More operations on the Kings Port Division

[Ralph]

Well, I didn't do the scenic work I was planning (mostly ballasting some track) but I decided to take some car float ops photos any way. Thanks for the encouragement everyone!

It's still mostly dark at 6 AM while "Cappy" Foster, the Floatmaster at West Mill, sits in his salvaged baggage car office and sorts through the paperwork related to a string of 15 cars left overnight by a southbound from Selkirk.


The cars aren't all destined for the car float. Five of them will be placed on the yard's secondary siding for pick up by a local heading to Mayfield. The remaining ten will be directly set on the currently empty float.


The "Robert H." tied up at West Mill overnight. Its crew is rousing and will soon be having breakfast. They are scheduled to cast off at 8AM so the Yard Crew needs to get to work.


Working the KP&W Float Yard with it's venerable switcher this morning are engineer Tommy Catone and brakeman Wil ("I'm getting to old for this ___!") Washburn.


The sun hasn't risen yet but there is some soft morning light as Tommy and Wil navigate the various switches to reach the primary siding and the cut of cars. The string of boxcars was nicely blocked at Selkirk so the first five are the interchange cars bound for Mayfield. They'll get pulled from the rest and set on the secondary siding. The flat is a buffer car used to shove cars onto the float while keeping the loco off the barge.


The loco and cars will pass Canton Box and Sal's Salvage before backing into the secondary siding.



Wil lets Tommy know the cars have been cut and are in place. It's still not quite sunrise...


That's it for now. I'll post some pics of the float being loaded soon.