Operations on The Great Cypress Lines
The North Atlanta Rail Barons is an Operating Group, which means that we design and operate our railroads as prototypically (that just means "like the big boys do it!") as possible under scale conditions.
On April 1, 2014 (April Fool's Day, no less!), Howard Goodwin, MMR invited the group to operate on his Great Cypress Lines. Participants included four guests, Dr. Joe Nichols, Jr., MMR (who served as Dispatcher), Tim Taylor (who drove from just this side of Athens, GA to be with us), Paul "Oz" Ozman, and Paul's grandson Michael.
Also participating in the festivities were NARB members Brian Campbell, Brian Sandberg, Mark Thomann, Dean Webb, Bob Wood, and Bill Zawacki, MMR. As usual on the GCL, Rob Dodds and Howard Goodwin, MMR served as troubleshooters, helping those of us who had problems to resolve them. We were able to run all twelve trains without any "train sex" or other serious mishaps over about a 2-1/2 hour session. A great time was had by all.
We received very favorable comments from our guests:
Dr. Joe Nichols, Jr., MMR - Dispatcher
I had a great time! I appreciate all of the help and the prep before we started. I was petrified that I was going to end up with two trains facing each other on a single track and may have made a few trains sit longer than necessary. I also had to wait until the appropriate time to launch a few of you out of the yard. Definitely a little learning curve on my part. I loved the operation and the layout.
Thanks again for a great night!
Tim Taylor - Engineer
My thanks to you, Howard, and to all the others with whom I had the pleasure of operating trains for the first time. I had a great time, and I appreciate the warm welcome and patience shown by all as I attempted to adapt to a brand new layout and a process of train operations that was definitely familiar but that also had a few new wrinkles for me to absorb.
Photos from the event:
Contact Information
If you live in the Cobb, Cherokee and Paulding County area and would like information on the North Atlanta Rail Barons, or if you would like to visit one of our operating group sessions, please contact Howard Goodwin, MMR below.
- Electronic mail
- General Information: Howard Goodwin, MMR horn69@bellsouth.net
Member Index
The following current members of the North Atlanta Rail Barons are Charter Members of the group:
The following members have joined the North Atlanta Rail Barons during the last nine years.
Charlie Crawford, MMR was a Charter Member of NARB and former Superintendent of the Piedmont Division. He was the third member of our group to earn the award of Master Model Railroader. He is now participating in another local operating group.
Larry K. Smith, MMR was a charter member of NARB and now lives in Kentucky where he completed the requirements to become the fourth Master Model Railroader from NARB.
Louis Gomes was a long-term member of NARB, an excellent modeler, guru of the CV's and DCC decoders and wiring design. He was the group's first webmaster and is responsible for the design of our logo. Louis recently completed his education and was rewarded with a new job in Houston, TX.
Philo Hutcheson left us when he accepted a position with the University of Alabama Birmingham. He had built an excellent N-scale railroad prior to moving.