On the railroad, a boomer was an engineer (or other running trade?) from another division or railroad. Was the act of being a boomer “booming” or “boomering?” It doesn’t matter; the fact that does matter is I’ve been working in Ottawa this past week so I could spend some time with my mum, and I had the opportunity to squeeze in not only my brother’s birthday celebration, but also two operating sessions!
On Tuesday, I ran extra 621 on Tom Hood’s wonderful Canadian Northern Railway. This busy layout hosted a sea of 22 operators. There was no briefing as I was the only new person, but the advantage of following standard rules is that once I found my train, I mostly knew what to do. I helped lay the track on parts of this layout back when I was in high school and university. Helping to bring it to life in an operating session decades later was a real thrill.
Today, I joined a crew of about 12 on Bill Scobie’s magnificent RGS Western Quebec Division. Paired with Pierre L, we took the Ridgeway to Rico way freight the length of the mainline. Bill’s railroad operates on smoke clearances, which means you look ahead and see if there is anyone coming before you go. It was a laid-back session on another railroad I worked on when I was a youth. Despite a few electrical gremlins at the start of the session, I had a fabulous time. Having a conductor to kibbutz with made it all the more fun.
Pembroke:87 
Glad to see both Tom and Bill are doing well! Back when I was flying, I visited both of their layouts. I remember Tom telling me Bill had brought dirt back from “Mecca’ (Colorado Narrow gauge country)to use on the layout! Two magnificent layouts! I worked with Tom for his (CDS) BA set of dry transfers.