I’m trying to set my railroad up for operation or figure out what to do for it. Do I have to do the car card way bill system or Is there an easier way for a small 4x8 layout that maybe 6 cars need switching. I want to build a new layout though that would be all about operation. It is a 14x10 room so the layout would have to be about 10x10 or 10x9 shelf layout with a small staging yard and about 2 feet out from the wall with a 1 foot extension at one end. I freelance modern bnsf so any track plans would work too!!!
Thanks Everyone!!!
P.S. i’m 15 and got my start from a train set like everyone else. [:)]
Going ahead with a car card system, even with your small layout, is not a bad idea. Although you can currently do a “switchlist” in your head, developing the card system will get you thinking more about operation. Where are reasonable places for this car to go? That will help in the planning of that next layout. In actual operation, the cards will cause you to think more about the “blocking”, or arranging of the cars within the train. Having one or more interchange tracks with other railroads and a team track (where most any type of freight car can be spotted for unloading) is the quickest way to create switching possibilities. Don’t forget to throw in some oddities into your system, such as occasional “bad order” cards, where a random car has to be set out into the Repair In Place (RIP) track for something like break rigging repair.
I agree with the suggestion on the book. Read all that you can about actual RR operations and it will help your modeling at every level. Also, starting the card system with a smaller layout gets you organized and thinking about the numbers of various types of freight cars that you have. It is easier to grow the system that to wait until you have hundreds of freight cars and then decide to categorize all of them and set up your system. Good luck.
The two “old reliable” books would be “Track Planning for Realistic Operation” by John Armstrong, and “How to Operate Your Model Railroad” by Bruce Chubb, both from MR/Kalmbach. I find them both valuable and refer to them fairly often, even though I bought my copies around 20 years ago. Both books cover prototype operation (the first part of Armstrong’s book comes from his earlier “The Railroad - What it is, What it does” which I believe was used by the railroad industry in training new hires) and then how to scale that down to a model railroad. To me, getting a good understanding of how to operate will be more valuable than just getting say a book of trackplans and picking one to build.
Do you have the May 2009 issue of MR? Our cover story in that issue, on how we set up operations on our Milwaukee Beer Line layout, is a good guide for starting operation on any small layout. It covers car cards and other paperwork, and also physical facilities like a fold-up desk and card sorting racks to go along with the card file boxes. David Popp came up with a good idea for adding temporary tail tracks that serve to extend runaround stubs, but which could also be used to add staging capacity.
I do have that issue and have read it probably a million times! I wasn’t sure if it would work for my layout though because it is freelanced and modern day. Also you layout is almost twice the size of mine. Thanks for all the help everyone.
The same basic procedures will work on any size layout, and the main effect of a different period would be different types of cars and industries. As far as being freelanced, freelanced model railroads should work like prototype lines, in my opinion. A good approach is to pick a prototype that you like or know and adapt the way it works to your railroad.
Taylor, good to see you thinking this through. I have started with car cards and find it makes running the layout more interesting, enjoyable, and challenging. Although I do like to go out and put together any train I want and this does create a bit more work to put the cards in order. Here is a link to a free down loadable car card system that you can simply print on heavier stock and cut to size. The program does take some fidgeting as some things don’t print where you want them but it can be made to work and you can keep track of all your rolling stock and locos.
After using the car cards for a couple years I am looking forward to acquiring a switch list system as I was able to work with one on a large layout and it made it easier for me. No having to sort through cards or having to supply/build many boxes to hang on the side of the layout. The operator simply carries one or two pieces of paper and drops and set outs are color coded for ease.