Major Power Outage on Vancouver Island

"Oh no! Not another earthquake!" operators of the E&N were heard to mutter Friday night as yet another disruption brought train operations to a sudden halt.

This latest interruption rekindled memories of a spate of incidents which have occurred during previous operating sessions with rumblings of "operational" earthquakes and "actual" earthquakes making the recent Friday Night Group headlines!

Alas, Vancouver Island was not "shaking in the waves" due to siesmic tremors. Instead...a power outage of major proportions struck the island at 8:43 PM Friday evening.

As the first photo attests, operations were in full swing at Jim McSherry's quickly developing Esquimalt and Nanaimo RR with operators abuzz with activity. That's Bob and Carl in the foreground with Bill and Fred in behind and John and Jim watching the action...moments before everything was brought to a complete and utter standstill.

Indeed, mere seconds after this picture was taken all rail activity ceased. The hunt was on for the culprit(s) who would allow such an interruption to occur.

First reports were rumours of an "errant crew" spotted around the E&N premises, former employees of the C&C RR from down east. In fact, two "easterners" were observed behaving in a furtive manner on company property. Surveillence and careful monitoring of all E&N traffic ferreted out two hobos discovered residing in an "old-style" boxcar of unknown origin. Stories "flew" that the two had ambitions of playing "chicken" with the E&N RR as they believed there happened to be some (Friday Night) connections between the owner of their former employee (C&C RR) and the owner of the western based E&N. The story that surfaced around the property was of the two migrants wanting to wreak havoc with the E&N line as payback for what they considered "unfair and unusual punishment" for "unfounded reports" of missing cars and unthrown switches on their (former) railroad the week before. Closer examination of the contents of their adopted boxcar revealed sufficient "hot" electrical equipment...enough to black out the entire population of Vancouver Island. Authorities also noted a certain "fowl" odour lingering in the air as the boxcar doors were opened.

Chief superintendent of the line, Jim "10 000 questions" McSherry and his operational officer, Bob "this is how it's done" Hobbs immediately had the "now identified" crewmen from the C&C, Tarry Bhomas and Hike Mamer arrested and returned to the the "chicken coup" in Claremont where they will be serving time for their misdeeds. Their punishment is simple. They must watch all episodes of Thomas the Tank and Shining Time Station and speak to all local kindergarten classes about the virtues of reading with great care for improved comprehension and understanding, especially charts and train orders.

Barry, I couldn't resist winding a story together at our expense and tying it in with the happenings of last week! (Big grin! - Mike H.)

For those not in attendance at Jim's, there are a few lessons to be learned from the "blackout". Yes, an electrical short brought all rail activity to a halt except for the peninsula area that acts as both terminus points for the rail line...Esquimalt (Victoria) and Nanaimo.

Lesson #1. Even with DCC, it is advisable to "block" your layout so a "short" can be isolated rather quickly.
Lesson #2. Ensure all rolling stock that will reside on the layout passes a rudimentary test in order to meet the standards you set out for your layout.

Yes, fellas, it was a "borrowed" piece of rolling stock that caused the damage...an old Athearn 40' boxcar that had the standard exposed metal weight on the underframe. This car had been re-equipped with metal wheels and trucks with working springs. The car was sitting stationary on the layout minding its own business. Only after it was moved did the metal wheels contact the metal weight causing a connection between both rails...thus a "short". And, after trying all other avenues of approach for over a half an hour or so did we finally decide to begin removing all cars from the layout, one at a time.

As a follow-up, this car was one of a few that had been "bad-ordered" and put aside by Bob the night before when he and Jim ran a mock session before the group was to visit. How it got back on the layout was a mystery to Bob! (Can you spell J-i-m?)


I've included the following pictures to show the development of Jim's line. In the image to the right you see the elevated area for the coal mine with the track behind climbing further upwards and around toward the lumber camp. The track and spur lines near the mine are on the level. This enables crews to spot cars on the line momentarily for shunting purposes without the fear of the entire consist running down the hill. That's the yard at Chemainus on the lower level to the right.


These next two shots show a "before and after" of the same location.

Before:
In the first picture you recall Stan working the log area near the yard at Chemainus from a previous operating session. The walls are still beige and there is a hint of tracks rising above the yard. That's Bill with a contemplative look in the background.

After:
The second shot shows how this area appears now. The walls are blue (to be painted with mountainous scenery later) and the lumber line is in and climbing around the coal yard on what will be a cliffside above the yard at Chemainus. Hope the images are a help for those to visualize how the layout is evolving.

Jim, it was a fun evening at your ever-developing layout. It's a great one and a blast to operate. Bill and Mike M. enjoyed running the first train up the grade to the coal mine and on beyond to the lumber camp.

A great big thank you to Marty and Ed from Vancouver Island for shipping us the slide carousel. The slides were awesome! As Ed mentioned to me in a later e-mail...the slides are like wine...they seem ho-hum when new, but outstanding after 30 years in the cellar!

Well Jim, your layout may be relatively new...but it ain't ho-hum...it'll be a great one!
Cheers, Mike H.