July Ops at Silicon Valley Lines

Train 444 at Mt. Nicholls

Now that I'm back in California, I was able to participate at Silicon Valley Lines operations tonight. What a rush! We had the house full with members and guests. That allowed us to run both yards with two man crews and also run several trains with engineer and conductor crews. After we got everyone organized, first trains started running shortly before 8pm.

First, I drew train 7777 which is a quick "cleanup run" to move cars from Bayshore to Bakersfield and ran it with a visitor as engineer.

Next up was train 444, which runs Windsor - Silicon - Nowhers - Jasper Jct, with substantial switching work in Silicon, and some work in Nowheres. My visitor engineer did a great job, and really enjoyed the challenge.

Train 444 working the cement plant in Silicon

Train 444 in Mt. Marvel after leaving half of our cars in Nowheres.

I finished the evening with train 277, a quick run from Nowheres to Windsor.

Of course, I wasn't the only one running trains tonight. Here's Steve looking after train 443 as he approaches Nowheres Yard limits. Behind him John and Liam with the second section of south-bound train 226 are meeting Dave's north-bound train 840 at Fryton, while Patrick, the engineer on train 320, which is in the siding in Upton, is watching.
In the distance, Bill and Les break down an arrived train at Bayshore Yard. At the same time at least two more trains were working on trackage not visible in this photo.