

Well the good sign is, we see employee cars were familiar with, we've been here before, many a time...The Mine facility is a family owned business that goes back more than 100 yrs. We have been great partners in business.
i can tell you this much, this is one thing that our town depends on for Lighting and Factory Power for Industry, yes Propane is part of it too, I guess you could say we are all in together, just like the Railroad use large quantities of Diesel and Oil Products too, with out that, no Railroad.

Will look in tomorrow morning and see how we are doing?

Thanks for visiting folks.......

Anyone have a little light for us tonight?

Morning all, It's time to go get our Xmas Tree, wow is this month on the move, been busy with house repairs etc.

So we made it to the Mine, and it's very dark out here, and they don't have any lights so will make do, as most if not all the loading is done during daylight hours.....So here goes, but the Railroad as always has a Plan "B" contention just in case.

We dropped our helper off the back and will use him as extra lighting by setting him just around the curve in the back........We pulled up to the bridge to position ourselves just clear of the switch to back into the plant.

Moving our rear engine into the corner and then he'll flood the area with his high beams........

Voila, and here we have the light to see what we are doing here.

He, this is working out real nice, and we have the Loco mine power in here this site he'll pull out our loads and push them around to help us load faster.

Overhead picture of what is going on here. And our Junkster Train is making some moves at night over on the left to get his loads set out for morning deliveries tomorrow. Over at the Mine to the far right is our Loco Mine Power moving loads around for us, as we cut, back, pull out and move our Empties around.......Then will get them out to the Main and stacked to haul to the Power Plant.

I post more tonight with additional Pictures as we continue this Shunt operation..

All you have a good day............

And we have light, Coal is loading....

Evening all,

In the Dark of Midnight, we continue to load our Coal, with the aid of some bright Loco Lamps.....

Our Rear Engines light shines as bright as Daylight as we continue to load our consist up.

Local NS unit at mine is bringing additional loaded cars for us to take in the morning.

Still some empty's to fill as loads are shunted out to the main.

Amazing how different the light looks here at night as we shunt the last 1/2 of the train into the mines 3 Tracks for loading.



Now you can see how we set our Loco to shine some light for us.....I think after this, will meet with Mine owners and see if we can get a few night lights installed..

Track one is filling the last of our Coal Cars.

If this load situation presents itself again in the future, which with unknown emergencies and weather situations could probably occur again, preparation is key inn handling wisely when alternate situations demand it.

Loco Mine unit is Dragging out our loads to the main as there is only so much room here to load a good size train, like this one tonight and will shove them back to our rear unit then return to Power Storage spur in the Mine Yard.

Lots of Trees in here our getting ready for a very cold Winter, some evergreens are seen too.

You see NS Mine Loco pulling the last loaded Cars out to main, it saved us a lot of time getting all these cars, close to 30 loaded and ready.

Thanks for Dropping by, will see where we are in the later with the load.

Nice shots blue! Interesting to see that mine in operation.

Southern1581 said:

Nice shots blue! Interesting to see that mine in operation.

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Thanks Southern 1581, I'm trying my best to keep it interesting for you all.

I just thought of something I need to do at the Power Plant before I get there, LOL,,,,I don't have a unloader installed yet, but will make it happen pronto.....OOPS.....Just remembered this is a revised route, so I didn't change it to interactive status.......

Been busy Xmas Tree Shopping, we did get a fresh Tree out the Lake Tahoe Co,here in So Cal,,,,really a perfect tree....

And been working on my Wood Floor that buckled from moisture and the Idiot Store owner that told me the wrong way to install it.....What a mess, but I figured out how to do the repairs for now........Thanks for dropping in, and I read the shenanigans going on in our (yours) favorite friend today......It's a shame how some folks try and mess up a good thing.......I'll leave it at that......

Coal is loaded and we are stopped by Red Signal? GRRRRR

All loaded up and ready to deliver........

Doing an air check for Brakes etc. And will be moving shortly.....

And here we go......

Got a ways down the Track and into the outside City limits, and we are stopped by Dispatcher, apparently there is a problem at the Power Plant with loading mechs......Go figure........

So here is my problem, I pulling my hair out, using a Test unit with 2 Loaded cars....Same Coal as Coal mine is putting out.......but one car unloads, and 2nd one will not, using 10MPH max unload-er, as nothing else wants to work correctly.....I have to check with Southern 1851 to figure out what's up, this one has me puzzled.....

Have a great day all, looks like a good Rain Storm with the help of Pineapple Express is on it's way this afternoon, we are hoping for 3-5 inches of the wet stuff, our mountains and surrounding area could really use the moisture, this is not a snow maker, but a Tropical Fed one.....At this point in So Cal after having the last 4 Storms miss us because of diversionary North Bound Jet Stream., well take what ever we can get........

I'll report later tonight if I get this solved......

Script Errors, more Signals added, Coal deliveries!

Evening All,

Well it was an interesting day on the Route, it seems I have some Script conflicts with ARN, RR number system, and my laptop keeping up. Plus I needed some more signaling added to clear control points on the Route.

Below is one of several errors I received as I operate and test different things while investigating and fixing stuff.

What I did was get rid of some of my Train sets, and I think I need to go in and check each cars numbering system, I have heard about this before, that the Numbering for cars can go up to 10000, for my little route, that's over kill......It will be a challenge to do......I do have utility that can replace text in a file,,,,,,escapes me the name of it.......It is found in Word Processors too, but this is small stand alone program...It just came to me "SEARCH AND REPLACE" don't remember the Author's name, I have it for 2 yr's for other things I need to do in Docs.

So one of the reasons I had a Red Light, was there was short train in front of us, that had 4 loads of Coal, it was stuck in the main yard (Coal Cars only) and we didn't know they were back there, so Dispatch sent some power CSX #25418 to snatch and Shunt them over to the Power Plant, and that puts them back in the Green as we are just around the corner so to speak, 1.5 miles away.

Will pull our consist into the Power Plant once he clears ahead of us.....Probably 20 Min's after Dispatch clears our RED Signal at the water bridge Crossing just out of Town.

I rejiggered the Unloading Facility, I needed to tweak the input/output numbers differently, now it's working as intended, '( can u say user error, ouch that hurts) but maxes out at 6-8 Cars, which means when will just bring smaller Coal loads more often......Below you can see the unload-er is accepting Coal now.

We also have good lighting here to see by......

We are unloading 100 Ton Cars.

I installed a second unload-er as these are very short ones, and it works much faster with 2.

Lots of good animation here with Dust from dropping...

This is new worker at Hamilton Cat Facility and he thought what he saw was a fire at the Power Plant, but then he realized it was Coal Dust and not a fire.!

So in additional, I added an Inter Locker 08 G Style Signal and some 4's and 5's that cleared up my Red signal issues..

Because our Yards have Turnaround loops, I think I'll put Signaling at the very back of the Yard to split Signal control of the Loop to 1/2 circles, that should clear up more of the Red Signals, as AI looks quite a long ways out from your Signals physical position.

That's it for now, see you tomorrow then and thanks for coming by.

Mesmerized by Coal Dust and don't forget your Fred?

Wow has it been raining Cats and Dogs here, the Midwest better get ready as are sending you some moisture too, I hope Tennessee is getting some Rain too after there awful Wild Fires they had last month?

I'm really happy this Rain has come, I heard at 6 feet of Snow or more is predicted for the Sierra's and that's Snow Pack is one of our very important places for lots of Southern and Central Ca.

Ok, so now to the Route, our Fellow here is just glued to watch all the Smoke Clouds from the Coal Drop at the Power Plant, guess he hasn't ever seen this before like the rest of us......LOL



Well I had to go to the Yard and get these Guys a "FRED" or AKA "EOT" end of train device, on there last car, it's regulatory so someone, or another Train doesn't run into the back of our Train, and it has happened many times in the past even with these, with deadly results........Were going to pull these cars up to clear the Crossing so the lights can turn off.

CSX#2518 is pulling empties into the Spur at Hamilton Cat Factory, and he'll stay in clear until our Manifest positions the rest of the loaded Coal next to the Corn Sweetener Lead. We have a couple of clear Storage Spurs on that side too. Southern 1581 planned well the Storage Tracks where we might need them to store Loads and empties. And this helps in not clogging up the Yard Traffic coming in etc.

If you look to the Left where the Corn Sweetener Tankers are, you can see the other 2 Spurs.

Edit....My Enter Locker Signal works great here........along with other signals on the Power Plant and Main Track #1 lead Junction........

These Cat Loads are headed out today with CSX #2518 below.

We finally got the Green Signal.......

Evening Folks,

Our Rain Showers have moved on and we got a good soaking last night.

So the Dispatcher has given us a Green Light to take the Power Plant siding, and CSX has dropped his 4 loads of Coal and moved over to Hamilton Cat Plant to keep the mains clear for us, as we unload shortly.

Its night again so we are trying to not make too much noise in the sleepy village. Most folks around here are quite used to the Trains and sleep right thru our Diesel Sounds.

I wished that Gate arm was a little quicker on the Glide down to horizontal position. Need to talk to Signal maintenance about this Gate Arm.

Coming up to the next curves around the corner before we hit up the Power Plant site.

Edited 12-16-2016.....Gate was OK after all, it had to due with angle I looked at it in this photo.........

Double Crossovers coming up and Engineer sees a Yellow, so must be some Traffic coming thru are Yards ahead....

Well will see in you in the Morning and let you know how we did on this run.

Have a good weekend all,,,,,Next Weekend is for Santa Clause, don't blink to quick or you'll miss Xmas.

Night all.

Thanks Blue

I really like your screenshots and stories

Bob

BobbyB said:

Thanks Blue

I really like your screenshots and stories

Bob

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:wave: My Pleasure Sir, and if I can make something that keeps folks happy and entertained then it's all worth it.

Also would like to give a big shout out to Southern 1581's :Y: Layout he made for us to play on, only 2 squares and lots of Action to have fun with. (and I don't think he's finished either)

Have a wonderful Xmas too thanks for stopping in.......:wave:

Good afternoon all, MR's Blue has had me on the run today, we are making Cookies tomorrow, and doing Xmas Tree Deco Today.......Sorry I'm late with the Pics today.

CSX #5269 coming in to Drop a new load of Coal for Power Plant.......

Coal is dropping nicely and no issues so far.

This area is full of Coal cars, now I have to figure where to stuff them all, nah, it will work out ok...We have a big car yard nearby. Yard dispatcher told us to get our hips moving as he has THE CITY OF LEEDS Steam Passenger Train in the yard waiting to get out......

CSX blue yellow, #2518 will be shuffling empty Coal Cars and Cat Loads for us, to clear this side out shortly.

And here we go as he grabs the loads first, then the empty's next to them.

Hamilton has more stuff to ship with us, once we bring in some more Flats and Boxcar empty's...Asap

That's it for now, I will post more pics later tonight, have a great day folks.......Thanks for dropping by.


hh

Coal and new Cat Loads on the move.

Evening all,

Looks like we have lots of Traffic coming and going here, NS #3360 is getting ready to pick up empty Coal Gons, and Hamilton Cat Products with the help of Yard Shunter CSX #2518 on the right pulling out the loads for him, and position on Main#1, he will drive further forward and hold. NS #5269 is headed back into the Main Yards for additional Shunt work in getting what's lefty in the yard for sort out loads.......

NS # 5269 is headed elsewhere into the main yards, my error, and NS #3360 is in the Spur with Loads and some empty too, he will deliver the rest of Coal to Plant this week as needed. Then Drag the empties he has back to Crowhart Mine for refill.
if the Corn Sweetener Tankers are empty he'll grab them too.

Ok....Load of Cat Products for Farmers etc are being Shunted into positioned for NS #3360

CSX #2518 is now hooking up the empty's and will push back to short crossover here to Main #1, and make a joint to NS#3360, CSX#2518 will decouple and head back to main yard for Fuel Service Etc.

Ok...NS #3360 is just about ready to head back to the mine and other locations with his Load. Just one Detail left here.

We need to throw on a FRED device on the end of last car and he is set to Roll.

Mean while City of Leeds Passenger Train is queuing up to next Control point ( Inter Locker Control point, just as soon as NS #5269 gets ahead 2 control points, where he can follow a restricted speed. Then will have NS #5269 take the long Mine Spur at Crowhart Yard, clear Main#1 and then City of Leeds Passenger Special can overtake him on a clear Main #......

I think this is enough action for now........Tomorrow is another busy day, I have lots of family coming to make XMAS cookies,,,:udrool: best time of year for me, I get to taste them and tell the ladies how their Cookies come out......Oh heavens what have I done to deserve this sweet treat!

Talk about a Sugar hangover..

I know, I been a good guy this year!

All kidding aside Thanksgiving and Xmas are special times, lots of work, but enjoy time with my out of state relatives.


Thanks folks for coming by....Have a blessed Sunday with your family.........

Nice stuff Blue! Finals week has ended, and tonight was the last night of runs for our museum's North Pole Express. I managed to make it to all 42 this year. Anyway, what this means is that I have time to get to work on upgrading the route and making necessary fixes to it. It also means I can get to work on all of those NCNO skins, as well as 10,001 GP15 reskins because GP15's are awesome, especially Dave's. Tomorrow will be an off day for playing around in random games with friends, and depending on if she cleans her room tomorrow like I told her to I'll be taking my girlfriend to see Rogue One on Monday, so on Tuesday work resumes on the layout and its skins.