Some time ago, I’d gone through the exercise of setting up a home-made car card and waybill system for my layout. Siding capacities determined, industry car demands set and input in a spreadsheet from which waybills were generated, and car cards created for (at that time) every freight car in my livery. Also got the needed infrastructure on the layout, right down to track diagrams at each siding.
I would even get so far as clearing all the tracks and setting the layout to undertake my first run. But once my train reached that first siding, it started feeling like work and I’d abandon the project, going back to building more stuff and railfanning the layout. And I was just fine with that.
Not so last week, though. For some mysterious reason I got a burr in my saddle and gave it another go, using only about half of my waybills to keep it easy on myself. Thus the first Official Train pulled out of the yard (under the watchful of Kittyzilla One)
and dutifully switched all of its industries under the watchful supervision of Kittyzilla Two, with my daughter unexpectedly at the throttle (hooray!)
before reaching the interchange at the far end of the line and, after a change in motive power, making its way back to the start point.
All in all, it wasn’t an entirely bad experience. It did start feeling like work toward the end, though, especially after my daug
Operations can be a lot of great fun but I believe a lot of people have no idea of how much work is really involved even before the opp session even comes close to happening.
I was a guest operator on a railroad that ran 40 trains during an opp session and the owner who just to be polite and not mention his age more then 80 less then 90 and to quote him is"less then a kid" builds each train for each session and they are all different then the previous session and in fact every session each bi monthly meeting is never the same so that 24 different opp session and that 960 different trains and I think he can barely turn his computer on much less run a spread sheet.
Great to see you’ve had your first of many opp session and you seem like you thoroughly enjoyed it.great to hear., now if you can just get the cat to learn how to make switching moves you’ll have it made
Doesn’t everyone rebuild their consists between sessions. I do, and I use the waybill system, but I am only 74, and actually have three computers in the house, one dedicated to the layout. Some of us old f***ts avoid the easychair and actually keep moving.
“Operations” can be a lot of fun, especially when done by a group, even something as small as 2 or 3 men, but the entire concept of serious operations (as opposed to simply swapping cars around a random) really has an appeal for only a minority of hobbyists today, or ever! I’ve never seen the percentage of “operators” in the hobby put at a percentage of greater than 20%-30%, even for the most basic approaches. Most folks just seem more inclined to be “runners”. I would guess that’s probably a leftover impulse from a childhood of playing with Lionel and Flyer toy trains.
In operations the initial set-up for a session can indeed be time consuming, especially if you bother to seriously think out each phase and run more than just a couple of trains. However, once a layout’s operating scenario is in place and running, subsequent sessions usually deal with far less complexity (unless you want more complexity!). I operate on a basement-filling empire with a group of guys and we have a great time running through a full (scale time) day in the operation of a division point yard. Typically, morning in-bounds arrive from staging, are broken down and re-assembled into local freights, of which some operate as “turns” and sent on the road. What they eventually bring back from their runs usually becomes the evening out-bounds. Complexity is added through the scheduling of local and long distance passenger runs, plus occasional mail, or milk trains, creating “rights of trains” problems for the dispatcher. [;)]
I operate my layout between group op sessions by myself. Then a “day” takes weeks. All I have to do between session is flipping the waybills. I use 4-position waybills.
Sounds like you had fun on your first official operation session. I can’t wait for my first official operating session on my layout. I don’t have staging yet, which is key. Still need to build the expansion room.
I plan on using JMRI operations module when I get to that point. It prints out waybills and trains builds for you and keeps track of your locos and rolling stock.
I can’t wait to have one myself. It makes the layout more fun. I’m still getting to that point myself. It would only by my wife and I doing the session, but it still would be fun.
Now…A guy I know “Roy Ward” (he has a HUGE layout) has op sessions a lot. He was telling me that just a coal drag would take 45 minutes to get to its destination. Between lights, other trains etc… He even made a shed outside for the “dispatcher” to sit. They have no idea whats going on inside but what is called on the radios/tells them. You also have to call them (outside) to get permission to leave, move, use a siding, etc… He has a whole train company going in the basement [:D].
Jim, more Monon Engine Pictures! I have not got into the way bill switching yet, but i am starting to head that way. I have started to cut cars from one train to another with out using the Big Hand. In fact the other day, I wanted to move all the steam engines to the engine house. It took 45 minutes with moving all the trains, cars and such. Must say I had fun.
All so Jim, the sections you have done look top notch as well! But, ever thing looks better with Monon!
On your tress, as I PM you I don’t like this batch much. Need to get a cheap pan and boil them. Plus, I have been sort of busy with the Kitchen Floor and installing Evil decoders in engines.Your old F’3’s have been converted to the Dark Side! [:D]
No not everyone does, I have one friend whose trains are made up for I can’t really say how long but when the opp session is over the trains stay right where they are when the fast clock calls and end to the session. I am not fully versed int he ways of operations by no stretch so I didn’t think this was in any way strange but just a different approach. Waybill or train orders or on the fly changes I have no idea I just follow orders and try not to be involved in any wrecks. Then the finger pointing starts it was the new guy.
When I lived in Manton, Michigan I belonged to a round robin group about an hour drive from me. All the layout had operating sessions ( five layouts). It was the best time I had running railroads! One line had closed circuit phones for communication between crews and dispatcher. Another one had a dispatcher panel to govern train movement. The crews had to OS their locations to avoid conflicting movements. All the layouts were DCC equipped. On the largest layout of the group he did not use car cars (too huge, 30’ x 64 '), so he used a sheet similiar to a train warrant form. This would tell the crew meet points, number of cars to set out or pickup, train rights over other trains and end destination of the train. If you were one who liked way freight switching or industrial switching, detailed instructions were provided. It took most of the owners about 2 hrs to set up an operating session.
The most fun is building the layout. The second most fun is running ops sessions. The least fun, besides ballasting track, is watching a train go round and round and round… and round. On my mid sized layout I have about 17 to 20 ‘industries’ that are served by 2 trains, an eastbound and one to the west. I use the car card and (4) way bill system. It takes a crew about a half hour to 40 minutes to finish their run and bring their train back into the yard where the yardmaster is waiting to build another train, assign another crew and off they go. When the sessions are over, I flip the waybills and the layout is all set for the next session. Anyone who doesn’t run, at the least, a simple ops session is missing out on a lot of fun, IMOH. But, this is a very big hobby. Some like to sit at a bench and build beautiful structures or tear down old locomotives and get them running like new again. For others it’s all about the scenery. And for many it’s simply the relaxation of watching trains run. Isn’t it nice to be in a hobby that ‘allows’ all of this! Jarrell
