Website and Operations' Changes

Two significant changes are coming to operations on the E&P.

First I have decided starting with the January 2011 session to use the seniority system to assign slots to the Call Board. Hopefully this will allow those that have supported my operations over the years better access to sessions.

Second I am planning to start regular (once a month) Wednesday night sessions. However, I have not yet decided when these will start. I will put out a notice on this blog when I do decide on the first session date.

To support these changes I made several modifications to the website in the "Operations" and "OPS Photos" areas. The main changes are adding a section for the week night session photos and setting up a Call Board/Extra Board area separate from the signup boards.

The Call Boards/Extra Boards (one for the weekend sessions and one for the week night sessions) are now available on the website under the "Operations" link at the top of the screen or via the "Signup for an OPS Session" link. These Call Boards/Extra Boards will list the attendees for their next associated session and will be populated the rest of this year via the first-come-first-served process currently in use. However, I have listed your seniority so you can see if you would still qualify for a position on the Call Board under the new seniority process. If you show up on the Extra Board but have a seniority number lower than the highest one on the Call Board you would displace that crew member under the new seniority system if you signed up at least a month before the requested session.

The new (starting in 2011) seniority policy is also listed on the website along with the current seniority list. Both are accessed via the "epops_crew" screen which you can get to via the "Signup for an OPS Session" link. You might want to go and take a look at both to see the seniority policy and your current seniority ranking.

The old Signup Boards are still available so you can see who has signed up for a session and verify that I have received your request.

Starting in January the Call Board and Extra Board will be posted for their respective sessions the day following the previous month's session.

Please take a minute to go to www.easton-and-potomac.com and take a look at the new "Operations" area and see where you are in the seniority system. If you have any questions please let me know.

Hopefully this will give everyone a chance to attend sessions next year and give a little more weight to those that have supported the railroad over the years.