How do work in the realistic stuff?
and a followup question – how many of you make noises with your mouth to simulate separation of airbrake hoses? The first time I heard a guy do it I thought maybe he had had something for dinner that didn’t agree with him …
Dave Nelson
LOL! No, but i pretend to be the conductor once and a while " 1 car on the WC transfer over’ " One car roger"
Alec
That theres funny!
I think that is the reason for sound related products now a days, so we don’t look like the train nerds our families know we are [:D]
I try to be as proto as possible, I will wait, which is a bit boring, trying to estimate how long it takes my switchman/condustor to walk from the coupled cars back to the engine or switch, then again having to wait for him to throw the switch and get going again. I am thinking he spends a lot in new shoes, I have yet to seem him stumble on any ballast, but I try to keep his path clear on the ROW. Also there is no smoking on the engines, so every now and then, I have caught them stopping for no apparent reason to have a smoke break. I think it may be in their contract so am a little worried to bring it up, don’t need a blue flue problem.
I do “pretend” radio chatter. Helps to have the scanner going in the background, or use one of the radio scanner websites to help build the mood.
By the way its a “brake” test, not a “break” test.
Dave H.
Its a Hobby, not an Obsessive/Complulsive Disorder…[;)]
That’s a riot Dave.
If you are looking for a cure to this situation, use a fast clock for operations. Then if you still have time, turn up the speed. You’ll be cured in a hurry, or the rest of the crew will be on your case.[swg]
I try to do all of them, but just like the space is compressed, so are these. About twenty seconds is all I wait (read: all I can stand).
When operating realistically, there are some very practical things you can do once you first get your train that simulate this startup delay. Here’s the things I recommend to my operating crew they do when they take each train assignment.
We use two-person crews on all trains, with one person being the conductor/rear-end crew riding in the caboose (yes, the prototype Siskiyou Line still used cabooses in the 1980s), and the other person is the Engineer/Head-end crew.
SISKIYOU LINE OPERATING PROCEDURES
Rear-end crew: walk the train both directions, in one direction checking the coupler height between cars and on the return direction, make sure all cars are on the track.
Engineer: dial up your engine number (use the last two digits on the cab of the lead unit)
Once the rear-end crew has walked the train, conduct a “brake” test. On the prototype, this involves draining and pumping the air while the rear-end crew watches that the changes registered properly on the caboose air guage. On the model, we can do an equally useful function, and call it a "brake test ".
Engineer: test the throttle by pulling the coupler slack out of the train, just shy of the caboose, then reverse the train and push it until the caboose just barely begins to move.
Rear-end crew: the rear end crew is to inform the engineer that the “test is good” once the caboose starts to barely move backwards. At this, the engineer stops applying power, throws the direction switch back to forward, and the train is considered checked and ready to go.
I finally got a Soundtraxx under the table system for my steam locomotives to replicate all of those noises, since the neighbors thought I’d completely lost it when I was making up a train. Though I have to admit, I got pretty good at mouthing coupler crashes–it was somewhere between an orchestral cymbal crash and a fart.
Tom [:D]
When did we get the cure! [:D][:D]
This is fun, this is fun, this is fun, (shoot self with air nailer) this is fun, this is fun, Nothing wrong with me[:D]
SPELLING!!!
When my tracks are running on pink foam, I feel like I’m taking a train from Oz to Pepperland. Somehow, trying to be prototypical with time to connect air hoses seems like pushing it to far under those conditions.
Operating a layout in a realistic manner adds to the play value of the layout and our trains…Of course if one wishes to run his/her train at the speed of light and fore go all realistic operation of his/her trains fine…However,operating your trains in a prototypical fashion is not an “Obsessive/Compulsive Disorder” by anybodies definition…
I was refering to the shwwwiishy mouth gurglings Dave was talking about…
The closest thing to air hoses on my cars are the magnetic coupler operating thingamajigs. I’m not sure how I could tie them together. And, even if I did, I don’t think I could pump air through them. 
Roger
LOL, you know what i mean! Pretend my friend!
Alec
Its a Hobby, not an Obsessive/Complulsive Disorder…
I don’t know…I’ve seen some layouts that qualify as OCD! LOL
Darrell, quiet…for now
Oooohkay I will agree to that since I can no longer mimic a steam locomotive whistle that sounded fairly decent …Sorry for the misunderstanding…
I also make my crews set retainer valves at the top of the hill and release them at the bottom.Plus,on steam locomotives the trains brake shoes need to cool off at the bottom of the grade.