Do you operate?

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

In all the discussion over railroads and manufacturers sueing each other, this or that new product coming out, or this or that problem, do we actually have some people that operate out there?

I’ve had my 8.5’ x 11.5’ around-the-walls layout set up for car card and waybill operation for about 10 days now and I can’t tear myself away from it. I have a lot of industry, a small yard and two staging tracks all in that small space. I still use Block DC for control, although I am looking at DCC with some friends of mine(if one of us goes, we all want to go to be compatable).

Using the car card-waybill system is so easy and flexible, and makes for prototypical use and routing of empty cars. I tried using a computer-generated software system with no luck, due to cost and headache, plus shortcuts built in that didn’t simulate prototype operation.

So, let’s hear it. How many of you actually operate your layouts and how do you operate?

2

I have a car card and waybill starter set that I got from Micromark Tools. I plan to try to use this system when I get some more work done on my layout. I think that my main problem will be finding someone to operate with but I reckon that I can go it alone.

[:)]

3

I use index cards with each freight car road name and number on the card…I make cards for different destinations on different waybills and a " yard return track number" on them…I then shuffle the cards, pull 25 or 30 out of the deck, and make a train from the ones in the yard…once a train is made, it goes out onto the layout and delivers the rolling stock to the destination designated on the card…The pile then goes in the “out of yard” pile and the previous “out of the yard pile” gets picked up by the train and returned to the yard if they are out on the layout somewhere…I then put that pile of cards back in the "in yard " pile, after the train returns with the previous loads, shuffle the cards again and start all over…the trains are either designated “in the yard” or “out of the yard” at their designated location on the card pulled that particulat time and all rolling stock is returned to the yard after it has been out on the layout…it works well but you have to make up a lot of cards for just one piece of rolling stock so that it doesn’t go to the same place every time…Chuck [:D]

The cards sort of look like this:

SP Boxcar 50’ #123456
deliver to: JB&M industries East bound freight #1
Return to: Sanderson yard Track "7

another card will look like this for the same piece of rolling stock
SP Boxcar 50’ #123456
deliver to: Alamo Iron works West bound freight #2
return to Sanderson yard Track #4

this way when you pull a card the rolling stock doesn’t go to the same place all the time

4

Well, an on-line poll MR took on its old homepage a couple of years ago indicated that only 1 in 3 or 4 hobbyists do any sort of “operations” beyond simply switching cars at industries on a whim. Most indicated that they were far more interested in simply running their trains - as has been the situation indicated by various polls for decades.

I personally do some more-or-less informal operations but don’t use cardcards, switchlists, etc. On more than one occasion I’ve witnessed guys get down right surly with someone in their group during an operating session when a silly operating mistake is made…that ain’t for me!

CNJ831

5

michealfarley wrote:

I actually operate my layout, about once a week. It takes about two hours with three operators (myself, my father, and a friend) on my 25’ x 50’ layout of the Boston to Providence section of the New Haven’s Shoreline (today’s NEC). It also takes about 2 hours to set it up.

The mainline is double track, and it is run with a Digitrax Zephyr system with a few extra throttles. There are three freight yards (Boston, Providence & a staging yard) for the 250-odd freight cars, plus a passenger terminal in Boston.

Freight car forwarding is by car card and waybill. A typical car card (3x5) would have the following info:

Car Type: 35’ Hopper
Road Name: NH
Road No.: 117110
Class Code: HM
Special Features: None

To the right of this is a 2.5x2.5 clear plastic pocket taped on the card’s lower right corner. Into this, you place the waybill, which is a 2x2 piece of paper with the following info:

New Haven Railroad
From: Cedar Hill
To: Russell Coal Co.
VIA: BOSTON/BX-7
Code: HM

Together, this gives the routing info needed to get this car where it’s supposed to go. Typically, I make about 80 new waybills every time the layout runs.

To start a new operation, I first take inventory of the layout on a worksheet I made in Excel, recording only AAR Class Codes (road numbers and names are unimportant in this scheme, only the type of car matters). I write down the cars at the industries, what is in the yard to be set out, and what is ordered from the staging yard. This way, I can see what is there and what is coming for the next two operations.

Next, I order the cars I want for each industry, using self imposed rules and ideas of what each industry will ship. For example, I would not send reefers to Boston Gear Co., but I would send tank cars to Hub C

6

In my club, we operate on a card system. In an operating session, we have a dispatcher, car control, 3 yard masters, engineers and industrial switcher crews. I want to take it a step further though. We have a plastic industry that takes vinyl chloride so I plan on painting up a bunch of atlas 23,000 gallon tanks and stenciling them for the chemical with DCLX reporting mark. Also I will use walthers 54 foot funnel flow tanker and paint them up for DOWX reporting marks. Also we will only use certain cars at certain industries so no grain hoppers at ADM and no molten sulphur cars in Casco Corn Syrup plant for example. The odd kind of cars that don’t really belong at our industries stay on manifest trains. With 10 people in the club we have over 700 cars (HO). We even put our passenger cars and engines on the card system.

7

I have always felt that realistic operation is is the ultimate level to which this hobby can be taken. It can take many years in the hobby to reach a point where this becomes a priority and a goal. The layout that I’m building now is going to have that kind of operation. Based purely on the local prototype, I plan to simulate real railroading in my basement. Of course there is no way to represent everything from the real world, but that is part of the challenge of modeling.

I was poking around on the web yesterday, and ran across the General Code of Operating Rules that the real railroads use. Very interesting material, 139 pages long, it tells about all aspects of operation. I printed all of it and put it in a binder. Good reference material.[8D]

8

AntonioFP45 wrote:

I’ve “blown up” a couple times during an operation at my club because sometimes that’s the only thing that gets their attention. [:)] For example:

1). On my club’s old DC analog layout, I was a yardmaster drilling a cut of 10 or so cars. The operation was nearing the end of the allotted time, and most operators had left the room. I was minding my own business in the yard, concentrating on spotting these final cars on the correct tracks, when suddenly my train stopped and shorted out. I looked up at my S-2 switcher, expecting to see it derailed. Instead, there was an SD40-2 crashed into the side of it!

What had happened is that an inbound freight train decided to throw his own switches, turn on his own blocks, and enter the yard without bothering to call the yardmaster (me) and get permission, as required by our Book of Rules. So, of course his train ran through the other side of the receiving yard onto my yard lead and T-boned the yard switcher. For some reason, this upset me, especially considering that a) I owned the custom painted switcher (fortunately, there was no damage), b) he initially denied doing anything wrong (until he saw the wreckage), and c) the person who caused all this was not some rookie, but one of our leading operators. He was one of our Chief Dispatchers and our Business Agent! IOW, he’s supposed to know better, but he was in a hurry. I didn’t throw a tantrum or anything, but I did swear a bit at him. [:D]

2). Again on our old layout, I was the yardmaster in the same yard. This was our last operation in the old place, and for the next 5 years (until we built the new layout). So, as I’m trying to do the yard work a

9

I am planning on doing operations once I have enough layout to do so (Having 12’ of mainline with no yard currently precludes anything more than photo ops).

10

I enjoy switching train cars in a rail yard from train to train. My layout isn’t large enough at this time to make deliveries if you will to individual industries, but I do operate.

11

Yes, I operate. I belong to a round robin group of about 20 layouts. We operate at someones house about once a week. Some use car cards/waybills, some use switch lists.
I could not imagine having a model railroad without operations, it opens up a whole new exciting world that will let you enjoy the hobby more than you thought possible.

In addition to the excellent books published by Kalmbach, I suggest anyone interested check out the Op Sig, either at the NMRA site or the Yahoo site.

12

I operate on a track warrent and switch list system myself. I’m the only operator, so I automatically get the first track warrent from my self, the dispatcher. I start my session by going through old switch list so I know what cars are at what industries, but this will hopefully change soon(details later) Then I’ll pick a car or two to take from that industry as a pick up, and i write it in the pick up collum of the switchlist with the industry next to it. Then i look at my car list, of all the cars I own models of, and pick a car of simalar type as the one scheduald to be picked up to drop off. I do this for most of my industries, but once and a while I’ll skip an industry like they don’t have any changes to be made. Then I run the session, picking up cars and droping them off. The only meet I do is at the grain elevator. I run on DC block control. At the elevator I set the first car in the train right near the siding on the main line. I then pull ahead into the next block, and then I shut that block off. I turn the siding “on” and pull the elevator switcher out to put the loads on the train and take the empties to the elevator. the system works right now but I am going to add some refinements soon. This includes priniting a schematic on a sheet of 11 by 17 inch paper. I’ll then laminate the paper. On each siding at the end will be the car capacity for the siding. Using a dry erase marker, I’ll write the cars’ numbers that are on that siding. When I change the car, I’ll erase the number that i pick up and write in the on I’m dropping off. This way I won’t have to dig through my old switch lists to figure out what cars are where. It works for me, as I’m the only one operating, but I might find a better way in the future I suppose. I like it for now though.

Noah

13

Micheal.Yes I operate…Every layout that I have design including industrial switching layouts is design for operation and will not design a layout without operation being the foundation…I use car cards and waybills for switching…[:D] I use the two cycle method instead of the three cycle method…I am happiest at switching cars in the yard or running a local then I am running a main line train.[:D]

14

A little more about my operations now that I have a discussion going.

I use car cards printed on cardstock using my computer. I used the merge feature in Microsoft Word and Microsoft Access to generate a card for each car in my inventory. I printed each “AAR Type” on a different colored cardstock.

My waybills are generated using a program I found on the OpSIG website, simply called Waybills. This program has a database of industries numbering in the thousands listing City, State, Commodity, Railroad, etc. For $39.95, it’s been a huge timesaver for me to be able to route my commodities to the nation, and for the nation to serve my layout. The waybills are formatted to be printed from your computer on business card forms that are perforated for easy separation.

I also use a train register to keep track of all my movements, listing Loco number, Train number, loads, empties, and so on. I also have prototype timetables for my area that I have copied the relevant sections of for use. I haven’t gone so far as to issue train orders for myself, but that may even creep in eventually.

Keep it up! It’s great to hear that those scale locomotives and freight cars are turning wheels for profit! (Well, not really profit, but would your operation make your real railroad money?)

15

Here’s the website for the waybills generator that I use.

http://members.aol.com/Shenware/

16

I operate on several layouts in the area, but my own layout isn’t done enough to start operations at home. I actually like TT/TO operations, especially on large layouts, because a single run across the layout can take two or more hours! Loads of fun! Every layout I’ve operated on has used four-cycle car cards to route individual cars. I just picked up four sets of the Micro Mark car cards for the day I need 'em. I think I’ll fool around with switchlists too!

17

My new layout was designed with operation as the primary design factor. I operate at various layouts in the area a few times a year. I tore out my old layout in part because the design didn’t work well for operation.

We have used a couple of systems for operating: train orders and modified car cards. In the modified system, the cards specify a place, type of car and the move to be made, but don’t require specific cars. They are made in pairs, one to set out and one to pick up. The train is made up in the yard based on the set out and pick up cards drawn from the stack that lives at the yard. The engineer takes the stack and his train and travels to various destinations and makes moves based on the cards in the stack. Each destination has the mate to the card in the train and these are exchanged as the train goes from place to place. Two cards might read:

Card 1:
Destination: Tillie Lewis foods
Move: Set out
Car Type/Quantity: Two reefers

Card 2:
Destination: Tillie Lewis Foods
Move: Pick Up
Car Type/Quantity: Two Reefers

The engineer might have card one in his train, he would then set out two reefers and exchange the cards. When the train returns to the yard the card two goes back in the deck and at some later date another engineer will draw that card and pick up those two reefers.

I like this system because it requires a minimum of extra paper work and keeps things fairly random. It can be combined with a schedule for various trains to use a fast clock and other operating scenarios.

Guy

18

Micheal,

Add me to the list of hard-core operators. While I’ve enjoyed acquiring and developing the skills to build a layout (carpentry, wiring, model-making, etc.), the purpose of it all is to run those little trains as realistically as possible (of course!)

I’ve found you don’t need a big layout to enjoy operation: a half-dozen industrial spurs, two interchanges, and a dozen or so freight cars can keep me and and a buddy busy for a couple of hours. I use a homemade car-card-and-waybill which ensures a good variety of traffic. I am expanding the layout around the room, and as it grows I will start Manual Block System operations (that’s TWC for you guys south of the border) using prototype clearance forms.

I really like your idea of a train register–a good way to have a record of your “official” operating sessions. Do you register trains at every station, or just at the start and end of each run? Do you keep a separate register for each register station?

I have just switched over to DCC from DC block control. Believe me, it is worth the investment as it introduces a whole new level of realism into operations. I’m using Digitrax Zephyr myself, as Digitrax seems to be the manufacturer of choice around here.

Have fun (sounds like you already are!)

19

I operate with a car-waybill system that is based on comodity shiped.
If an customer has a load to ship or needs a incoming shipment (random generated by pulling waybills from deck) I find the car needed and place in a inbound train. Loads are then shiped out on an outbound, emptys are routed back the same way the came in unless reloaded.

20

I also enjoy operations. The system I use is very simple (I’m a pretty simple guy!)

I create a 3X5 index card for each piece of rolling stock. Then I list the industries it would logically go to, trying to keep the cars loaded as much as possible (just like the real companies do). I set it up so the cars are routed empty to a yard about every fourth or fifth move.

Then I put a paper clip on each card, marking the first industry and put the cars in the location on the layout to match the card. That’s all there is for setup.

When I’m ready to operate I grab a handful of cards and find them on the layout. Then I do whatever it takes to get them to the next location on the card. After the car is moved, I movce the paper clip and the card goes into a second bin.

When the first bin is empty I start drawing cards from the second bin. This way every car on the layout gets moved which gives me an opportunity to check for bad order cars as well.

I don’t use a time clock and only grab about five or six cards at a time.

It’s a system I read about in MR many, many moons ago and find it quite satisfactory for me.

If any of this isn’t clear, let me know and I will try to clear up my mistakes.

Tom