I am talking about moving cars in and out of the service tracks. I have a transition era layout with a large TT and roundhouse. I have tracks for supplying the coaling tower, the sandhouse, and the diesel fueling facility as well as one for removing ashes from the steamers. I also have a track for various pieces of MOW equipment which is disconnected electrically from the rest of the layout and doubles as my programming track.
Since operations have only recently begun on my layout, so far these have just been static features on the layout. I have hopper cars at the coaling tower dock, a tank car at the diesel fueling station, and gondolas at the sandhouse and the ashpit but so far I have yet to move those cars in and out. I have read books which sugget that these are all “industries” that can be part of your operations. I wonder how many modelers actually do this and if they think it adds to the operational fun.
My engine storage area only has a engine house, space for five locos, and a old tanker body on a wooden frame. I therefore only randomly have a fuel tanker to be spotted by the tank.
Dry sand is delivered to the back of the engine house by dump truck.
At my main yard - I have a Car Shop which regularly receives a few cars for their monthly inspections.
There is a Fuel Track which usually gets one tanker a session but on occasions there can be two spotted there.
The MOW track gets loads of Ballast and ties randomally but usually there is a few cars needing spotted there each session.
These cars will sometimes sit in a yard track as the Yard OP does not get around to spotting them during the current session depending on how busy the yard gets (more operators that night) - but they are ready until the next session.
Servicing the coaling stations (two, on two different railroads,) ash pits, diesel tanks and sand houses are included in my car card/waybill operations, just like any other loading/unloading spot. Loose car coal for the engine terminals at Tomikawa is one of only two movements where both origin (my larger colliery) and destination are at modeled places on the layout. Sand and diesel #2 originate in the Netherworld (aka The rest of Japan) and the ash pit leavings are being used as fill somewhere Up from Haruyama. (The loaded gons are routed to a cassette for dumping prior to reassignment.) Routine, non-priority movements.
My engine service facility demands some switching. The roundhouse gets a box car full of engine and other parts irregularly. It needs a couple of tank cars with diesel oil and the coaling tower receives shipments of coal and sand and the ash pit has a gondola irregularly to haul away ash. There is a team track and a freight house which are also serviced, near the engine service facility, too.
What about a train at the end of it’s run? It has to sleep and wake up somewhere and be hitched up in a yard. (That is after the switchers do their job)
I’m not quite there yet, but I have it designed so the yard switcher has to build up the train and make the other crew prepare their train for the days orders. Startup, Coal/Oil, Water and Sand. It’s just part of end to end operations.
It would be if my steamers actually ran on coal. [:D]
I’m not dismissing the idea of actually switching loads and empties into the service tracks but it is not something I view as absolutely necessary. Right now I’m still working out bugs in my operating scheme and trying to balance car deliveries to other parts of the layout so that my yards and industries don’t get backed up or overflowing. Switching the service tracks is something I can always add to the mix later without affecting operations now.
Sometimes we overlook the importance of imagination in this hobby. Is it that hard to imagine that while moving trains over the rest of the layout and switching industries that another crew could be busy taking care of the service tracks. It’s not as if we actually deliver fuel and sand to these facilities…
I’m in the early stages of learning operations myself and I think you need to learn to walk before you can run. My operating scheme is loop to loop with staging yards inside the loops and a modeled classification yard in between. Some trains run loop to loop during an operating session, dropping a cut of cars at the main yard and picking up another cut. Some are thru trains which bypass the yard. Others still run point to loop and back again, terminating in the main yard. This gives me lots of oppotunities for classification switching. I use a car card/waybill system but I need to rebalance the destinations on the waybills because too many cars are ending up in one staging yard and it can’t hold the number of cars that are ending up there. Probably just needs a few tweaks to get the traffic properly balanced. Once I get that right, I can always add service track switching at a later date.
Check out August, 1958 Model Railroader, “A Day At East Side”. Seeing that, some of you might decide to rethink this and reconsider the drama of an engine terminal in model form. You might still decide an engine terminal is not your cup of tea, but I guarantee you’ll appreciate some outstanding model work ----- almost 60 years ago!
BTW: Nobody says you have to build it all right now.
Since I model a fictional short line/bridge line/interchange line, many things serve more than one purpose. The spur thathandles engine service work also doubles as the caboose service facility/ repair-in-place and access to a break bulk warehouse. This means considerable switching activity as this spur is fed from one of the main industrial spurs. A small low budget line does not have to be an idle place. Anything delivered means an empty car has to be switched out. Freight, desiel, sand, repair supplies and repairable cars all shuttle in and out.
My layout plan includes a moderately sized engine service facility. It will handle both steam and diesel. Switching the service area will be a regular part of operations.
I agree, we seem to almost be designing out the need for imagination with our layouts now in this modern time. Imagination was something that was a very large factor back 30-60 years ago.
I guess I’m guilty to an extent of doing this. Not long after I started laying track and started thinking about my Engine Facility I noticed that it could be designed with making operations as an attraction for doing so. My layout needed all the operatioal features I could jam into it. So, I welcomed the addition. I still use imagination to unload and load the cars brought into the roundhouse area.
There is a lot of switching to be done in an engine terminal. During my era the IC fueled the diesel locomotives from tank cars full of diesel fuel. Sand and coal would need to be delivered and ashes and cinders hauled out in gondola cars. The IC along woth some other railroads used home built 0-6-0 tank engines to move dead locomotives around the engine terminal. The tank engine bein necessary to get on the turntable with the dead loco.
Besides coal for the locomotives there was usually a requirement of coal for the powerhouse that supplied steam and electricity for the roundhouse and shops.
I can’t imagine not switching out company service locations (sand, coal, ash, diesel, spare parts, etc.). It’s the same as a large industry on a layout if you think of the number of cars and tracks that can be used here.
Personally, I start with planning the car switching first, then figure out where the mainline trains go. I think starting with mainline trains and then trying to squeeze in local switching is a mistake. Local switching should drive the railroad’s traffic…just like the real thing. But to each his own.
The above are the words of an experienced model railroader! Starting out in model railroading is always going to be a “Cart afore the horse” situation. A beginner has to tackle maybe the hardest and most demanding “head scratcher” this hobby has, previous to having real knowledge about the subject! That is the designing of a layout. The best advice we can give beginners is to build one of the “Project” layouts; or, one from one of the plan books available which are designed by people who know what is needed to build an interesting operating layout.
In our HO world we can do that but,if we are emulating the prototype then the local mixes it up with the through trains.
Here’s the problem…The majority of modelers want to run from Point A to Point B in the fastest time possible…
However…
A local does a lot of hurry up and wait work…Modelers enjoy the switching and hate the wait time spent in a siding waiting on a opposing train or waiting for a train to over take them.
For the record railroads would rather not be bothered with those troublesome locals and sees them as a necessary evil…
