Dave Sias tells about some new crewmembers performing nicely on his layout.

First time operator and new NMRA member Butch Taggart arrives in Ashland with the Milk Train and prepares to pick up a Brookside Milk car destined for Boston.

On the train schedule, the stop in Plymouth includes taking on water at the Plymouth standpipe. Butch spots the tender right under the spout for the brakeman to fill the tank .

Earlier in the day, Butch was the engineer on the local passenger train, The Kearsarge, here departing from Woodsville, NH and heading south to Plymouth, NH.

As the Kearsarge departs Plymouth, passengers are arriving at the station for the Alouette which will take them far to the North into Canada and eventually Montreal.

In Ashland, Butch holds the main with the Kearsarge as the local Concord-to- Lincoln freight CO-1 pulls into the siding. CO-1 will do some switching in Ashland and the Kearsarge will be on its way south to the Weirs and Lakeport.

Leaving Ashland and heading south the train passes by Little Red Riding Hood as she walks unknowingly towards Grandma’s house. No one knows what really happened there.

At about the same time the Kearsarge is holding in Ashland, Lou Champagne is arriving in Woodsville with the Pompy, a local freight pulled by an RS3. Yardmaster Tony Keegan will work the cars Lou drops off at the Woodsville Yard.

The Kearsarge’s stop at the Weirs is brief but provides some interesting characters to watch on the boardwalk and the street. But, it’s time to go and Butch pulls out of the Weirs station on time.

The next stop will be Lakeport and Lakeport Switcher engineer Perry Smith is preparing to clear the main for the Kearsarge to arrive. The switcher is shoving a cut of cars into the Irwin Boatyard siding.

As the train passes Old Farm Road, farmer Hiram Haystack continues his discussion with his goat about who is going to put who” back in the pasture.

Butch is still on time with the Kearsarge and pulls out of Lakeport right on schedule, much to the dismay of Mr. Bluster who is always late for his train. He’s missed it again!

On Butch’s first run of the day with the Milk Train, he made it to Concord in record time. Concord Assistant Yardmaster Richard Parshley (of the Klickety Klack Model Railroad) is exclaiming “You made it from Woodsville how fast???”

Later in the day with the Kearsarge train and no need to rush to get the milk cars to the Hood plant, Butch eases his train into the Concord train shed slowly.

The passengers depart on their various ways for the day, some in more of a hurry than others.

Concord Yardmaster Nelson Kennedy watches the smooth arrival of the Kearsarge with admiration and wishes he could run a train as well as Butch.

With still some miles to go before reaching Boston, the Kearsarge departs Concord with the steady hand of Butch Taggart on the throttle. There will be a few more station stops, but the train will arrive safely at North Station. Nice work, Butch, on your first day on the job!