September Dispatcher’s Report

John A. Nawn, Chief Dispatcher

Our HO scale September operations session was conducted on Saturday, September 16th. The session started promptly at Noon with the last train completing its work by 4:50 PM. There were 12 operators present including the Superintendent, the Dispatcher, the Parkersburg High yardmaster (PH), the Parkersburg Low Yardmaster, and Chillicothe yardmaster (CH) and a ‘floating’ or roving PH/CH Assistant Yardmaster. This left 1 operator for the Ohio River division, and 5 mainline operators. The Weiland and Port Charles nor the Steel Mill was operated this session.
For the fifth time this year, we were again able to start at the top of the schedule. And once again, we completed the schedule! The railroad worked flawlessly and there were no road failures. Kudos to our maintenance of way folks and our mechanical department. The previous electrical issue with PH was corrected and all movement into and out of Parkersburg were made through the appropriate leg of the wye.
Forty-five trains were dispatched on the mainline, 24 westbound and 21 eastbound with 597 cars moved between Grafton, WV, and Cincinnati, OH, including the Portsmouth sub. 191 cars were moved on the Ohio River Subdivision.
This gave us a grand total of 788 cars moved during the session; the most cars moved this year. Four trains were annulled. Two Form 19s were issued for two extras, one each direction between PH and CH. All work was completed, and no crews died on the law.
For our final operations session this year, we will again be starting at the top of the schedule. Our October session will be Saturday, October 14th. This will be our last operations session of the year before Open House season. The new Open House Timetable will be issued after our October Operations Session and will supersede the current Timetable upon issuance. So, you have one last chance for prototypical operations left this year. Why not come out and join us! All are welcome.
After October, the next prototypical Operations Session will be March 2024.