Comment: This was a continuation of Session 1. The session involved beginning the switching activities for Train #600 at Black Diamond and then continuing to Pine Ridge and Prairie Dog.

Session 1g:

Train #600 had stopped just outside of Black Diamond. Diesel CN 7847 unoupled from the consist and reversed in to the Black Diamond Yard where it had no difficulty picking up 2 cars and setting out 4. The train then completed 4 loops on the outer mainline before heading to the inner mainline.

Once there it stopped before entering the Pine Ridge siding. The diesel locomotive uncoupled from the consist and pulled a boxcar loaded with plywood (CN 516134) onto the mainline where it was dropped. The locomotive then did an end-around on the Pine Ridge siding, ending up pushing the boxcar back onto the train consist.

The entire train then proceeded to Prairie Dog where it picked up two boxcars (CN 428453 - empty, and CN 445531 - loaded with grain) from the Alberta Wheat Pool elevator.

I then had some difficulty with one of the curves on the inner mainline loop and decided to re-lay the curved track at one end. I ended up tryin three different approaches before I finally came up with a satisfactory solution. I then ran 4 loops at a speed of 10 before slowing down as I approached Queenston.

Comment: Overall this was a good operating session.

However the effort to replace the track at one end of the inner mainline loop turned out to take much longer than I anticipated. But after a few abortive attempts I finally had the new track in place and am now very confident that trains can maintain a solid speed of 10 while running circuits around this loop.