| The Kippen Portfolio | ||
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| This was one of the test runs for the morning before the tour started. Paul and Sam Pool from Gloucester, MA generously allowed me to lease some equipment for the event. The GE electric engine is interesting because it was the first one built by the Pools. It performed excellently throughout the day. It had good adhesion and a lot of power. The black gondola was theirs too. They also leased us the purple flatcar seen on the siding to the right. | Above: This shows one of the runs early in the morning with Ben Kippen running. | |
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| It was here that the GE had to work. This is the East Branch and Chipman Division of the railroad. It's about 3% hill. At the bottom of it is a 20' radius curve, so you can't really make a run for the hill. The electric adhered well to the rail and took trains with up to five people in the 2 gondolas. | 4 year old Adam Fletcher ran many of the passenger extras. Here he is with a light train near the end of track. He did a great job running the GE on the 600' round trip! | |
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| Here's Christopher Hurst relaxing between runs at the end of track on the EB&C. | Here's me running. Adam Fletcher is right behind me. Richard Hurst is in the red gondola. He is an official for the MBTA. | |
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| This was after the tour had officially ended. Alan MacMillan was running this photo.
It is interesting that my line is referred to as "backyard commuter rail service." He runs trains for the
MBTA too on the "wide gauge" :-) commuter rail.
Richard Symmes was the designated safety supervisor on the outside railroad that day just to make sure everyone stayed safe. |
Here are some photos the same day of the HO layout on the tour. Here's the HO layout. North Station and BET are in the foreground. Across the scenic divide is the Somerville Yard. |
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| Adam ran inside trains too! Here he is running Sperry Rail Service #134 on a rail inspection trip
around the Eastern Route.
Russ Munroe was running the HO layout that day too. He is a retired B&MRR conductor. He ran much of the operation on the HO layout. |
Here's a photo I took that shows most of the railroad before the tour. | |
| The SPRRHS Portfolio | ||
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| Daisy loved her train ride but her father, Paul Kilian, had to help her out of the car. | Ben driving up the 3% incline with Peter Bryant waving. | |
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| Ben reversing Bud & Gloria Kuran out onto the main line. | The return trip - at the midway milepost. | |
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| Bud scrutinizing a detail, or was it a donut, while Gloria looks on | The other Ben (big ben porter?) orchestrating the action. | |
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| Looks like North Station to me. | The might Brad Kippen, lord of all surveys.(Nice layout Brad) | |
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| Brad filling in background information. | Now this is what I call an engine. I am a terror for terriers. | |
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| Ahhhhhhhhh Terriers - go Pick a Dilly | ||