THREE PHOTOS: CHRIS D’AMATO
nearby Fort Diner. Before strolling across Llewellyn Boulevard,
they
shove their train into the clear so that the Sonnyvale crew returning from Fenimore can go about spotting the newly-arrived Sonnyvale cars. Back at Junction, the yard crew is
high level of reliability on the layout and the operators respond in kind. During the ses- sion Kip acts as a prototypical trainmaster. He may offer quiet suggestions and takes note of the rare times when equipment or the layout needs attention. In no way is this seen as some kind of critical evaluation of the operators. New fellows (like myself) learn from the regulars in a very friendly at- mosphere. This is definitely not a pressure cooker situation! Working on this layout takes me back to a
favorite time of my life spent at trackside. By careful attention to forms and functions and the presence of a great bunch of operators– modelers, fans and retired railroaders–Kip has created a most satisfying and success- ful layout.–ROBERT E. MOHOWSKI
switching local customers and drilling the yard to assemble pick-ups for mainline trains WR-7, RO-2 and SC-2. Once two tracks are clear, they let the Hill Freight know that it’s okay to re- turn.
After drifting downgrade to
Junction, the train pulls onto the switching lead and stops when the ca- boose clears the branch switch. After running around their train, they shove their cars into the yard. Lining the switch for track two, Jim shows off a little in the tight aisle space. He bends a leg and taps his fingers on the heel of his foot. It’s how he told his en- gineers they’d be shoving all the way to the far end, or the heel of the track. The Junction Yard job may still have
work to do before tying up. Sometimes, as in real life, things don’t go well. Per- haps they discover a car that’s not on their track list and no one, not even the layout owner/yard clerk knows where it belongs. These things don’t faze the retired old yardmaster. “Hey, that stuff happened every day.” And should a car or two derail or go, as railroaders say, “on the ground,” Bill will smile content- edly and say wistfully, “Now that’s real railroading.” At the close of our session, when the
Junction yard job’s work is finally done, its conductor gives the engineer another hand signal that Jim has shown us. Holding his fingers aloft as if tying a bow, he signals, “time to tie up.”
Heading towards Junction behind a pair of S-4’s, the local freight passes the Hudson Box Company (top left). The company’s brick headquarters receives rolls of paper, glue and ink to manufacture cardboard boxes, and is the busiest on-line customer in Junction. The large buildings seen off to the right belong to the Holly Hill Creamery. Train 161 passes the yard at Junction (above). The large storage towers of Bronk Coal hide the end of the D&H mainline on the layout. Yard clerk Tom Burke quietly observes (below) as conductor Champ Dalton, left, informs his crew that the Hill Freight will be delayed a bit while the lo- cal fuel dealer fills their locomotives. Trainmen “Coo Coo” Ladue and “Slug” Whalen ap- pear none too happy as the prospects for an early quit go out the window.
A retired D&H conductor in Kip’s Train Night group surprised everyone when he used a wooden uncoupling skewer to pole a boxcar into place. He recalled seeing the dangerous practice, long giv- en up by railroads, when he came on the job in the 1960’s. He remembered poling being occasionally performed by branchline crews to save time.
RAILROAD MODEL CRAFTSMAN 49
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