SPRINGFIELD-A TURN

Continuing my documentation of operating jobs on my railroad, I will describe the activities of the first of three Springfield area switching jobs.  Known as the "Springfield-A" in my operating scheme, this job serves industry on the depot side of the mainline in Springfield.  The other jobs are the "Springfield-B" which serves the aisle side of the mainline and the "Marcola Turn" which serves that branch off the RR-West end of Springfield.  Follow along with the photo captions as I work the Springfield-A.

Our work begins at Eugene as our power backs on to the train on City Yard Track One.  The conductor is checking his train documents and thinking about how he will work the train and industries in Springfield.

The Dispatcher has been kind today and allowed our train to switch the bulk oil dealer on the way into Springfield.  Our crew uses the house track, which loops around behind the depot, to gain access to the bulk oil dealer's spur.  We exchange two tank cars as the rest of our train hangs out on the mainline from Eugene--the "Judkins" track block.

Our crew left the cement covered hoppers on the house track and ran back down the depot track to gather the rest of the train and pull it into Springfield on the depot-drill track.  All remaining moves will stay off the mainline until we are ready to return to Eugene.

Our Conductor has chosen to pull all the loads from Rosboro Lumber as the second major task in town.  Here, the wood chips have already been pulled from Rosboro Track One and set over to the drill leading to the Marcola Branch.  We next bored into Rosboro Track Two to pull the finished lumber and plywood loads.  All of the outbound Rosboro loads will be shoved on to the Marcola Branch.  These will then be joined by the pair of tank cars pulled as we came into town.

As we arrange the empty boxcars and a flat for spotting at Rosboro (the flat needs to go into the spur first), our Conductor chose to switch the team track in front of the depot.  Right now, the depot is only indicated by a photo, but I expect a new kit for the required SP Standard Depot Type 18 due soon from the Southern Pacific Historical and Technical Society.

Returning to Rosboro Lumber, the correct order of empties is being prepared to be shoved into the lumber loading spur, Rosboro Lumber Track Two.

As we work our train using the tracks on the depot side of the mainline, we find a convenient point to shove our caboose onto one of the Marcola Branch tracks.

Running around our remaining train and working off the house track behind the depot, we now are spotting a pair of good quality empties at Clear Fir for outbound loading.  The loaded bulkhead flat and Milwaukee boxcar have inbound loads for Clear Fir that will be spotted on the tail of the Tilbury Cement-Clear Fir Track One spur in the background.

While we are working in this area, we make the pull of a covered hopper empty from National Metallurgical.

Next, we serve that Tilbury Cement and Clear Fir Inbound spur.

We finally get around to serving the cannery spur at the RR-East end of town.  The inbound empty Railbox was toward the end of the train as we arrived in Springfield.  The Dispatcher did not give us enough working time upon arrival to serve the cannery as well as the bulk oil as we came into town.  As seen here, we could have waited to serve the bulk oil spur in a similar fashion if the Dispatcher needed us to clear the mainline quickly when we first arrived in Springfield.  This really is a Dispatcher option, negotiated by the Conductor of the arriving local freight train.

Finally, we assemble our train, most of which has been out on the Marcola Branch.  We reclaim our caboose and prepare to return to Eugene.

The Springfield-A Turn is a bit of a switching puzzle, but it has a couple of run-around tracks and has access to the Marcola Branch. It may take a couple of moves with cars to get all of them into the right order and places, but the job can be accomplished without occupying the mainline or the siding on the aisle side.  Those tracks are needed by the Dispatcher to keep mainline traffic rolling.