A new layout!

[Len]

Weathered?? Good grief man, didn't you know the wash rack on this road operates 24 hours a day to get rid of all that crud and mud?

Len

[rogertra]

Weathered?? Good grief man, didn't you know the wash rack on this road operates 24 hours a day to get rid of all that crud and mud?

Len

But not on freight cars and even then, no loco is as clean as a new model loco.  The wash racks don't clean trucks and neither do they clean roofs.  :-)


Cheers


Roger T.

[jbrock27]

Some more updates, especially since I've been to the November Greenberg's Train and Toy Show...
The Walthers Santa Fe hopper...It may not be that prototypical, but I will say it does look cool. Maybe with a bit of weathering it would look even better.

I'm planning to weather many of them soon.

[Trainmaster247]

Pretty nice layout, defnitely more of the fun than ops style. What control do you use? DC or DCC

[rogertra]

Pretty nice layout, defnitely more of the fun than ops style. What control do you use? DC or DCC

Have you ever run a prototype style operations based model railroad with a car forwarding system, TT&TO or CTC operations, with multiple stations, a yard or two, interchanges, staging yards, two man crews, switch lists, walk around controls be they wired or radio etc., etc.? 

That to me is where the fun is.  Running a model railroad as close to the prototype as practical.  Not my cup of tea to just run trains for no rhyme nor reason.

But, as usual, each to his own.


Cheers


Roger T.

[Trainmaster247]

I have run a swithcing layout hope to start building a permanent one soon

[jward]

just wondering why "operating" a model railroad has to involve excessive amounts of paperwork........

[rogertra]

just wondering why "operating" a model railroad has to involve excessive amounts of paperwork........

Reading a waybill or a switchlist is excessive paperwork?

How do you switch cars?  How to you block your trains?  Dealer's choice?  That presents no challenge, at least for me.  It's the challenge of getting the train from A to wherever following the railroad rules and prototype car handling procedures, that to me is where the fun is.  Just runing a train aimlessly and with no purpose just doesn't do it.  I may as well run model race cars around an  Indy track rather than a  Grande Prix circuit, it's that boring.

But, of course, your mileage and way of getting enjoyment from your model railroad may be different than mine so neither of us are right or wrong.


Cheers


Roger T.

[Trainmaster247]

Well everyone has their own style, I use switchlists made in numbers for when i run. Or just block s train and pick up and replace cars in that.

[Trainman203]

I operate shortline style .  No train is longer than 6 cars or 8 or so, and there are about 5 set out points out on the line, so the "waybills" and "switch lists" are all "mental"   .  No paperwork at home for me !   That is" work"!   . And "work" is for the "office"! . Not at "home"!

Other than no papers, no railroad is operated more prototypically IMHO than mine.  At point A, the cars on the interchange are pulled by a MoPac road engine (that's who I interchange with) and the team track and the rice mill are switched.  The road engine makes up the train (always a mixed train) and spots it on the MP main with the combine on the end across the street from the hotel where tickets are sold (no depot.).

The MP engine, a 2-8-2 or 4-8-2, then cuts off and the Midland Western engine, usually a 4-4-0 or 4-6-0 but sometimes an MP 2-10-0, all suitable for limited bridge ratings, couples up and pulls the train off the MP main line onto the weed grown Midland Western itself, running  30 scale miles to the other end at never more than 15 mph,  and in between switching two settlements with team tracks, wood yards , oil dealers and co-op warehouses.

Usually there's an opposing train that must be met and passed, always with a "saw-by". Anyone else here operate with saw-bys?

At point B at the other end, the Midland Western engine is cut off and a MOP road engine takes over for switching and interchange (MP again) work, more or less a mirror image of point A.

Getting from one end of the railroad to the other and doing all that can take 3 hours or more.  I've had all day ops sessions with two operators getting one train over the line from A to B and back.  On a 15" wide layout 50 ' long.  And all done with NO PAPERWORK!  

[rogertra]

My through trains can be be up to 20 cars long and locals can depart the yard with 10 to 16 cars, so in my case some sort of paperwork is required.

My trains also are blocked, both through trains and locals, so again paperwork is required to keep cars in the correct order for setting out.

A different operator switches the yard and other operators run the through trains while a different operators run the locals so again paperwork is required.   And then there's the passenger trains, both mainline through and locals and branch passenger and branch mixed.  The mixed requires paperwork otherwise the operator has no idea where the freight cars are going.

Excample:


A through train stops at Farnham.  The through freight operator sets out the Farnham block.  How does he know what the Farnham block is?  Because the paperwork tells him what cars they are.  The cars in the train were blocked and the paperwork done by myself prior to the ops session.  Actually automatically by the waybills as they were written to keep cars in the correct blocks when trains arrive in staging.  A tedious task I must admit but that only gets done once per waybill.

The through train now lifts the through block from the previously blocked by the yard switcher operator.  

How does yard switcher operator know which cars go on which through freight?  Because the paperwork (waybills) tell him.  Otherwise he'd have no idea where a particular car is destined.

Now he again switches the newly arrived cars.  He switches the local cars onto the local track.  The branch cars onto the branch track, The eastward wayfreight cars onto its track and the westward wayfreight cars onto their track and the  U.S.A cars onto their track.

As the arrival of the next through freight approaches or the departure of a train originating in Farnham approaches, the yard engine pulls the cars for that train from its yard track and using the A&D (Arrival and Departure) track, he now sorts the train into its correct blocking order.  If it's an originating train, he also goes over to the Caboose Track and picks up the correct caboose (How does he know which is the correct caboose for this train?  Yes, you got it, paperwork) and tacks it onto the rear of the cars sitting on the A&D track.  Once the train engine (Either one steam or a couple of diesels depending on the train, is coupled to the head end, it's ready to depart.   And how does the roundhouse foreman/hostler know which engines are assigned to this train?  Yes, paperwork.

Maybe the yard engine's next job is to switch the industries.  He pulls all the cars, eight or more, waiting on the Local track and puts them in order to make the industrial switching easier.  How does he know which cars are going to which to which industries?  Yep.  paperwork.  Once he's got the cars in what he thinks are the best order, he starts to switch the industries.  How does he know which cars to pull and which to leave?  You got it, paperwork.

Now lets look at a 10 car wayfreight.  Doesn't matter which.  As it departs Farnham, all the cars have been placed in order behind the engine (Assigned by paperwork and not just randomly picked) and in block (station order) with each block in sequence first station to last with the last block in front of the van (Yes, placed on this train because all vans, like all engines, are assigned to particular trains).   As he arrives at the first station he switches the cars.  The paperwork tells him where the incoming cars are going and the paperwork tells him what cars are staying and what cars are leaving.  All outgoing cars are placed in front of the van, because that's typically how the prototype does it.  He then departs for the next station and repeats.

How could all of this be done with no paperwork?   I can see on a light traffic branch you may not need paperwork but even then I'd still use waybills as it's more of a challenge.

With six through freights setting out and lifting cars half a dozen or so cars at a time, four way freights and two mixed trains arriving and departing during a session plus switching the local industries, the yard switcher at Farnham is handling something like 60 cars during an operating session.  paperwork is needed.  

Cheers


Roger T.
 

[Trainman203]

You need paperwork Roger.  I don't.  You have a mainline railroad.  I have a short line that only has 20 switches.  I don't need paperwork.

The real Reader Railroad in Arkansas  only had 20 switches over 26 miles  of line, and two steam locomotives when I visited in 1963.  It was family owned and had the same employees for over 40 years.  

They actually issued train orders for the tri weekly mixed.  Paperwork   . It was always the same though because there was never anything else out on the railroad. if the crew felt like fishing they'd stop and do it.   If it was raining at the wood yard they'd wait till it finished to do the switching.

That's my kind of railroad.  Simple.  Easy going. No timetable.  Almost zero paperwork.  

[rogertra]

You need paperwork Roger.  I don't.  You have a mainline railroad.  I have a short line that only has 20 switches.  I don't need paperwork.

The real Reader Railroad in Arkansas  only had 20 switches over 26 miles  of line, and two steam locomotives when I visited in 1963.  It was family owned and had the same employees for over 40 years.  

They actually issued train orders for the tri weekly mixed.  Paperwork   . It was always the same though because there was never anything else out on the railroad. if the crew felt like fishing they'd stop and do it.   If it was raining at the wood yard they'd wait till it finished to do the switching.

That's my kind of railroad.  Simple.  Easy going. No timetable.  Almost zero paperwork.  

I agree.  But the real Reader Railroad still used paperwork. How else, for example, did they know which incoming freight car went were and what cars were they to pick up and where were they heading?

Really, you should try a simple Car Card & Waybill system.  It makes switching much more interesting and challenging, even on a smaller model railroad.  Been there, done that on a 12 x 2 foot switching layout.

Cheers


Roger T.

[Trainman203]

If I remember right, the Reader had 3 on line customers, maybe 4.   I have 4 more than the Reader did.

About 90 per cent of Reader's  traffic came from an asphalt refinery.  The rest was between a wood yard and a couple others I can't recall, but single car loading type places.  So the trains were always nearly all insulated tank cars.

I do paperwork at work  . Not at home  .

I am retiring within a year.  Maybe I'll feel more like it then.

[wiley209]

Pretty nice layout, defnitely more of the fun than ops style. What control do you use? DC or DCC

I use DCC, to be exact, Bachmann's E-Z Command. I got it as the pack that comes with a decoder-equipped locomotive, in this case, a BNSF GP40-2, as I was basically upgrading an existing layout (it originally was analog/DC until a month after I began operating it.) Next month will mark two years since I moved up to DCC. It's much more interesting than analog train operation, I will say. I also have quite a few more DCC locomotives now, compared to when I first began using the E-Z Command system.
The E-Z App system is also very interesting. Once BlueRail Trains makes their plug-in Bluetooth decoder available next month, I'm going to buy one, along with a DCC-ready Amtrak locomotive (either another Athearn "Genesis" P40/P42, or a Walthers Mainline F40PH) and install the decoder into it so I can run an Amtrak train via Bluetooth as well!