The second operating session of the Keystone Subdivision, also known as Sandpatch, has now come and gone. John, Phil, Joe were back for round #2 and Brett, who brought me to N Scale, made his first visit. For the first operating session we used only a sequence timetable, but for this session, we used both a sequence timetable and train instruction cards. As it turns out, there was enough to do to keep four guys busy running trains.

This first shot shows Brett, Joe and Paul on the Connellsville/Cumberland end of the layout.



The layout was quite a bit different for the second operating session as compared to the first. Yard capacity was greatly expanded for Connellsville and Cumberland, there is now staging for the Mountain Subdivision and several more trains on the schedule. One of these trains is the Capitol Limited, shown here coming into Connellsville.



Here's a shot of the Capitol Limited coming downgrade behind Glencoe. Here, the Genesis units are just passing a helper unit on a freight headed upgrade.



For this session I just let the guys run the trains which left me lots of time to take some pictures. I took a lot of pictures and tried some new angles like this one.



Here's one of a westbound train just getting ready to exit Sandpatch Tunnel.



The night before the operating session I added a section of "trees" behind Glencoe. Here's a shot of a freight headed upgrade and into the tunnel behond Glencoe. I have not yet put in the tunnel portal here as it is not yet painted.



This next shot is of Q217, a westbound, headed downgrade through Rockwood.



The Rockwood area sees a lot of action during the operating session with a local serving the town and the Salisburry mine shifter also utilizing Rockwood trackage for a short time.



A fun train to run on Sandpatch is the Salisburry Mine train, known as U452. This train gets to tie up track #1 while on the hill and also is required to take a caboose as it makes a backup move. Today, Brett got to run U452. This next series of pictures is while U452 was on the hill.



This is the mine shifter running out on the mine lead.



Here is Brett working the mine shifter.



Here, while U452 has track #1, a westbound goes by on track #2.



And another...



Here is the mine shifter working the mine tracks.



Plenty of action at Salisburry Junction!



This last shot is a picture of trains in Rockwood. The train on the left is U452 getting ready for its run around move while a Dash9 leads a train westbound on track #2.



This next shot is of Q375 heading west behind Rockwood. A GE Dash9 number 9024 is on the point.



The next three pictures are of Q278 heading east over Sandpatch. Q278 consists mainly of autoracks. Here is Q278 departing Connellsville.



Here is Q278 headed up the west slope.



This shot shows the length of Q278. The train's head end is going by Sandpatch tower while the end of the train has yet to enter the west portal of Sandpatch Tunnell.



This last shot shows Q278 headed downslope behind Glencoe.



The westbound autorack train on my rendition of the Keystone Subdivision is Q217. Here is Q217 being led by a pair of CSX fallen flag SD50s through Rockwood.



The area of the layout where Cumberland and Connellsville is also where one can find the FMP Subdivision. This area is not sceniced yet.



Another fun train to run on my layout is the Glencoe-Rockwood Turn. John got to run this train today. Here is John handling the local freight while Brett looks on.



Here is another shot of John running the Glencoe-Rockwood Turn.



Another big eastbound train on Sandpatch is Q384, also known as the "Grain Train." On the prototype, this train is typically the heaviest train attacking the westslope, and today, we ran the Grainer with a helper out of Connellsville. This shot shows the big train headed upgrade through Rockwood.



On the rear of the Grain Train is the SD35 helper.



After the Grain Train crested Sandpatch, the SD35 helper cut off and returned to Connellsville.



Here's a last shot of part the Grainer as it headed past Glencoe.



Just a few more shots from today's action! This train is westbound Q297.



This shot shows EMD SD80 #801 leading a train east past Sandpatch Tower.



This picture shows an SD50 in the new, affectionately named, "Dark Future" scheme.



This last picture is eastbound unit coal train #802 as it heads downgrade past Glencoe.



I really enjoyed watching the guys run the trains today. There was not quite enough for 5 operators but I got to run a couple of trains! Besides, what I really wanted to do anyway was watch and take some pictures!

Also, the operating session provided some insight into some changes I can make to even out the work a bit. As it is currently set up, Cumberland has a ton of work and could really use two operators itself. Phil was in Cumberland the whole day and was by far the busiest guy!

I want to thank John, Joe, Phil and Brett for coming over and putting the layout through its paces. I was pretty happy with how it held up. And they've also given me some great suggestions about how to next expand!

That's it!

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