Hunter Hughson and Robin Talukdar dropped by this afternoon and they ran the layout. I had them run a reefer extra out of staging, to Clovis where they switched out the loaded reefers and replaced them with empties. A bit of a challenge as space is tight in Clovis and if you don't plan your moves well, you'll be in the weeds before you know it.
Now the whole process took them almost 3 hours to execute, but they are new to the layout. I've done the same job in 2 hours, but I have slight advantage of being able to look at the track arrangement on a regular basis.
Neither Hunter nor Robin had seen the layout before in it's totality, but I was delighted at their reactions as I gave them the tour. Once they were familiar with the basic plan, I gave them the train to run and let them loose.
I think that rather than try and describe their reactions I'll just share a few quotes from the session with you.
Hunter- "This is really cool, really neat!"
2 minutes later, upon reviewing his assignment,
"This is going to be a f***ing pain in the ass!"
Within 1/2 an hour
"This is freaking neat!"
Robin, acting as engineer, was neglectful on occasion about whistling for the level crossings in Clovis, which earned him an admonishment from Hunter.
"Maybe some whistle, Mr Murder?"
I suspect that they both enjoyed the afternoon. I know I'm super pleased that the layout operates as planned and will easily keep a number of operators busy for a few hours. Now I just have to refine a little more paperwork and get a few more cars built and regular sessions can now be planned.
2 comments:
Tremendous
Excellent. I look forward to seeing it myself the next time I am down your way. It sounds like progress has been good since I was down over a year ago!
Stephen
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