Part 3 - A trip down the Midland Western (using DCC) - action at Laskey

[trainman203]

Part 3 - A trip down the Midland Western (using DCC) - action at  Laskey

Note:  all DCC references or to 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.

It's now the middle of the morning and Midland Western train number three is approaching the small settlement of Laskey, about 7 miles west of Midland. The engineer blows a single long blast on the 6-chime whistle (F2, 5 seconds) to notify the agent on duty at the train is near. Being a lightly traveled branch, the Midland Western is not signaled in any way, although telegraph has been used this morning to notify the Laskey agent that eastbound train No. 4 is not far out, and a meet between the two trains will be conducted at Laskey.

Both trains are too long for the passing track so a once-common maneuver known as a double saw-by will be conducted to get the two trains around each other.

https://www.trains.com/mrr/how-to/model-railroad-operations/how-a-saw-by-works/

No. 4 eastbound has no business to conduct in Laskey, so it proceeds on east to Midland, leaving No. 3 to set out and pick up a few cars.

The arriving car consist is:

UTLX 10000 gal tank car 10360
UTLX 10000 gal tank car 10366
Seaboard Air Line boxcar 18822
Kansas City Southern boxcar 15550
SSW flat car 85082
Texas & Pacific boxcar 30467
SSW boxcar 36502
L&A boxcar 15027

The first move is to set the caboose out of the way, on a trailing-facing siding leading to a gravel pit a half-mile away.  The passengers must leave the caboose by law, while switching is conducted, so they disembark and wait inside the small wood depot on the north side of the track. Once the caboose setout is done, the team track, with a facing switch, must be worked. This means that the locomotive must be on the east side of the involved cars, pushing, and pulling with the pilot coupler.

Three cars on the train are being set out on the team track, and three are being picked up from the team track.  The three being set out from the train are:

UTLX 10000 gal tank car 10366
Seaboard Air Line boxcar 1882
SSW flat car 85082

These cars are spotted on the passing track, so that the 1632 and the remainder of the train can back up and work them with the pilot couple from the side facing the switch. The remainder of the train will remain coupled to the rear of the locomotive during the team track moves to stay out of the way.

With these remainder cars behind it, the 1632 backs up past the east end of the passing track.  The head end brakeman jumps down to throw the switch from the main into the passing track.  However, the three cars currently on the team track, scheduled to be added to the train, must be removed before the new cars can be moved on to the team track.

The empties being pulled from the team track are:

CKRX 10000 gal tank car 324
Missouri-Illinois boxcar 4125
Midland Western flat car 160

These cars are pulled out, then shoved onto the main in front of the depot to await addition to the train.  The three setout cars are then pulled from the passing track and shoved into the team track, with the brakeman directing the box car door be spotted at the loading dock ramp.

It's now time to reassemble No. 3 for departure from Laskey. Engine 1632 and the remaining five cars unaffected by the switching now run around, via the passing track, the three cars picked up from the team track now sitting on the man. These being empties, they will be added to the very rear of the train, out of the way of switching moves scheduled at the next siding, Donna Pass.

The engine and the five remainder cars back up to the three being-picked-up cars on the main and couple up. The reassembling train then backs into the gravel pit spur to pick up the caboose, to be coupled on the end of the three picked up empties from the team track.

One move remains, however. Five loaded Missouri Pacific 40' gondolas remain to be picked up from the gravel pit spur and added to the train.  They will go on the front of the train right behind the 1632, since they are all headed to the next set out at Donna pass, loaded with pea gravel for ballast work currently underway on that section 7 miles to the west.

The final train consist moving west out of Laskey is:

Missouri Pacific gondolas 70876, 71093, 24318, 24319, and 24306
UTLX 10000 gal tank car 10360
Kansas City Southern boxcar 15550
Texas & Pacific boxcar 30467
SSW boxcar 36502
L&A boxcar 15027
CKRX 10000 gal tank car 324
Missouri-Illinois boxcar 4125
Midland Western flat car 160

No. 3 looks very different now than when it pulled into Laskey about an hour ago.  A 13 car train is a very long one for the Midland Western, especially facing a 2% upgrade about a mile long, just west of Laskey.  The crew is apprehensive, wondering if they will have to double the hill, essentially breaking the train in half and taking it up into sections to be reunited at the passing siding at the top of the grade.  The train slowly pulls up so that the caboose is at the depot, so the passengers can get on board and ride, expecting quite a show on the grade from the 1632 which will be at near capacity on this trip uphill.  The engineer opens the cylinder cocks, sounds two shorts on his personal ATSF 6-chime, and slowly pulls the throttle open to start moving. He knows that he will not be doing much, if any, cutoff on the Johnson bar going up the grade, running at full steam, and the sharp bark of the superheated exhaust will be heard a mile away.

[Terry Toenges]

I like the "F" references.

[trainman203]

😱😂

They actually are the "function" button numbers on the cab.

[Terry Toenges]

It's informative to someone like me who doesn't know all minute details about running a steam loco.