Oregon Joint Line Tour

While I have been working hard on the next signal install phase coming out this weekend, this post is not about me or my layout. This post is all about my my experience, overview, and influence of good friends layout this past weekend.

My favorite train - northbound coal drag from The Rio Grande seen here at Humboldt Jct.

Last Saturday I had the opportunity to attend and dispatch Dean Ferris' N Scale Oregon Joint Line set in the 1960s. This layout is not only great to operate on, but also railfan with the numerous scenes to catch a train traversing. The layout is single deck walk around with staging located below. It has been some time since my last OJL post so let's jump right into my experience as dispatcher and layout tour.

              Map of the layout 

DISPATCHING THE JOINT LINE

Seated in my corner of the the OJL world I had all the tools needed for a succesful day including track map, diapatcher board, plenty of track warrants, and dispatcher phone. Dispatching anothe layout is a great way to get ideas for your own layout, not to mention really learn the territory. Having a good comfortable spot for the dispatcher is appreciated, and Dean did well with this.

    Prepped ready to begin the session.

Working through the lineup - 24 track warrants were issued for 11 trains and a dedicated helper working both north and south grades to Snowline.

Keeping them moving! Having a dispatcher white board helps dispatchers lay out there authorities and plan better. We use a similar board on the MCIS which will go digital soon. Each train receives a different color.

JOINT LINE TOUR

We start out on the lower level of the layout. This north staging yard represents Ukiah, Antelope, and other northern offline destinations.

North Staging below - Monument Yard on top.

Coming out of staging and past GN Jct where the joint line begins we traverse through Lone Rock. This is the only town on the lower level before coming up onto the main level.

With Lone Rock behind us we begin our trek along the South Fork of the John Day River with spectacular views of The Picture Gorge.

Following the river we enter Fossil which hosts a logging site and passing siding

       North end of siding at Fossil

              South end of Fossil 

Passing Fossil we diamond over the shortline Oregon & Northeastern at O&NE Crossing of all places before continuing on to Monument.

O&NE Scanlon Yard with OJL mainline behind the industries. As you can see forest products are king out here.

After passing the O&NE the main jogs to the right bringing us into NP Monument Yard.

Beyond Monument is Dayville which also hosts the GN yard with a host of industries around both terminals. Why are there two yards? It is a joint owned line so both NP and GN have their own classification facility.

Leaving Dayville we begin our assault up the grade to Snowline. Most trains other than passenger and piggyback require helps to conquer this grade.

  The grade crest at Snowline. There is a siding here to make meets.

Once past Snowline southbound it is downgrade all the way to Silvies. Here we are passing the ballast pit at Basalt.

Past Basalt we enter the town of Emigrant. Multiple customers keep a local out of Silvies pretty busy during a session. Additionally there is a station stop here and connection to UP Burns Branch.

Coasting out of Emigrant we enter Emigrant Canyon on our way to Silvies. Fantastic views along our route!

Emerging from Emigrant Canyon we enter a broad curve bringing us into Graystone and past the large Graystone Cement plant. 

Rounding the curve out of Graystone we enter the north end of Silvies. The locomotive in the foreground was our helper this session. Northbound trains heading towards Monument / Dayville need a helper out of Silvies to get over Snowline.

Silvies has a yard which hosts the local to Emigrant and numerous block swaps during a session.

Beyond Silvies Yard is the town of Silvies before trains enter Staging at Humboldt Jct representing offline destinations to the south.

Humboldt Jct and NP Hearney Staging 

JOINT LINE INFLUENCE

While Dean's OJL represents the 60s I took the opportunity to model the OJL on my modern day Michigan Interstate. How you ask? Well those forest products that are King on the OJL must get to market so what better way than a FMC double door boxcar in forest product service. 

Former McCloud River found new life on the OJL. While the OJL is a jointly owned railroad which in modern times would be UP/BNSF, the railroads decided to create a paper subsidiary railroad to serve customers between GN Jct and Humboldt Jct using OJL marks. 

There are also rumors that Graystone Cement is looking to enter the Great Lakes market via a terminal somewhere in Michigan.... Will have to see if this materializes....

I hope you have enjoyed our tour of the OJL and seeing how two proto freelance railroads can influence each other. Stay tuned for my next signal install phase post coming this weekend!

GM

St. Clair Sub Diagrams

A lot of you guys have been asking for a trackplan of the MCIS St. Clair Sub and unfortunately I do not have one. Needless to say it is on my list of things to do, but in the interim we can look at each of the diagrams for each station. These diagrams will give you an idea of the industries, tracks, and general setup.

  Current timetable for MCIS St. Clair Sub

Keeping consistent with the direction of travel document in my "Run Over the Clair" post you can compare the photos to diagrams at your leisure. As we move from diagram you can keep yourself orientated to our location based on the line map of stations at the bottom of each diagram. Wherever we are the station box will be green. These diagrams are mounted on the fascia for operator refernence.

EAST STAGING (KINCAID BEYOND)

East staging is the origin/end location for trains coming from Port Huron, Detroit, and Sarnia. Each track can hold two locomotives and 11-12 cars for ops sessions.

GERHARD

Heading west from staging we come on-layout at Gerhard. At Gerhard the east siding switch (ESS) allows a train to use the long passing sidig between Gerhard and Grays Lake. From a customer perspective Huron Malting is the sole business with two tracks holding around six to seven covered hoppers serviced by the R-GEGL "Grays Lake Local". Additionally the upper continuous loop which also is the "long lead" begins here and connects Gerhard to Upper Huron to allow continuous train run. 

GRAYS LAKE

At the western terminus of the passing siding that begin at Gerhard is the town of Grays Lake. The R-GEGL is based here serving local customers 3M and Cooperative Elevator. Switching here can be a challenge at times with a trailing and facing point switch customers. Cars that are to be setout or picked up from the R-GEGL are left on the "local track".

UPPER HURON

Leaving Grays Lake we cross the Quincassee Creek bridge and enter the station of Upper Huron. Michigan Sugar , the largest customer on the west end of the "Clair" is located here. This station is unique in that it has a large wye where the Port Belle Sub branch leaves the St. Clair Sub mainline. The Port Belle Sub main that heads into staging is the same track that connects at Gerhard to form the upper level continuous loop. The L-BAPB local out of Bay Yard services Michigan Sugar and Saginaw Valley Power Cooperative on its east/north bound transit to Port Belle. Eventually the plant will have a trackmobile to move cars around internally. From Upper Huron the line heads slight down grade towards Bay City.

EDSEL - WEISS 

Both towns of Edsel and Weiss are unmodeled on the helix to provide distance. Eventual the second turn of the helix will be sceniced beyond the MDF board. At Edsel will be a defect / dragging equipment detector.

BAY CITY (EAST ZONE)

As we enter Bay City we see that there are four different diagrams for the trackage / customers. This is done to help simplify and break up the customers into zones for the local Y-BA04 "Bay Local" to handle. Some days only certain zones get switched since there are five customers not including interchange to the Lake State Railway or Huron Eastern. The east zone has one customer which handles inbound building materials adjacent to the east yard lead for Bay Yard.

BAY CITY (BAY YARD)

Continuing into Bay City we encounter Bay Yard which is a hive of activity on the "Clair". This yard has three locals based here along with work events for theough trains and as the terminus / origin point for two manifest train pairs. The DSF here handles basic running repairs, fuel, sand, and scheduled inspections. Any heavy work is done at the Mount Pleasant or contract shops.

BAY CITY (CENTRAL ZONE)

Located behind Bay Yard and the mainline is the Central Zone. This zone hosts Michigan Agricultural Commodities large terminal elevator that handles singles, blocks, and unit trains for agricultural products. Normally the east and central zones are paired together when switched.

BAY CITY (EAST ZONE)

Sandwiched beyond the Bay Yard west lead and foot of the Saginaw River swing bridge is the East Zone. Switching all three customers here will keep the Y-BA04 busy most of a normal session. A couple months ago the tracks were realigned to provide a decent run around for serving trailing and facing point customers at the same time. GEM Bakeries receives flour, sugar, and sweeteners while Fort Mackinac Corrugated receives paper for making corrugated boxes. The newest customers to locate at Bay City is Interstate Asphalt which receives liquid asphalt-bitumen products.

EAST STAGING (SQUACONNING BEYOND)

Passing over the Saginaw River Swing Bridge, the mainline heads off-layout towards west staging which represents Mackinac City, Grand Rapids, Mount Pleasant, and HESR interchange. Prior to descending to the staging yard a hidden switch connects to the LSRC interchange track found on the Bay Yard diagram allowing for lower level continuous run. West staging with its four track and descending lead allows for five trains to be sequenced for operation sessions.

I hope you enjoyed looking at the St. Clair Sub from a different perspective and when paired with the photos from the recent post you will have a greater understanding on how the railroad is setup. Please feel free to ask questions about of the diagrams.

Coming Up Next Month

With just a few days left in the month of July I will not be posting a late month update. However my Product Review - Install series is in the works for a first week of August publishing date. Check back next week as I start a multipart series showcasing the St. Clair Sub Signalling Project. During this series we will go into the planning, install, operation and product review of components used. The goal after reading this series is the confidence and ability for you the reader to add the same sort of system to your pike.

Have a safe week.

GM

A Run Over The "Clair"

Instead of my normal update post, I had promised to do something a little different. This post we are going to follow a manifest train over the road from Port Huron to Bay City (Bay Yard) from the crews view perspective.

       Power on today's M-PHBA-15

Train Departure - (East Staging)

Coming out of staging the we enter a broad curve with a slight grade before reaching the first online station of Gerhard.

 Curve coming out of staging towards Gerhard. Scenery required....

Train Passing - (Gerhard, Michigan)

Approaching the east siding switch at Gerhard where we have been authorized to occupy the "GRAYS" DTC block. We see the rail lines future next to the concrete silo.

Staying on the main we continue on through Gerhard.

Rolling along soybean and corn fields west of Gerhard. Soon these crops will be harvested and on their way to

market via this very rail line.

Continuing west, we see the setout track for the Grays Lake Local and continuance of the passing siding from Gerhard.

Train Passing - (Grays Lake, Michigan)

Entering Grays Lake we see the power for the "Grays Lake Local" tied up on the industry spur to our right and the passing siding coming back into the mainline.

Passing thru town we approach the Quincassee Creek truss bridge in need of some serious engineering work.

Train Passing - (Grays Lake, Michigan)

Crossing the bridge, we reach the east wye switch. In the distance is the sugar beet plant with stored cars on the east leg of the eye. 

Curving through Upper Huron we see the east leg of the wye to the right with railcars on it, and the west wye leg straight ahead which continues to Port Belle.

West leg of the wye converging back into the mainline. From this point to Bay Yard the line has a gradual declining grade.

Train Departure - (Edsel and Weiss, Michigan)

                   Helix - Turn 1

                  Helix - Turn 2 

Transitioning from Edsel to Weiss. Neither stations are modelled beyond the sign in Turn 2.

Train Arrival - Bay City (Bay Yard)

Train slows prior to reaching the end of Weiss DTC Block limit, where Yard Limits begin.

Passing the "BAY AEI" reader site prior to reaching the east yard lead switch for Bay Yard.

Diverging onto the East Yard Lead at Bay Yard.

Proceeding at 10mph we see main 1 and 2 to the right.

      Beginning of the east yard ladder.

Yardmaster lined us for the "Yard 01" track.

Bringing the train to a stop, the journey from Port Huron to Bay City is complete. In the distance we see the Bay City Division office which will also be our off duty point.

Our next post here in a few day will walk through each station diagram from east to west on layout. I had hoped to put that content in this post, but it ended up being too much for a single post. Stay tuned!

GM