I’m looking for some sources (books, websites, etc) so learn about Layout Operations. Now my layout is small, very small, yet it has a lot of switching action potential yet I dont know a whole lot about operations, I come from a runner background. Now I’m not looking for a fast-clock system, or intricate schedules and signal systems, but something simple so I can switch, move goods, and in general make my little layout run like a real life small time bumkin shortline RR that its ment to be[;)]
The above is a line diagram of the layout indicating spot locations, and car capacities, so I am already thinking about it already. any help is appreciated. Thanks Vic[8D]
There are also Tony Koester’s books, Model Railroad Design and Model Railroad Operations. (I may have the titles slightly off, but you get the idea.)
Personal experiment:
If you have say 6 spurs (5 industries and 1 interchange) and 9 cars, you can set up a chart with each car going across and the day of the week going down. Create for each car a reasonable traffic flow; be sure not to flood any one customer on a given day. A boxcar could move around and around (boxes to soap factory, soap in cartons to grocer’s warehouse, empty to brewery, liquor to interchange, more boxes &c&c); a stock car might move only in/out from the big butcher shop to interchange and back. Cars can be taken off from the interchange and may be noted on the chart to not come back until the next day. Tank cars should carry food or chemicals but not both (yuck!). I also designate ‘food-clean’ (grain) boxcars.
I am running cars like this because the layout is doing extra duty to help teach my 10-yr old son (and eventually my 3-yr old daughter) about how stuff gets to the grocery in the first place, and how railroads move the stuff in between fast trains.