I’m new to model railroading, but anxious to begin my first project. I have a general idea of time and place, but as I consider the actual layout requirements, I relize that I really don’t have a good idea of how to run the layout once finished. I have yet to find a good resource that explains switching, staging, etc. I’m hoping to visit a local model railroad club or retailer, but if there was an internet resource that could get me going, I’d love the info.
It’s dificult to choose a layout when your not sure how to operate it once it’s completed!
Any thoughts or resources?
It isn’t hard to operate a switching layout. You become the engineer, brakeman, and Yardmaster all in one! Its great fun. You will want to have as many sidings and yard tracks as you have space for, and can afford, which ever comes first. If you start out with say three turnouts on one end that will give you one main line track, and two yard tracks. You can add turnouts and more yard tracks over time, and it doesn’t cost so much all at one time, See? I could make you a drawing, but I can’t post a photo here. I had the same problem when I started out. We can help you here, and if you want to see photos of layouts built for switching operations, take a look at some on trainboard.com and ask the fellows there about how they built their layouts. I found them very helpful, and lots of photos to show details.
It is my sugestion that before starting a full layout, build your self a simple oval with a “timesaver” switching game in one of the straight sections. As heretical as this might sound you might get more enjoyment out just watching the trains roll than switching them around. Do some switching, let the trains do some laps, you decide, what you like before
a huge quanity of TIME and Money is wasted building sombody elses ideal of a layout.
I am a model bulider rather than a railroad builder. I get a great joy just seeing what I HAVE BUILT (as aposed to buy) roll around without failing off.
may you have green lights
Ken – The absolute best source of “how a railroad operates” was a book Kalmbach published named “How to Operate Your Model Railroad” by Bruce Chubb. The book is long out of print, but if you could get your hands on one it’s worth twice its price.
Take a look through the Article Index on this site – perhaps do a search for “operate.” Model Railroader has done a number of excellent “how to operate” articles over the years. (Two by Tony Koester come to mind immediately.) You can then go to the public library to pick up the issue, or order it here online, or even contact the library at the NMRA, who will xerox the articles for you for a small fee.
Thanks for the reply. That’s very helpful. I’m getting more of an idea, but I wish I new more how a live railroad worked so I can apply it the model.
Ken - sounds to me like you need a good grounding in the basics. For that I would highly recommend “The Railroad, What It Is, What It Does”, by John Armstrong, published by Simmons-Boardman. You really need to understand the real thing to accurately model it. Remember, what we are modeling is a system designed to provide time and place utility for people and goods. Once you understand how the real ones provide this service, operating your model railroad will seem natural.
Thanks everyone for the great info. I will check out all of the suggestions. It’s nice to see such helpful folks involved on this board. I will for sure start out with a small layout just to get the feel. I think the operating aspect is very appealing, not so much multiple operators, but organizing a consist from point to point and picking up along a route is very interesting. I was reading a recent article in MRR on an N-scale layout that modeled a prototype closely. The story was excellent of how the original operated, but I wasn’t really sure how it translated on the layout.
I’ll learn more along the way! Thanks again.
Ken, if you want to discuss REAL railroad switching operations, you can ask a number of working employees that do the actual switching every day as their job. They post in “On The Rails” at trainboard.com and will answer any questions you have about real railroads, but are not too hot on model railroading, if that is the way you want to go. Then we can help you get started modeling. Hope this helps.
Ken, All of the aforementioned idea are wonderful. Check them out. I also suggest going to a local railyard in your area and watch them switch. This way you have an idea of how to do it…also look at the track layout in the yard, derails, retarders (on hump yards) etc. Also if the yard is small enough and you get to know some of the guys, ask questions in person and maybe they will give you aride. Side note: If you are near an NS yard, the cops are mean and so be careful. CSX isn’t all that bad, but if you get to know the crews there (dispatcher would even be more helpful) Then you might get to see what they get to do. Take care have fun and be safe,
Robert, that Timesaver in a loop sounds like a really good idea. Ed Vondrak published an article about the topic in the February 1979 Model Railroader – he even showed eight different ways to run through the Timesaver. There’s a lot of possibilities with the Timesaver as a starting point.
Another possibility is the book “Track Planning for Realistic Operation, Third Edition” from Kalmbach Publishing Co. It’s Walthers Part # 400-12148, $18.95, currently in stock at Walthers (I just check the Walthers online catalog at www.walthers.com).
You also might want to track down the Operations SIG of the NMRA - this is a group of modelers whose specific interest is operations. (NMRA at www.nmra.org ; Operations SIG at http://members.aol.com/Opsigmem/index.html and http://www.azboss.com/~dickg/nmra/sigs/Operations/Operations.html ).
Enjoy your railroad and remember, there’s no wrong way to do it on YOUR railroad!
Yes, I remenber the Vondrak article you refer to.
The main piont I was making is that he would be better off discovering what he likes before the large outlay of cash and time a full layout takes.
ED’s article was a fine study though.
Here’s to green lights