I know TTs and train orders can help us operate out layout -but how? What info do they provide?
Thanks.[:)]
EMPLOYEE timetables are much more than time tables. They list each point on a line with the distance from some zero or connection point where one can figure mileage. They tell where passing sidings are located along a line and how long they are… how long a train can get out of the way of another train. They tell where interchanges with other railroads are located, and where there afe Ys, turntables to turn engine, fuel, water, etc. With an employee timetable and an old street map, you can go a long way toward reconstructing how a railroad was put together and how it ran.
Generally every operating employee (engineer, conductor, brakeman) is required to have a current employee timetable to know the rules, restrictions, etc of the line on which they are operating.
PUBLIC timetables are the brochures for passengers that tell what train gets them to where, when, etc. That can be helpful in understanding how trains connect with each other.
From an old timetable, I reconstructed the 1954 Santa Fe prototype passenger schedule at Houston I want to model.
The morning rush:
7:55 AM #16 TEXAS CHIEF arr Northbound (NB) from Galveston
Switching #16: One baggage-express removed,
One baggage-express and one RPO added.
8:00 AM #5 Mail train arr Southbound (SB)from Kansas City
Switching #5: Two baggage-express cars removed.
8:10 AM #16 TEXAS CHIEF dep North for Chicago
** TEXAS CHIEF and CALIFORNIA SPECIAL pass
in double-track territory outside station
8:15 AM #76 CALIFORNIA SPECIAL Southbound arr from California. Terminates.
Scheduling allows passengers from California on #76
to make cross-platform transfer to #5 to continue to
Galveston
8:20 AM #5 Mail train dep Southbound to Galveston
9:05 AM MoPac#4 dep Eastbound for N Orleans
Working from the published timetable for my prototype, I was able to put together an operating scheme that will allow me to very closely simulate the scheduled passenger and freight operations that actually took place in 1964. Instead of just showing up when, as and if, specific trains with specific consists will appear at the appointed times, stop, change crews, change engines if necessary, drop cuts of freight cars to be distributed locally or interchanged, drop or pick up head end cars, coaches and sleepers, etc—. It will give this railroad the same logical purpose my end-of-the-railroad module has provided for the last 25 years.
Admittedly, this isn’t everybody’s cup of tea. Personally, I love it.
Chuck
They provide me with The year i want to model. The signals i need there color postions and so on… Most also have engine list in them so you know which number is for which in engine in that period of time.
Yes. I forgot to put EMPLOYEE in my post. Looks like I’ll have to be getting some TTs. quick question- do Empoyee TT provide the tonnage rating for, say, 6 F units between point A and point B? and between point B and C?
Thanks.
So do if you get the right ones.
I’ll have to get some CGW TTs for 1968 sometime.