Setting out hoppers in Bartlett. One of the highlights of the first day of the Conway Scenic Railroad's Railfan Weekend was an opportunity to see steam locomotive CN 7470 doing what she was built for: switching cars. The afternoon photo freight to Bartlett, NH included a hopper car full of crushed stone, to be used as ballast for upcoming track work by the Conway Scenic crews. Once all scheduled trains had passed to the south, the 7470 uncoupled from her freight and proceeded to break the train so that the ballast hopper could be set out on the Bartlett Wye. In this scene, 7470, with the front-coupled hopper has positioned the car on the wye and is about to be uncoupled by a team of brakemen. With this task accomplished, 7470 proceeded to swap the caboose to the west end of the train and then run around the entire consist for the tender-first run back to North Conway. It's not often that we get to see 0-6-0s performing no-kidding yard work. Thanks to the Conway Scenic Railroad for this nice demonstration and for a fun event all around.
