April 17, 2010: Day One of regular operations

Regular operations on the CR&E resumed on Saturday, April 17, 2010. Prior to that, the CR&E had operated during the NC Rail Run N Scale Edition on February 20, 2010, and during a limited trial session in December 2009. The last session on CR&E Version One was in June 2008, so I've been more than happy with the 18-22 month turnaround on resuming operations.

Twelve operators, including me, participated in the day's dual operating sessions. We ran two three-hour sessions separated by a lunch break. Some operators participated in both sessions, while some only participated in one.

Crew members for the morning session included:

Dave Koss (road), Michael Pennie (road), Larry Keller (road), David Ward (road), Kevin Beck (road), Josh Blevins (road/relief Lewisburg Yardmaster), Tim Heckman (East End Dispatcher), and Jeff Lindstrom (Lewisburg Yardmaster.) I served as the trainmaster/crew caller and also handed out train orders for the limited operations on the Kessler & Northern branch territory.

Crew members for the afternoon session included:

Kevin Beck (road), Steven Johnson (road), Dave Koss (road), Larry Keller (Lewisburg Yardmaster), David Ward (dispatcher trainee), Josh Blevins (East End Dispatcher), Todd Arnett (road), Cooper Dwiggins (road), Tim Heckman (road), and Jeff Lindstrom (road.) Again, I served as the trainmaster/crew caller and as the train order operator for the K&N.

We had 30 trains planned plus three pusher jobs. We ran all of those trains during the session, plus two extras that were not planned. Four jobs operated on the limited K&N District, whetting my apetite for coal branch railroading and causing me to purchase the lumber this week for the continued expansion of the branch.

Everyone did a great job bringing the railroad to life. We had limited mechanical issues, all of which can be easily addressed. Feedback from the session indicates that everyone had an enjoyable time. I certainly enjoyed all six hours of it. Steven Johnson was helpful in documenting some of the afternoon session, and he has given me permission to share some pictures here. All photos below are by Steven Johnson.

CR&E 4-6-2 #622 is assisted by a pair of GP38 helpers as it climbs the Loops between Ridge and Coleman. Jeff (foreground) is operating the head-end helpers, while David (not pictured) does the honors running the 622. In the background, Mike (left) is bringing an NS 563 hopper train into the siding at Coleman. Dave (right) was looking over things at Glace.

Railfans aboard the CR&E's open air gondola get a look at modern heavy-duty railroading as two SD60's bring hopper train 563 into the siding at Coleman. David looks ahead to see if he can accomplish a running meet with the hopper train as Mike watches his train snake through the #10 turnout at Coleman.

David looks intently at his train as NS 563 clears the switch. Will the dispatcher be fast enough?

The smiles tell the story as CR&E Engine 622 and its helpers throttle up and continue moving at Coleman. NS 563, barely fitting at Coleman, did have to stop. Nice job by the crews and dispatcher to keep the excursion train moving!

Kevin has NS road local C53 in the siding at Glace, waiting for traffic to clear so he can
make a setoff and pickup in the middle track. Meanwhile, NS 131 passes by on the main
track enroute to Lewisburg. I believe Kevin got run by twice here, and had to meet
one as well. We'll call him Kevin Dangerfield, as he got "no respect" from the dispatchers.

A troubled NS 562, having stalled approaching K&N Junction west of Meadow Bluff, enters the Lewisburg double
track at KD, where it is meeting time freight 131. The crew of 131 was cooling their heels and hoping to keep their
CNW/UP duo moving. Instead they suffered significant delay due to 562's stall in single track.

Thanks to all who made the first official session a success! I'm looking forward to many years of operating!

The CR&E's target era: 1989-1993

In recent times I have been working toward narrowing the CR&E's era into a late-80's/early-90's theme. Way back in 1995 when I was planning the first CR&E layout, the one referred to as "Version One" on this website, I was specifically aiming for a late-80s era.

As N scale product selection grew and Digitrax came on the scene with "plug and play" decoders, my era drifted forward. The first locomotives available in N scale that could easily be converted to DCC were the Kato Dash-9's. The CR&E invested in a bunch of them in NS paint, quickly moving the railroad's era up to at least 1996 when NS began taking delivery of them. I was determined after the Conrail breakup that I would not move the era that far forward, so the CR&E's date would not pass June 1, 1999.

Finally I realized that the Southern and N&W power I had always wanted to mix in was no longer appropriate. I didn't want to sell it off, and in fact I wanted more of it. Railfanning and railroading had become more sterile and generic by the late 1990's, with GE widecabs on just about every train. Several Class One roads had merged, leaving less variety. It wasn't what I wanted for the railroad.

My Dash-9's got sold off, as did some other newer power, and are currently putting on miles on Kevin Beck's Norfolk Southern Piedmont Division. I even get to see them roll by when I'm not in the dispatcher's office, and they're not far from their original home. More Southern and N&W power came out, including high-hood power from Atlas, so my era was drifting back toward my original benchmark.

The years of 1989 through 1993 were my college years. I was given my first real camera by my parents as a high school graduation present and I started burning up the roads railfanning right away. Friends and I would make countless trips to places like Bluefield, Saluda, Old Fort, and the Clinchfield. Those were what I would call my best days of railfanning.

For the first half of that time period, Southern and N&W power could still be seen on occasion. I recall a family trip to Roanoke, VA, in the summer of 1990 during which I photographed several Southern and N&W units in road service. By late 1991, I believe they were all gone.

In 1992, Norfolk Southern began releasing what would be the staple of their coal hauling fleet, rebuilt hoppers that reemerged from Roanoke's East End Shops as "Top Gons." Those gray cars have been synonymous with Norfolk Southern coal hauling for many years. When BLMA released them this year, I was in for at least one train of them. They'll be the newest coal hauling equipment in the fleet, I imagine, as I couldn't avoid purchasing them. Running Top Gons with Southern and N&W power is a bit of an anacronism, but only by a year or so. I'm happy mixing the two, and I've found that operators on model railroads often do not pay that much attention to the little time lapses like that.

Version Two Operations planning - refining the plan

I previously published my initial thoughts regarding operations on Phase One of CR&E Version Two. Now that operations are underway, I am beginning to refine my plans.

I see interesting operations as a mixture of through trains, local assignments, and support jobs on the railroad. As on Version One, I want to employ a yardmaster/yard crew, a dispatcher, a trainmaster (usually myself to oversee operations), and a number of road crews who will share both through and local assignments.

Through trains

I've made changes to the operating plan to reflect the late 80's/early 90's era that I am targeting. Utilizing a document I have on file showing NS train symbols in 1990, I have reassigned some symbols to focus on 1992, give or take a year or so. The new train symbols and their corresponding old symbols are as follows:

NS 131 (was 187) - Norfolk, VA, to Detroit, MI, via Charleston, Columbus, and Bellevue.
NS 132 (was 188) - Detroit, MI, to Norfolk, VA, via Bellevue, Columbus, and Charleston.

NS 136 (was 136) - Conrail Indianpolis, IN, to Linwood, NC, via Columbus, OH and Charleston.
NS 137 (was 137) - Linwood, NC to Conrail Indianapolis, IN via Charleston and Columbus, OH.

NS 371 (was 351) - Winston-Salem, NC, to Lewisburg, WV, via CSXT Salem to Shenandoah Jct, VA.
NS 372 (was 352) - Lewisburg, WV, to Winston-Salem, NC, via CSXT Shenandoah Jct to Salem, VA.

NS 456 (was 456) - Charleston, WV, to Roanoke, VA.
NS 457 (was 457) - Roanoke, VA, to Charleston, WV.

The merchandise trains except 131/132 will work at Lewisburg. Those trains will handle the highest priority traffic on the railroad, moving autoparts, autoracks, and some intermodal traffic between Detroit and Norfolk.

I have eliminated the dedicated intermodal trains from the lineup, as I no longer see the CR&E as a fast route for moving high priority traffic. The operation of 131/132 via the CR&E is justified by the amount of autoparts traffic moving out of the Charleston, WV (South Charleston Stamping & Manufacturing) and Roanoke, VA (AO Smith) areas. I have always liked the operation of merchandise trains with a few "pigs" on the rear, so trains 131/132 will feature this type of blocking.

The regular operation of Amtrak 50 and Amtrak 51, the "Cardinal," is being eliminated as well. We will run the trains on occasion as detour moves due to track work, rock slides, or derailments on the C&O mainline.

A number of NS and CSXT loaded and empty unit coal trains will pass through this portion of the CR&E. Symbols for the NS trains will vary by destination, while CSXT trains will now be given NS symbols appropriate for trackage rights movements in that era. Symbols 083-089 and R83-R89 will be used for the CSXT trains. An occasional grain train will operate as well. Heavy eastbound coal and grain trains will get pushers between Glace, WV, and Paint Bank, VA, a feature from Version One that I definitely wanted to carry over.

Local operations

A lot of the same locals will operate on CR&E Version Two. I will also be incorporating some new local operations to better serve the expanded territory, and some previously existing locals will have their operations modified to better suit the new railroad. Some of these jobs will likely change when Phase Two is brought online in the future.

I am planning the following list of local operations:

C41 - Roanoke (staging) to New Castle and return. Works New Castle and McFalls industries. Interchanges cars with C53/C54.
C53 - New Castle to Lewisburg westbound road local. Picks up local cars at Paint Bank and Glace en route.
C54 - Lewisburg to New Castle eastbound road local. Sets off local cars at Glace and Paint Bank en route.
C60 - Fayetteville, WV (staging) to Lewisburg eastbound road local. Basically a transfer run into Lewisburg.
C61 - Lewisburg to Fayetteville, WV (staging) westbound road local. Basically a transfer run from Lewisburg.
C62 - Glace Switcher. Originates at Glace from cars set off by C54, works industries at Glace and Caldwell, terminates at Glace by setting up outbound cars for pickup by C53.
C66 - Paint Bank/South Fork Switcher. Works South Fork Branch and industries at Paint Bank and Forester.
C80 - Lewisburg to Paint Bank and return. "Hill Run" taking eastbound commercial (non-unit) coal from Meadow Bluff Yard to storage tracks at Paint Bank. This coal will be picked up at Paint Bank by eastbound trains filling out to full tonnage. Also handles coal and empties to/from AEP at New Castle, VA.
C82 - Lewisburg to Paint Bank and return. "Hill Run" taking commercial (non-unit) coal from Meadow Bluff Yard to storage tracks at Paint Bank. This coal will be picked up at Paint Bank by eastbound trains filling out to full tonnage. Also handles coal and empties to/from AEP at New Castle, VA.
C70 through C79 - Kessler & Northern District mine runs (still to be determined.)
C91 - First Glace Pusher. Pushes bulk commodity trains from Glace to Paint Bank.
C92 - Second Glace Pusher. Pushes bulk commodity trains from Glace to Paint Bank.
C93 - Third Glace Pusher. Pushes bulk commodity trains from Glace to Paint Bank.
CL05/CL25 - Lewisburg Switcher. (Either symbol used depending on shift.) Works Lewisburg industries.
CL01/CL21/CL41 - Lewisburg East End Yard Job. (First/second/third shift.) Switches Lewisburg Yard.
Brushy Mountain Railroad #101 - Originates on Brushy Mountain Railroad, works industries at Archer Fork and Caldwell on Brushy Mountain Railroad (shortline) and interchanges with NS at Lewisburg.
CSXT H804 - Second Rupert Shifter operating between Rainelle (staging track) and Meadow Bluff, working the CSX/NF&G Raders Run loadout and interchanging with the NS/CR&E at Meadow Bluff.