Later in the morning Jim Henrichs turns the locomotive on the wye at Craig Leigh, while Tyler Larabie admires the coal and water towers. These fine wooden structures were built by the late Doug MacKenzie. Doug would treat his models with diluted creosote to protect them from the elements and give them that authentic steam era aroma. Normally stored in the house, these models are only displayed during the American Invasion of Ottawa.
Ric Golding, an Assistant Yardmaster in Craig Leigh during “The Invasion”, speaking with Jan Golding and Jean Chandler about their plans for lunch.
After lunch Jean and Jan, Paul Norton and Ken Brunt relax in the shade at Mount Saint Helens.
You tell it is hot day when the preferred beverage from the coolers is bottled water.
Tyler Larabie, Gaetan Charette and Metin Ali relaxing in the shade of an open tent set up for the occasion. The 1:1 scale switch stand in front of them operates the switch of the eastern lead of Nelson Yard.
Bill Scobie dropped by for a visit. Bill is well known for his large and impressive Sn3 Rio Grande Railroad, Great White North Division.
A live steam locomotive sitting at rest behind the Craig Leigh Passenger Station.
A fantastic model and live steam; you can’t beat that.
A side view of Bruce Chandler’s custom built passenger car.
Yardmaster Bud Nelson and Engineer Bruce Chandler are assembling a new train in Nelson Freight Yard which is hot work in the afternoon sun. Note the striped barrier behind Bud to stop unauthorized personnel from entering the yard work area.
This is a rare sight. Railway CEO and OVGRS President Fred Mills (seated) operating a train with guest Jim Henrichs. Ready to roll, Fred is on the radio requesting clearance from the dispatcher to their next stop. Note the addition of the hand railings on the crossover steps.
Ken Brunt is following his train on the big curve between Bell and Peter’s Pond.
Lawrence Watkins scrambling over some rough terrain to re-rail a car on a hidden industrial track at Spruce. This expert stonemason built the excellent freight house next to him. We will see some more of his handiwork later on.
Carl Swail and John Spencer are in Ironwood Junction waiting for their locomotive to raise steam.
Ken Brunt with an eastbound passenger train waits in the hole at Mercer for a meet with an oncoming train out of Nelson Yard.
Gaetan Charette and Bud Nelson assembling RP&M train 67 in Nelson Yard.
Colin Churcher has joined them to help sort out the paper work, while the Yardmaster’s assistant wisely disappears into the shade. Train 67 will run from Nelson Yard, across the diamond north of Bellamy to Rat Portage Yard. Rat Portage is a small yard usually full of cars. At the best of times it is a time saver puzzle; at the worst of times it’s a Rubik’s Cube.
It appears by the reversed direction the Shay that Gaetan and Colin have finished with train 67. As the turntable at Rat Portage was removed to provide a little more space for switching, they could not turn their locomotive. They are now puzzling through the duties of RP&M train 68 at Bellamy which includes several facing point switches.
Although Colin is an experienced RP&M engineer, the switching duties here are a real challenge.
All this mental exertion appears to be taking its toll.
Gaetan with his arms slumping appears to be tiring. It must be the hot afternoon sun, right?
Colin raising his arms in triumph, or is that exasperation?
The last day of the 2010 American Invasion of Ottawa is described in the following page which is filled with lots and lots of pictures. To view the pictures, click on one of the following link.