Part 6 - A trip down the Midland Western (using DCC) - The meet at Donna Pass

[trainman203]

Part 6 - A trip down the Midland Western (using DCC) - The meet at Donna Pass

Note:  all DCC references are for operation with an NCE pro cab running steam engines with tsunami 2–2 decoders.

The Midland Western is a subsidiary of the Gulf Coast Lines, operated by both the Missouri Pacific and the Frisco.  The year is 1940.

While Midland Western Train No. 3 is taking on water at the Donna Pass water tank, the conductor is in the telegraph cabin communicating with the Midland Western general office in Thunder Grove about the status of the line ahead.  He is surprised to find that an unexpected extra freight has just left 8-mile-distant Thunder Grove eastbound. He immediately sends a flagman west for protection and plans the moves needed to clear the line for the extra. Four more cars can be cut from the train and pushed into the team track behind the water tank, leaving four on the the train plus the caboose, which will fit into the passing track to allow the extra to pass.

The moves are completed and the mainline cleared just as the eastbound extra can be seen emerging from a curve about a half mile down the track.  It is proceeding very slowly, having been warned by the flagman from No. 3 who was picked up a half mile west of Donna Pass and is riding in the cab ready to jump off when No.3 is reached.

As the extra draws closer, the crew can see that the locomotive pulling the extra is Missouri Pacific 2-8-0 No. 185, one of five surviving members of the unique MP 180-class that was lost track of in an oversight by an incompetent roundhouse foreman, who accidentally wrote them off the books while they were over on the Midland Western. Everyone involved felt it best to leave well enough alone, so the engines remain on the Midland Western.  Even beyond this incredible occurrence, almost 60 years later a major Model Railroad manufacturer chose this very engine to be the prototype for their HO 2-8-0 model.  The 180-class engines are a little heavier than the decapods, accordingly slightly tougher on the track, and are usually a second choice for train service, although they are very good engines.

What the crew also sees is that Extra 185 East is only two cars long, which made all the switching to get No.3 off of the main line unnecessary.  The two cars are a rush shipment of LCL freight moving to the team track of Laskey for a preferred customer, having just been set off from a Frisco main line manifest freight at Thunder Grove only a couple of hours before.  Such occasional miscommunication does occur on the Midland Western, but it is such a lightly and slowly traveled line that no real danger ever is created.

Missouri Pacific Engine 185 slowly drifts past Frisco Engine 1632. The flagman from No.3 swings down from 185's cab.  As the engines pass each other, the hoggers salute each other with two quick little shorts on their whistles, as was customary on short lines long years ago.  The short eastbound extra trundles past, preparing to take an easy downgrade trip the 7 miles to Laskey.

Once Extra 185 has cleared the east end switch of the passing track by the water tank, No.3's crew reassembles the eight car train for the last eight uneventful miles into Thunder Grove, to tie the train up and hand it over to the switching crew to break it up and service local customers and the Frisco interchange track.