Throwback, um, Monday? - Ops Session Nov. 23, 2019

For some of us, among the many things missed during this time is not being able to host operating sessions on our layouts. The last ops session I had on The Valley Line was way back during Springfield weekend at the end of January. That seems like a lifetime ago at this point.

Me, KayleeZ, BobM, AndrewP at James Mayo's ops session

Turns out, the last session I attended was at James Mayo's - back on March 10, just as the crazy times were beginning to ramp up.

Of course, it's fun to try and recreate a day in the life of a railroad - it's fun to run the trains, pick up & deliver the cars, and try to do it all without running a signal - or worse. But I'm sure even the most dedicated operators would agree that the best thing about ops sessions are being able to get together with other like-minded folks. We miss being able to get together during this time of self or mandated quarantine. We miss the community.

So imagine my pleasant surprise (matched only by my embarrassment) when I found some photos from an ops session I had last fall - and that I'd forgotten to post about. This blog plays many roles, but one of the main reasons for doing it is to have some place to document such events.

The session took place the Saturday before Thanksgiving last year - and the only reason I can think of for why it fell off the radar was that the holiday season ramped up quickly, including a trip to see my family in South Carolina, and then work started ramping up, and then....and then.... well, you get the idea.

Being on a Saturday, it was an especially nice session since some folks that can't usually attend were able to. And though it seems like it happened a million years ago, I hope we're able to get together again soon.

TedC operating PDX-2 - the Haddam Local - and trying to figure out the work in Essex.

The aforementioned James Mayo operating the West End Staging and giving radio instructions to his counterpart in East End Staging.

Speaking of East End Staging, here's the guy in charge - JimF - who came all the way down from New Hampshire to attend.

Looks like the Air Line local and Valley Local crews are conversing in Middletown - PeteL on the right.

The Valley Local was ably operated by DonM and GregL. Don returned a K class mogul he'd been working on (#343) and I gave him the honor (heh - and the responsibility) of operating it for the first time on the local.

The main innovation of this session was the addition of a "window" in the Saybrook Tower. When sitting at his desk, the tower operator has his back to the layout (and any view of the trains passing through). Adding this mirror gives him an easy way to glance up and watch the action.

In the spirit of keeping legacies alive, I gifted Jim with a structure off Chet's layout that I wouldn't be able to use. But Jim will be able to give it a good home - and Chet's structure building prowess will live on in New Hampshire as well as Connecticut. Looks like Jim's happy he made the trip.

Though quite a bit tardy, I hope you enjoyed these pics of this session-from-the-past.

And here's to more ops sessions once we're all on the other side of the current craziness.