July Dispatchers Report
Our HO scale June operations session was conducted on Saturday, July 7th. The session started promptly at noon with the last operator signing off at 3:45 PM. There were 18 operators present including the Superintendent, the Dispatcher, the Parkersburg High yardmaster (PH) and assistant yardmaster, the Parkersburg Low Yardmaster and assistant yardmaster, Chillicothe yardmaster (CH) and assistant yardmaster and a yardmaster at Midland Steel. This left 7mainline operators, 2 operators for the Ohio River division and 1 operator on the Weiland and Port Charles.
For the third month in row, we were able to start at the top of the schedule. A total of 47 trains were dispatched on the mainline, 25 westbound and 22 eastbound with 508 cars moved between Grafton, WV, and Cincinnati, OH, including the Portsmouth sub. 139 cars were moved on the Ohio River Subdivision, with 7 trains containing 26 cars moved on the W&PC. This gave us a grand total of 673 cars moved during the session, the most cars moved in any session so far this year. Three trains were annulled, and one Form 19 order was issued for a CH-97 second section.
There were no reported minimal right-of-way issues, bad ordered cars, or reported engine failures. We continued to enjoy a yardmaster and assistant on duty at each of our major yards, and Midland Steel. As in June, operations were very fluid and road crews were able to get over the mainline with minimal delay, hence the completion of the schedule in less than 4 hours. And due to the collective efforts of all our operators, we will again be starting at the top of the schedule for our August session.
It bears noting how well our railroad has been running and how efficiently our crews have been able to get the trains over the road. This is reflected in the higher level of ‘fun’ that seems to be experienced at our operations sessions, lately. When things run well, I think we all derive more enjoyment from the experience. Our August session will be Saturday, August 12th. All are welcome. I hope to see all our past operators again and, if you have not joined us yet, come out and join the fun! All scales, gauges, interests are welcome.