The layout is only in a 10X11' room, so there is a 'mainline' but not in a conventional sense. My original idea was to have each operator switching from their respective ends, then adding their consists together to take to the interchange. That simply didn't work out as one sat around for a while as the other end had far more sidings and cars.
Live and learn.
A pal of mine talked with one of the guys who came for the op session that night on the phone and I heard second hand that he'd enjoyed the session. To me, that's all that matters as he drove for over an hour to get to my house. Both the guys who came are very prolific operations types.
I still have some other ideas for future sessions, but at least I know for sure that I already have an operating concept that seems to work.

I had my first op session ever on my layout on June 14th (not bad considering all this was a stack of lumber and boxes of rolling stock and modeling supplies as late as the end of last July. Two guys showed up, one of which was the guy who did most of the DCC wiring for me.
You'll probably notice that the locomotives are all Bachmann ten-wheelers (I have 4 of them, all ET&WNC marked) and all but one coach and a caboose are Bachmann, as well.



The session lasted just shy of 3 hours.

I knew ahead of time I was out of my depth in regard to any schedule and concept for the movements and told them so, in that this was a work in progress and was mostly to determine the best course in operations.

They seemed to enjoy themselves, and gave me a lot of really good ideas, among them:

1.Running one mixed freight all the way to the end of the layout, dropping off cars in the center section. The other engineer does the switching there while the first messes around at the end of track. That seemed to keep both operators busy.
2.Painting the ends of the ties at the points near turnouts showing the furthest a car or locomotive can be and still clear the adjacent track.
3.Perhaps adding a siding near the end of track, and/or near the center for a locomotive to tie up out of the way.
The third might not come to pass, but the first two surely will.

I can't imagine anyone comes up with a good operating scheme on their own the first time, and with these guys I now have a much greater grasp of how to keep two people solidly busy even on a layout the size of mine.



We totally changed my initial idea of each working an end of the layout and passing one another in the middle, and I really liked where we went. I deleted passenger runs in favor of mixed trains. It worked pretty well. It was also odd to watch two other people run my layout, as before it's been pretty much me alone.



Even my pup, Charlie, was on the same page. Instead of bugging everyone for loves and treats, he actually curled up in the door of the layout room, something he's never done before.



A funny PS to the story, and I'm not kidding, I had the window open for the layout room and while we were talking about train flow, one of the guys pointed out the window and said, "Hey, there's a blimp!"



Seriously, the Goodyear blimp was heading North, not far from my back porch. The US Open starts next week just North of here, I can only assume they were heading up there for that...
I had a smile on my face for the rest of the day. This was something I'd waited more than 30 years for as this is the first layout I ever had you could do an op session on.

Quote from: NarrowMinded on June 07, 2015, 02:44:51 AM
Nice!

I would love to go there.

How was the ride? was it smooth? or is it like a boat ride?

NM-Jeff

About as smooth as, say, a ride on one of the old D&RGW lines in CO/NM states...
I put a write-up about the experience here: http://4dpnr.org/grabiron/?p=5486

You'd think that a White Pass coach might do reasonably well, also...
I took these last week on the RR itself:

Just got back from a 15th anniversary Alaska trip with my wife. We honeymooned there in 2000...

Ah, what wonderful sights to see...

But yeah, I mostly agreed for the trains!

My long-suffering wife actually liked the ride this time (last time, she dealt with a bunch of rude Germans and wanted to start WW3 right there). Lots of Germans this time, but they were all very nice and I got to talk with a few in their native language!

No steam running (73 was outside of the shop at Skagway with the smokebox lid removed) but it's amazing to see this downtown:

Along the tundra, heading into British Columbia

Some more were posted here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/...ts/72157653397216019
That's it for now, until I can cull through almost 1000 photos we took...

Quote from: Royce Wilson on May 07, 2015, 04:33:37 PM
Frankly I feel fortunate that Bachmann has choose to make what they did.

I agree. If it weren't for Bachmann making the ET&WNC ten-wheelers in On30, I'd never have gotten back into the hobby.
So, while my wife probably hates Bachmann for that very reason, I'm very thankful as that's exactly what I'd wanted; that prototype, in the exact paint schemes they offered (ET&WNC wartime black) in a very manageable scale. They also made them affordable enough for me to be able to have one of each 4-6-0 that the ET&WNC had during WW2...

Quote from: Coach on May 14, 2015, 05:51:23 PM
They are being shipped as we speak, earliest orders in, earliest out.

Good to know as I, too, have had one on order for a while now...

Thanks!

What's the exact wheelbase for both the rail bus and the railcar (that Galloping Goose looking thing)?
I have an idea of using either to mount a pre-existing body onto it, but I must know first what the wheelbases of each really are to see if either could be used for what I have in mind...

Quote from: Royce Wilson on May 07, 2015, 02:02:45 PM
For the last 10 years or so most of the On30 world has begged for a model of the the Baldwind Sonoma 4-4-0 and instead we got a 2 foot 4-4-0 with the reason of radius only to find out that the the On30 2-4-4-T has a radius problem. so I think engines are just made by special intrest groups afterall look at the original On30 frieght cars who would have thought of an OR&W prototype?

Well, I know one of the VPs at Bachmann is a big Tweetsie fan, which is why they've made the 4-6-0 for that road in both G and On30. Frankly, I'm thankful for that but at least that engine can be modified into a lot of other stuff with general ease.
The 4-4-0, to me, looks exactly like a HO scale engine with a few O scale details added to it.
Strange enough, they make the 'pretty 1800s loco' in G scale...
As for the freight cars, yeah, some of that stuff sure is odd. The boxcars, especially are designed differently from just about any boxcar you'd find on a 3-footer back in the day.
I'm also utterly baffled as to why they don't offer any rolling stock in ET&WNC markings when they offer 4 versions of the same road's locomotives...

Quote from: Royce Wilson on April 26, 2015, 09:06:16 AM
I guess there is no intrest in anything new?

Yeah, but what?
Bachmann has to make money, they're not a hobbyist looking at random photos and saying every now and then, "Hey, wouldn't it be cool to make one of these?" That's no business plan, especially for a large production company like Bachmann.
That's why I'd be very shocked if they made a Garratt in On30. There'd be almost no market for something like that in the US.
Some of the locomotives that might do well in the US for narrow gauge prototypes could be:
-East Broad Top 2-8-2

-D&RGW K-27 or K-36 (FYI, this photo below was taken by me)

-The Sonoma

Or any other 19th century locomotive like that
-US Army S118 class 2-8-2. The White Pass had several of them and you can still find them scattered all over the world. I think this (along with the D&RGW ones) has the greatest potential for sales, considering how far flung these locomotives were. Several of them still operate today.
-I still think they should make one of their ten-wheelers as White Pass & Yukon #s 10 and 14 as all they'd have to do is do the right paint scheme. Former ET&WNC 10 and 14 went to the White Pass in 1942. Now, they were modified quite a bit before getting the WP&Y paint job, but it'd be so easy for Bachmann to offer that. Seeing how the WP is still in operation and thousands ride it each year (including myself, I've ridden one and am going back to ride it again very soon).

Quote from: Royce Wilson on May 05, 2015, 09:58:01 AM
Why don't you join some of the Yahoo On30 groups like the conspiracy.
They can steer you in the direction you need to go and there are even swap meets.

Royce

I'm already on that group, but it seemed to make sense to look here first, at a forum dedicated to the actual company who makes the part I'm looking for...

I have been gluing brake wheels and associated stuff to my On30 cars but a couple of brake wheels popped off, never to be seen again.
I looked on the site but nothing is listed for spare parts.
Is there anywhere I can get some replacement brake wheels for my cars?

Quote from: the Bach-man on April 09, 2015, 11:10:49 PM
Nice work!
That looks great!

Thanks!
Here is # 600, made up just like the other:


Not to many modelers can say they've re-created their modelled RR's entire roster of a type of car, I'd think. But it's easy in this case...

Here's what the real cars looked like.

Here's ET&WNC # 10 (going through a rebuild at the Northern Pacific South Tacoma shops in 1943 after a year on the White Pass & Yukon), showing very well the firebox and the back of the cab, showing the unusual placement of the cab on the backhead. When 10 and 14 (a twin Baldwin) returned to Alaska, they had cabs which were much further back.
Anyway, this is what the Bachmann On30 ten-wheeler's backhead looks like: