the central suffolk dispatch · the central suffolk dispatch a news service for the central suffolk...
TRANSCRIPT
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The Central Suffolk Dispatch A News Service for the Central Suffolk Operations Group
Located in the F. P. Carlsen Printing Co. Building Carlsen, New York 11738
BFL - Owner, CEO, Author, Editor and Delivery Boy 163564
dateline: The Stone Canyon Rail Road, February 23, 2017
Hold the press! Hold the press! We just received a batch of photographs that we
will have to evaluate for their authenticity.
he Central Suffolk Operations Group (CSOG) met at the Stone Canyon Rail Road (SCRR)
on Thursday night, February 23, 2017. Tonight there was another grand group in attendance
for this session. The gathering included operators John F., JJ, Steve, Howard, Ward, Dave,
Jeff, Mike, Ron and Byron. John ran the show as Dispatcher. Ward was the Stone City Yard
Master and Jeff was the Assistant Ward Master. It was a very busy night and as we best remember
there were a total of 14 trains that completed their operating assignments tonight.
It all started out quietly enough and for the first half of the session things were running very
professionally without any mishaps that we were brought to our attention. Then all h--- broke
T
Issue: #72 Circulation: 17
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loose. Everyone, with the exception of the Superintendent and the Assistant Yard Master Jeff,
were stuffed into the Dwyerville/Ryan's Corner area of the layout. That is, from left to right, Ron
(having a good time), Dave (who appears to be surrendering), Steve, Howard (a little to
nonchalant), some other guy (probably a walk on), Ward (working his butt off to clear up the
mess he made), Mike (camera shy), JJ (also having a good time), and Jeff (the only guy who
seems to know what he is doing). Ward had all he could do to keep things moving. This
photograph, great as it is, doesn't come close to capturing all that was taking place. The reefer
train is on the right in the yard trying to get out. TF10 is next to that. Mike and JJ's train is trying
to pass on the main in the background, Howard/Steve and Ron/Dave are working trains in the
Dwyerville/Ryan's Corner area, and Ward is trying to get somebody's train off the eastbound
main. Byron's big locomotive derailed on the main turnout on the east end of the yard and delayed
everything while Ward attempted to re-rail it. It was not like Byron was going anyplace since
Howard and Steve had blocked his movement onto the eastbound crossover at Ryan's Corner with
unattended freight cars. The shouting going on was typified by the following. Dave, "Byron,
where are you?" Byron, "I'm right over here behind Howard!" Dave, "No! Where is your train?"
Byron, "Stuck on the turnout behind you." Dave to Byron, "Well, you have to move so I can do
something." Byron to Steve, "Steve, you have to clear those cars off the turnout so I can proceed
onto the eastbound crossover." Steve, "Who is Byron?" There were many more discussions like
that. One might ask where the Superintendent was during this fracas, and rightly so. Well, he was
observed filming this entire event from the sky portal behind the Stone City industries. He said it
was going to be included in engineer training videos on how not to operate on a RR.
There was our reporter watching the operation of a local freight being handled by Howard and
Steve as they conducted business at Ryan's Corner. We don't know how they got into this mess
but the rear of their train, three freight cars and a caboose, was left standing on the main with the
head end of the train nowhere in sight. With all of the commotion going on in this section of the
layout at the time, Howard just snatched up the first of the three freight cars on the main, a Union
Pacific box car road number 903659, and placed it on the Ryan's corner siding, between the last
spotted car and the little steam engine usually parked at the end of the spur. That little switcher is
very convenient to push out the pick-up cars and drag back the spot-up cars on the siding. Well,
we can't describe the shock our reporter had when he released who just committed this act. When
Howard saw who was standing behind him and witness this lapse in judgment, he then tried to
bribe our reporter not to put this event in the paper. But since he had nothing to negotiate with,
our reporter said no deal. Then, when we refused, Howard threatened physical violence. What a
sad chain of events. You know who we are speaking about here, right. This is "my railroad was
featured in Model Railroader" and the big shot in the NMRA, Howard!
UP903659 on the Ryan's Corner siding after being fingered there by Howard
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This is not the end of this story. It just so happens that a little later in the session a similar event
was observed by our crack reporters. You may not believe what is written next but we are telling
you, it is the truth. Ron was spotted running around the Rockwell Mine section of the layout with
a freight car in his hands which he deposited on the Ryan's Corner siding behind Brody
Engineering, next to Howard's UP903659. And what car did Ron leave there, none other than a
Union Pacific box car with road number 903659. Yep, two identical box cars sitting side-by-side.
Another UP903659 on the Ryan's Corner siding after being transported there by Ron
We couldn't believe our eyes. It was like deja vu all over again. A "Doubting Thomas" might
claim that our photographs are the same one posted twice. However, a trained railroaded with a
keen eye would be quick to pick up the subtle differences between the two cars. (Hints: check the
light spot above the "N" in "UNION" and the dirty left most side panel. Also, Howard's car is off
the tracks.) Now you know the full story!
There was a lot of excitement in the tunnel between Red River and Stone Canyon. Byron's
passenger train P5, Union Pacific's City of Los Angeles, got stuck in there heading westbound for
the Stone City Station and the Superintendent had to perform his magic to get it moving again. A
little later Dave's freight separated on the eastbound track in the same tunnel. Byron's following
freight, we believe it was TF20, the fruit train, was called into service by the Superintendent to
push Dave's train out of the tunnel. Did we happen to mention that Byron's locomotive was
already pulling a long consist of reefers. With no effort at all, the massive steam engine pushed
and pulled everything clear of the tunnel. By the time we got around to the Red River portal, the
tractor flat car was sitting in the Red River and the rear of the caboose was lifted off the tracks by
the steam locomotive's cow catcher (no coupler on the front end). Dave explained that the flat car
was "high-on-hooks", or was it that it had hooks that were too high? Yeah! That's it. Anyhow,
the flat car was later extricated from the muck and mire of the river and sent off for repairs. The
sad part of this encounter is not Dave's operating skills but the fact that these two tractors
Area where Ferguson's tractors ended up. Flat car back at the Stone Canyon RR's repair facility.
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amounted to the entire inventory of the Ferguson Tractor industry recently established on the
new Flat Rock siding. This was their first big sale and this calamity may just very likely put
Ferguson out of business. These tractors were being shipped by rail to the coast for transportation
to China to help offset this countries 300 billion dollar trade deficit.
Now we arrive at the section of the paper which could very well be called True Confessions. A
few engineers have been noted to approach our reporters to get their "Sins of Operations" off
their chest without having to confess to their Superintendent for absolution. Tonight one engineer
came up to our reporter and confessed the following misdeed. It appears that local freight LF16
must negotiate two crossovers according to the operation instruction sheet issued for this train.
This particular engineer stated that due to being distracted by the other wild events taking place
tonight, he failed to follow the steps on his instruction sheet exactly and ended up missing the
first crossover. As a result he merrily proceeded all the way around the layout from Red River to
Flat Rock on the wrong track. God and the Superintendent forgive you, son; but don't let it
happen again!
Here is a good one. TF20, the fruit train, had finished business and was given clearance to
proceed onto the westbound track and into the staging track tunnel lead at Ryan's Corner. The
engineer waited for the caboose to clear the turnout and enter the tunnel. He re-set the turnout to
the main, and scampered to the rear of the layout to insure the turnout at the staging yard was set
in his favor. While he was waiting for his locomotive to appear out of the tunnel, something
extraordinary happened. A caboose, then a freight car, then another freight car slowly emerged
from the tunnel. Byron got very excited, as this brought back riveting memories of the Southern
Pacific Daylight episodes from sessions past, and he blurted out over the radio, "Something is
coming out of the hole back here!" Some smart a-- came back with, "That sounds more like an
intestinal problem than a railroad problem!" Then the Superintendent came over the radio, "TF20
and TF5 stop your trains!" We almost had a head-on collision down in the bowels of the SCRR.
The Superintendent came to the back and instructed Steve to back TF5 out of the tunnel and to
make room for TF20 to clear the tunnel turnout so it could back into staging. How do you
suppose this happened? It might have been interesting to see who would have won that battle, the
massive steam engine or the big turbine, both pulling a long load of cars. Maybe not so for the
Superintendent though!
The helper train appeared to work pretty good tonight, maybe the best we observed. Steve was at
the controls for the turbine, UP74, and Howard operated the helper. Ward connected the helper
properly, in our humble opinion; freight cars, helper locomotive, then caboose. The turbine
experienced some minor connecting wiring problems but all-in-all a good show, especially
Howard's performance extracting the helper from the train at Red River Canyon.
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Helper locomotive ready to get underway.
Byron got yelled at for speeding when operating TF10. In his defense, one must remember that
he was hauling 18 freight cars (his personal longest) and after getting up a good head of steam it
just seemed criminal to lose all that momentum. Later he got yelled at for going to slow with
TF20. Go figure.
It must have been a while since we last visited the SCRR. We missed the Christmas decorations
at Red River Canyon, but thanks for leaving up one tree for our retro enjoyment.
Decorated tree at Red River Canyon.
Also, a number of new tracks were installed along with a table extension at Flat Rock. The
following photographs show the new run around and siding at Flat Rock on the left of the picture
and the new spur at Little Fork to the rear of the water tank.
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New tracks and businesses at Flat Rock. New siding at Little Fork.
The following three photographs show the new industries that popped up in Flat Rock.
Ferguson Tractor is on the left. We are not sure what the business is in the center photograph but
it looks like another structure winner for John. On the right is Supersweet Feeds Farm Service
Co. We would have liked to show some of Ferguson's tractors but, alas, Dave dumped them in
the Red River.
There seems to have been a lot of police activity this evening, much more than usual on the
SCRR. The following photograph shows the men in blue from the Red River Canyon PD
scoffing down their donuts and coffee on the outskirts of town.
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Yum. We hope you can see that it is a chocolate covered donut.
While the above scene was unfolding other members of the department are earning their pay
responding to a mugging downtown. Aaaahhh, look just a little to your right, fellas.
Members of the elite Red River Canyon PD search for the victim of a reported mugging.
We didn't think John would stoop to this kind of activity on the SCRR. It looks more like
something one would encounter over there on the Jerome Central!
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Just to round out tonight's activities, we offer the following.
Jeff, Mike and Ron make sure Dave is doing it correctly. Ward hitting the bottle after a hard night's work
JJ and Mike doing something? Jeff running the Engine Service Facility.
Steve conducting an unidentified train. The Boss, ready to pounce at the first sign of trouble.
The following photograph shows engineer Howard giving his conductor a thumbs-down on his
last directed maneuver.