My track is laid (HO), turnouts are powered (by DCC) but no scenery yet. The scenery will take awhile…so, in the meantime I want to run trains. But, I need an operating system. Any ideas on where I can find suggestions on how to organize and run train operations?
I have developed my own rather hokey system which I can use until I find something better. I have two local freights that will run 3 times a week to two different small towns. I have it set up where I roll one dice (one die) to determine pickup or delivery of cars for each industry, then roll again to determine type of car. I then pull the required cars from the yard and the local proceeds to destination to do the switching. I also will run some local passenger service, through freights and occasional steamer excursions. All diesels except for one 440 steamer.
Attached is a sample of a control sheet that tells me what to do. D = delivery and P = pickup. Car types are B for box, R of reefer, G for gondola, etc. It works and it’s kind of fun, but there must be a better way.
Hi Jerry
There are books on operations to go by and some design his own system. The importent thing to remember is to do what you what you want
I have three friends who have compleatly different concepts of model railroading, One a fast clock, pass the paper work, and try hard to keep his trains on time, Another who has a fantastic inventory of equipment, including brass and just a bare flat table to run on and love to just watch his engines and a few cars, , and another a scenic freak, tall bridges, mountains and we all love the hobby in our own way, none of us ever comment or snicker at another and best of all we all fit into the guest trainroom as it is…so my comment is whatever floats your boat…enjoy
Incidentally, the idea of rolling dice (in one fashion or another) to create/decide in advance what operations to exicute on the layout, or at given industries, during an operating session is a very old one, I believe being first voiced in the pages of MR back in the 1950’s.
I’ve been rolling the dice for a while now, and am pleased / relieved that idea is used by others, and apparently for quite some time.
In my yard (holds maybe 50 cars) I will assemble a train by rolling the dice (10 car train, 10 dice rolls) The dice roll = the final digit of the car #. Usually I will have the list (s) prepared ahead of time. The order rolled is the order they take in the train. My yard engine pulls 'em and assembles the train. I like the combination of randomization and working from a list.
And down at the other end, in a staging yard ,a super-realistic 0-5-0 assembles and breaks down trains from an omnipotent, infallible, usually arbitrary point of view.
Prototypical? nope. Realistic? nah. But then again, those cars aren’t really carrying anything, those industries don’t really produce anything, and my RR employees don’t really get paid. If they did real work they’d expect real pay. Try to find a bank to cash a 1:160 paycheck!
This is what floating my N scale boat is about…sometimes.