Part 30 - Day three highlights from SoundRails 2022 - 14 people in 7 hours run BN & MILW trains

Burr Stewart narrates this video recap of an all-day model railroad operating session, conducted on March 27, 2022, the third and final day of a bi-annual operations weekend in Seattle called "SoundRails". At this particular session, there were 11 visiting operators from around the US and three hosts, for a total of 14 people running trains all day in this 24' x 30' basement model train layout. The action starts out with the "jet job" finishing its work in Mukilteo and a MILW coast route train, proceeds to cover several north and south BN through freights, numerous switching operations, and finally the BN's "Pacific Zip" train #3 comes in and then #4 heads off into the sunset. Burr narrates the action with comments about the history of the BN railroad as well as some of the fun and challenges of model railroad operations and maintenance.
The HO scale model railroad underneath these train operations is Burr Stewart's "Burrlington Northern" model railroad layout, featured in many other videos on this KZbin channel @Burr Stewart , as well as his blog burrlingtonnor.... The train layout is set in the Seattle region in 1973, three years after the 1970 corporate merger that created the Burlington Northern (BN) Railroad out of the Great Northern (GN), Northern Pacific (NP), Burlington Route (CB&Q) and the Spokane, Portland and Seattle (SP&S) railroads. Playing smaller roles on the layout are the three-foot narrow gage (HOn3) D&RGW "west coast extension", the Milwaukee Road (MILW)'s western extension and the Union Pacific (UP). He took the video with an iPhone X and an AKASO action cam, and edited it in iMovie and Photoshop on a MacBook Pro.

[@jamescarry4733]

I for one never tire of listening about small switcher engines.

[@muchfunwithtrains]

Thanks, and glad to hear it. :)

[@matthewjones1119]

Great to see all the trains! I love this layout

[@muchfunwithtrains]

Me too! Glad to have you on board.

[@PennCentral13]

Fantastic job on the coverage Burr, it was a pleasure seeing and filming your layout and I can’t wait until my next trip to Seattle.

[@muchfunwithtrains]

Yes, keep in touch and I'm looking forward to seeing whatever video you produce, as well! :)

[@socalscalemodels]

Great video Burr! Really enjoyed all the running and commentary. Thanks for sharing.

[@muchfunwithtrains]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@rickrodrick1978]

Thank you so much for this video Burr. Your layout is fun to watch. I'm sure it's a blast to operate, as well. I very much enjoy your narration. It strikes a nice balance between wry observations, interesting historical information, and useful explanations for why things are being done the way they are. Perhaps some day I'll find myself in the position to operate the Burrlington Northern but for now I'll continue to watch and enjoy your videos.

[@muchfunwithtrains]

Thanks for your comments, and keep in touch.

[@robinbeadle-rq7kn]

Fantastic video. Have subscribed and will go seek out your other videos as well. May I ask what scale speed your trains tend to run at, please?

[@muchfunwithtrains]

Welcome aboard! :) The short answer is I have all my locos set to a max speed (CV5) of 30 scale miles per hour (SMPH), and a mid speed (CV6) of about 15 SMPH. I got the idea from Joe Green in Sequim, WA, and it really does make the layout seem larger and the operations seem more realistic. Also, when we do have accidents or derailments, less damage is done.

[@robinbeadle-rq7kn]

@@muchfunwithtrains Thanks. Was just curious. I run DC so have an external speed sensor to report and display

[@trainknut]

18:19 What if I intentionally leave the lights off because that's more prototypical though?

[@muchfunwithtrains]

Good point! I've been illuminated recently (no pun intended) by a discussion on the OPSIG groups.io group about the fact that rules requiring headlights to be on during the day are only a few decades old, and vary between railroads and jurisdictions. I used to think that a loco without its headlight on was just "wrong", but now I see there are lots of times it is "fine". Thanks for your comment.

[@trainknut]

@@muchfunwithtrains It was especially true during the steam era I've found based on photos. If I had to guess it's probably because they didn't need to turn on the dynamo, therefore making the locomotive just a tiny bit quieter to operate, and probably reducing wear on the dynamo itself. In the diesel era it wasn't until the late 80s/early 90s that you saw most locomotives running with the headlights always on... Presumably around the time ditch lights were mandated by the FRA.

[@muchfunwithtrains]

That's right. The headlight on during the day was a result of trying to improve safety. In my 1973 era they mandated the yellow rotating beacons on some roads, too, but apparently they proved ineffective and stopped being required by the '80's. Then they came up with ditch lights. And strobes.