Prior to an operating session, do you set up all your cars in staging, in a yard, or at the site of the various industries?
On my layout, I have a farm siding, central manufacturing district, electric gas works, and an oil terminal.
If I start with the cars set out at industries, I have full grain hoppers to be picked up at the farm siding, full box cars to be picked up at the central manufacturing district, empty coal hoppers to be picked up at the electric gas works, and empty tank cars to be picked up from the oil terminal.
Or, I could reverse the operation and start with staging or in a yard with empty grain hoppers to be dropped off at the farm siding, empty box cars to be dropped off at the central manufacturing district, full coal hoppers to be dropped off at the electric gas works, and full tank cars to be dropped off at the oil terminal.
Is there a preferred way to set up for an operating session?
I believe the diehard operators start their sessions exactly where they left off at the end of the last one. That’s just like the real world, with no beginning, and no end.
1/3 each at industry, in the yard & in staging. The locals take the third out of the yard, pick up AND set out at industries. They bring the third back to the yard where it nis switched and then the thru freights set out new inbounds and picks up the outbounds. End of session, 1/3 at industry, in yard, in staging. Guess what, that leaves you set up for the next session.
Few Model Railroaders understand the reason Railroads exist as they do not know how to sit up a Layout for Operations!
If they did then we would not get as many questions as to sitting up a layout to start Operations.
I believe too many beginning modelers are in the Christmas Tree Roundy Round mode as they have seen too many displays (which only come out at the Holiday Times) as this is what our Model RR Club does (sit up in a Mall for a month between Thanksgiving to Christmas)!
While it does show trains to the Public - all they are seeing is the Trains making endless circles -
SO!
It is no wonder they (beginners) think that this is all there is!
We, on the other hand, also sit up a large Switching layout (30 plus feet long in a U shape) as Table Top Modules and we get the visitors to try a hand at SWITCHING a layout!
Most are kids and they love it - we also get a few Teens and they love it as it is a puzzle to solve!
And once in a while a Parent will take the Throttle.
While most adults will stand back and watch the kids (as I believe they want to run a train - BUT the old saying that they are playing with Train haunts them)!
Most though never knew that there is another side to this Hobby and are very interested in this aspect !
Now getting them to build a layout isn’t going to happen as they want is all now (as I have many times been ask - do you sit this up each year - when they come visit the Clubs permanent layouts!
Getting off my SOAPBOX now.
When we have an OPs Session on my large home layout - I just let the cars & Trains sit until the next OPs Session in 2 weeks.
I will on occassions run a train around to reset it for the next OPs or I am testing out new trackage - then I will run a number of trains or try out a new Industrial siding to learn how I might switch this area during the heat of an OPs Session!
The cars sit where they are left. On my shortline, its about 30 cars total between staging, interchange, and at industries.
This doesn’t include the 10 car “unit” rock train, which simply goes from staging, to dropping off loads and picking up empties, then goes back to staging.
Illustration: If I only had the rock train, 10 cars would be sitting at the unloader, and 10 cars plus a locomotive w/b in staging at the beginning,and end, of each session. And that session wouldn’t last very long [:)]
This is a good place to start. Once you run a train or two, you just leave things set up as they were delivered (leave the cars where they wind up) and things will just fall in to place from there.
However, since you will be just getting started in operations, there will be quite a few changes that you will make as you get more experience. Things will even out soon, and you will be on your way to smooth ops sessions.
The pickups are already at the industry my “local” arrives to do the day’s work-I fiddled the train as though it just arrived.
After the crew finish the work I remove the “outbound” cars and replace with inbound cars-I may even change engines as well and the local is stagged for the next day’s work…
Here’s the kicker.
I rotate the industries being switched and the number of cars they received-some days Miller printing won’t receive cars and may just have a pickup or no work…
Yeah, I see how all that works once you get into the Operations phase on your layout.
Part of what I had in mind when I started this thread is how to set up the cars for the very first time, never having set up the layout before for an operating session.
I like the 1/3, 1/3, 1/3 concept.
It all also ties in very well with my other thread on how to use locals as part of this process.
Dave made a good point - typically for initial setup the 1/3rd rule works pretty good. After a few operating sessions; this will work out, or you may need to ‘adjust’ the placement of cars. One thing that gets a lot of folks in trouble is that they ‘fill up’ the industry sidings, and have even more cars in the yard(en-route to that industry). Unless it is a large industry that is handling lots of carloads, a typical industry may only see a car arrive every 3 operating sessions or so. Here is an example:
I have a town named ‘Island Siding’. It has the following industries:
Lumber Yard - Inbound Lumber(XM/FM type cars) Outbound(nothing)
Power Plant - Inbound - 2-3 cars of coal Outbound(nothing)
Over 6 ‘operating sessions’, the Feed Mill gets 3 cars, the Lumber Yard gets 2 cars, and the Power Plant gets 4 cars. This works out to about 1.5 cars/operating session. Many times there may not be a car on the ‘house track’ where the lumber yard or feed mill are located. The power plant spur usually get switched just about every session.
This was operated using the CC&WB system. I only used two sided way bills. Side 1 is the ‘Car Order’, and side 2 is the actual ‘Way Bill’ from the shipper to the consignee. The way bill cards are kept in a long box, and I pull 1/6th of them from the front before each session. I pull the old expired way bills and put them in the back of the box, then go looking for ‘perspective empties’ to match up with the ‘car orders’ I just pulled. If I do not have an empty, I just try to find one on the next session. All of this takes maybe 20-30 minutes(as long as I do not have to find
My railroad is in a continuous operating session, complete with 24/30 timetable, clearance cards, car cards/waybills and fast time clock. I just stop at pause points (when nothing is scheduled to be moving) to take care of the rest of my life.
If I move something ‘off the timetable,’ to clear a work area or entertain mundane guests, it gets replaced in its original location before the clock starts again. (Actually, it gets replaced as soon as the reason for moving it is no longer valid.)
So, whether the operating session was interrupted by lunch, a trip across the continent or a medical misadventure, there’s no re-staging of anything. My problem is that it’s TOO easy to pick up where I left off. The hand on the throttle isn’t laying track, stringing wire, raising mountains, planting trees… If it were more difficult to get wheels rolling maybe there would be more construction progress.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - slowly, while operating TTTO, 24/30)
S scaleSHABBONA RR is a point to point system and operates with a purpose, subject to the demands of a milling complex at one end. Even if trains don’t run, there is always “clean-up” work to be done, which includes switching and making up trains, turning locomotives or lining them up for their next assignments.
Locomotives and cars run prototypically, and operation is enhanced at each end with live interchange of loaded and empty open cars so empty and loaded cars proceed only one way over the route, and empty counterparts return in the opposite direction. Locomotive assignments alternate between the two yards, and move prototypically as part of locomotive consists. Since this has been a long time in the making, a lot of my stuff is dated by contemporary standards, but it runs and keeps me busy.
And some that do don’t know which end is up when it comes to emulating a railroader’s work day since they make switching hard…
I’ve operated on two design for operation layouts that fell short-the run around was either to long or to short,industries on switchbacks where one car had to be moved in order to reach the other industry that held 4 cars and the tail track was only 3 cars long.There was little or no head room to work in the passenger terminal.The yard tracks was walbashed with cars with no head room on the lead to pull a full track.The other layout I operated on everybody was running around like a chicken with his head chopped off trying to beat the fast time clock. It was nothing more then chaos gone wild.
Both layout owners wondered why they couldn’t keep a operating crew.
A smooth operating layout must be well thought out and must include well thought out prototypical LDEs when it comes to your industrial areas…