The longest train on record - 85 cars!

Last night we hosted the local NMRA monthly clinic for an open house at the layout. BobJ Berger brought over his stock of grain hoppers, which combined with mine to make an 85 car unit grain train. It was by far the longest train we'd ever run here, and it was fun to have NMRA members and friends present to witness (and help operate) it. Here are some photos:

The 85 car train was so long that it was difficult to photograph in the 800 sq.ft. basement. All I could think of was to take a "pano" shot. If you look closely, the front of the train is off in the distant at the far right (approaching Broad St. in Seattle) while the back end of the train is near the left side of the photo (passing by Carkeek Park). Co-conspirator BobJ is in the center, also trying to photograph (on video) our masterpiece.

Before the "event," Dave Enger (left) and Tim Taylor came over and helped clear off the extra rolling stock and to run the track cleaning train (shown here on the mainline passing by the car repair shop at Interbay/Balmer yard).

We needed some serious motive power for the experiment, so here is Tim bringing some modern steeds along the shoreline to pick up the unit train. Due to a coupler malfunction, we ended up pulling the whole train with only three of these four unit. Don't ask me what these locos are doing on a layout supposedly set in 1973!

 We ran a number of other trains people brought over for fun. Here an SP cab forward is racing the unit grain train along the double track part of the coast mainline.

BobJ got to meet one of our friends from the dancing community, Phil, who, in addition to being a great dancer, formerly worked on the prototype railroad and enjoyed seeing his former workplaces represented on the layout.

The narrow gage northwesterly expansion of the D&RGW also got a workout, with Tim and Michael on the job serving the fictitious "Cascade Copper Co." The junction next to the backdrop allows continuous running on the narrow gage, and is named "Vail Jct." to honor the famous HOn3 modeler Jim Vail who sadly passed away earlier this year, after many years of influencing and inspiring us.

So, the record for maximum train length on the Burrlington Northern now stands at 85 cars!