On Friday afternoon, July 20th, Fred Mills (Ottawa, Ontario) welcomed visitors to take part in a standard gauge railway operation on the Ironwood, Peter’s Pond and Western Railway, and it branch line partner the Rat Portage & Mattawa Railway.
Craig Leigh is the eastern terminus of the IPP&W Railway. The two large JigStones buildings are the passenger station and post office building.
Ken Brunt (West Grove, Pennsylvania) turning his locomotive on the wye of the engine service facilities.
A freight train switches the yard while a mix train stops at the Mount St. Helens passenger station.
Bruce and Jean Chandler (Burke, Virginia) and Bob McCown (Littleton, Massachusetts) in a tight spot between Ironwood on the left and Watkins Siding on the right.
Bruce and Jean are switching at Spruce with their new RS-3.
Bluestone Southern GP-40 number 412 climbing the hill between Spruce and Blockhouse.
Andy Clarke (Nashville, Illinois) has an exceptionally attractive paint job on this unit.
A freight train rumbles past the spur at Blockhouse.
This is the new horseshoe bend around Lily. The curve was widened here after a fire destroyed one of the old wooden trestle bridges. The mainline now runs across steel bridges, while the track to feed the industrial spurs at Lily runs across the remaining wooden trestle.
Bruce and Jean (Burke, Virginia) switching the spurs at the Blue Mountain Mine with motor car M9.
Yardmaster Ric Golding (Carlyle, Illinois) assembling a train in Nelson Yard.
Nelson Yard is the point where the IPP&W and RP&M Railways connect, and is always a busy spot.
To the right of Nelson Yard is the Glen Hammond Yard.
Bellamy is served by both the IPP&W and RP&M Railways. The tracks in front of Barry Birkett (Ottawa, Ontario) and Andy Clarke (Nashville, Illinois) connect Nelson Yard to the RP&M’s Rat Portage Yard. The track in front of Jane Clarke is the IPP&W mainline to Mercer and Peter’s Pond.
Peter’s Pond is a quiet place nestled in the woods. From here the IPP&W Railway makes a long climb up and around to Watkins.
Jean Chandler (Burke, Virginia) and Bob McCown and his son Will (Littleton, Massachusetts) arranging a sawby at Watkins.
Gord Bellamy (Ottawa, Ontario) uses the passing track at Bell to circumvent two trains in the yard.
The western end of Bell has three tracks. The inside track is used to store cars to be interchanged between the IPP&W and RP&M Railways. The center track is the RP&M mainline from Bell downgrade through Pratt’s Bottom and Ferndale to the Rat Portage Yard. The outside track is the IPP&W mainline upgrade to Ralph.
Young engineer Brendan Stewart pilots an RS-3 into the run around tracks at Ralph, the western terminus of the IPP&W Railway. The freight yard to the left is used to store cars for outbound trains.
The Dave Goodson style turntable is a necessary space saver for this narrow yard.
Roger Caiazza (Syracuse, New York) switching some of the local industries at Ralph.
Now that we have reached the end of the IPP&W Railway, we will back track to pick up a Bluestone Southern GP-40 on the RP&M Railway at Pratt’s Bottom.
The GP-40 exits the tunnel just past Ferndale and enters the Rat Portage Yard.
Unfortunately Rat Portage Yard seems to be a place that all the rail fans missed photographing. We will have to go back a year to see Ric and Jan Golding (Carlyle, Illinois) sitting on the end of the yard celebrating the opening of Golding Grains.
From Rat Portage we cross diamond, presently occupied by an IPP&W train engineered by Jean Chandler (Burke, Virginia). From there RP&M trains pass through Bellamy to Nelson Yard.
When operating on the IPP&W and RP&M Railways you must obtain radio clearance from the dispatcher before moving from one point on the railway to another. Today that task was competently handled by Brad Larabie.
Although operating trains is the main reason our guests travel from distant places, the second most important thing is the camaraderie that we all enjoy. He are a few smiling faces relaxing in the shade at Mount St. Helens.
A group shot of some of the people that made this year’s American Invasion of Ottawa a tremendous success.
Thank you to everyone who made the preceding images available for all to enjoy!
To view Day 3 of the 2012 American Invasion of Ottawa, click on the following link.
2012 American Invasion of Ottawa Day 3