Am in HO. Wanted to obtain some input on how you folks set up your NO frills Operation system, using traditional CCs, WBs, any peripherals necessary. How you stored packets, cards, waybills/ fascia box types/ card codes chosen( overflow, awaiting spot, spotted, unloading, on hold, awaiting pickup, bad order, etc. ). I Know there’s a TON of writeups on this but it don’t hoit to ask/ get some expert advice here, on a more personal basis!
Getting closer to actuallyhaving something up & running. Pondering CC/ WB card-type ( not pc-generated ) for 4 transition era diesels, 50 cars, tops. Layout’s in-progress on my small sunporch as a-t-r, point-to-point, narrow shelf, w/ reverse loop at elevated end; mini-yard at low end, where cars to be shunted on/ off portable staging cart. Main to be twice-around, w/ swing bridge spanning doorway. Seriously doubt three times around would fit well or look right ( ’ spaghetti bowl ’ ). Hope to have total of 5 - 7 industries. Will scenic very well, to make it look prototypical! Planned so far: IND.# 1 - coal -oil dealer on twin track levels/ REA warehouse, as have kit & several REA vehicles/ Team Track at village station/ feed-grain mill, as have nice stone mill kit with operating waterwheel/ small commercial bakery. List of other possible choices: small brickyard/ sand & gravel pit/ small sawmill-lumber yard/ firetruck restoration facility/ Diamond Match plant/ small concrete batch plant. Modeler’s License, Selective
All that complication is certainly not needed to begin, or ever. One car card box per track or industry is plenty. When the operator looks at the waybill, he’ll see if the destination listed is for the track it’s sitting on or somewhere else. If it’s for the track where the car is sitting, leave it. If it’s for somewhere else, handle the car in accordance with the train instructions.
It would be a huge help to you to operate (even once) somewhere that is already using CC&WB. Then you’ll see how easy it actually is and how unnecessarily complicated some folks can make it (especially those posting on forums who have themselves never actually used the system).
The Operations SIG site is loaded with good information. An OpSIG membership will open the door to you to operating on others’ layouts. Seven bucks per year.
The boxes/peripherals can be kept pretty simple. I like using a separate box for each yard track and industry. I don’t employ the “setout/hold/pickup” boxes that many others still use. In addition, I like to provide sorting “shelves” for packets and cars in the process of being switched so the paperwork can stay off the scenery. An article on one of my old layouts shows this type of organizer at work here http://www.trainlife.com/magazines/pages/418/30684/june-1996-page-42 . A different article on this same layout also appeared in MR in the June, 1997 issue, but had no photos of such things, so I hope posting the link above is OK here.
I’m cheap, so I haven’t purchased any of the pre-fab stuff. I use 3x5 index cards for car cards, folded to make a pocket, then stripped together with Avery labels that I print from my roster. I set up a simple word document to print out waybills, flipping the sheet over so 1 and 2 are one side, and 3 and 4 are on the other. They’re about the size of a business card. You can print them on business card stock, or just on plain paper and trim them with a paper cutter.
I picked up some acrylic display pieces at a second hand store which have worked well as card racks, especially at my yard…
I have the track numbers marked in permanent marker, but the destination labels are in dry erase, so I can be flexible in designating the tracks during classification. The clear box makes it easy to see what the last car in each track should be.
That’s another good concept to consider. Having a yard track tied to a specific destination/block is often too rigid. I made some laminated block ID cards that are taller than the car cards. The yard crew can easily shift these around between tracks as needed to help identify which block of cars is where.
THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR ANSWERING THIS OLD GEEZER’S REQUEST! Have always suspected that, being human, t’ is easy to over-complicate use of any simple system. Many folks do just that, causing frustation along the r-o-w (pun). Had whole set of small, manila CC envelopes w/ WB inserts I’d saved from years ago, from our old, defunct HO modular club. Dumped entire lot, as road name, industry names don’t match anything am doing now. Anyway, it’s nice to start with a ‘clean slate’ and make allnew goof-ups, ROFL! WILL do some ‘dry runs’, as suggested, when at least two industries are in-place. This will help me become familiar with the ins & outs of OP, instead of arm-chairing. And, if either of the 2 HO clubs around here use Operation, will check that out and ask if I might attend a meeting. If I need any more help, you’ll surely hear from me again! Keep Your Rails Shiny…Old Tom aka papaHOsmurf in NH
I will take a different tack from others. Given how you described your layout and the small number of industries, let me ask if your interest is in the paperwork or in switching cars? I have a similar small layout now, but over the years I have tried an version of car cards, a totally computer generated switch list, but now I’m seriously considering going back to CCT for this layout. Or some version of tab on car forwarding. On my small layout cars are either headed toward one of the few industries/team track or they are headed toward the junction yard to be fiddled off. Simple rule set: When car is fiddled on, it get’s a CCT. Cars at sidings with a CCT still on are either being loaded or unloaded and stay in place (or have to be returned to that spot). Cars without a CCT are pickups for delivery to the junction and the rest of the world. Doesn’t really matter if the car is loaded or empty or what the destination is. I’ll have done my shift so to speak and the road crew (0-5-0) takes over. Somehow magically the next shift, those cars are gone and new ones are there. Wonder what happens during the night?
This also means I don’t have to worry about painting or reading car numbers from a distance (+1 as the eyeballs get older). Now I know there are many out there for whom the waybill and concept of the car having a load and destination is part of the fun, but I’m not into the paperwork.
Now you’re making me feel obsolete. Yes, it’s for Color Coded Tack, but no more cutsey than CC/WB. In fact not to many years ago the term CCT would be used routinely in MR and everyone knew what it meant. I was proposing an alternate that was common a few years ago.
Yikes! Been reading this and all those links from 05. I’m getting dizzy. I know I need something like this on my layout but my head is close to exploding, better slowely approach this as the layout progresses.
Sorry - “cutesy” was probably a poor choice of word on my behalf. It is generally a good idea to spell out abbreviations for model railroading terms in full the first time they are used in a thread. At least if the goal is to communicate
By the way - I suspect that “a few years” may be a pretty relative concept.
I feel like it was just a few years ago that my wife and I had this tiny little baby boy who would lie on my chest and sleep while I sat in a comfy chair watching TV with the sound off, listening to him breathing softly.
Now we suddenly have this tall, gangly, slightly shaggy looking youth roaming around the house, getting taller than his mom and approaching my height, sometimes rolling his eyes and mumbling something under his breath about old geezers
HI JIM: Am beginning to lean toward your way of thinking and plan to try several OP methods/ systems; stick with what works best for me during the testing. TTFN…papaHOsmurf in NH
