Odd that something returned

Odd that something returned from the dead from that far back and it still has zero comments.

 MRH: Just you wait ... !!! 

Endless Operations

I operate on two layouts. Both have a yard, 3 or 4 towns to switch and 2 or 4 holding tracks, or distant cities. The goal is to provide the engineers with switching puzzles in the towns. So the waybills guide the movement of freight and the dispatcher guides the movement of trains. We don't use an hourly schedule, but a sequential cycle that moves one train at a time while the other engineers switch towns and clear the main line for through trains. We like it and since the schedule loops there is never any staging of trains for the next session. Carl.

Remembering...

I fondly remember the great fun I had operating on SK1, and was deeply saddened to see it go. The entire concept was great and I would recommend using it as a basis for anyone wanting to build an operations based layout. Still looking to see SK2, eh? John Colley, Sonoma, CA

Figuring out what trains to run. SK version 1.

I've missed a lot by not getting into each months issue but what I've missed the most is the Siskiyou layout of Joe's!!! That was my first operations session, my first time DCC usage and reconnecting with Joe after 20 + years in different states. I was heart broken to hear that he was tearing that layout down. I have hopes that another layout will rise from the ashes and if it does, I sure intend on operating it. I've never had so much fin running trains as I did that night. The purpose, the track plan, the improvisation, the scenery, the people...That experience that night is what keeps driving me on my layout. 

Yes coming out from prehistory....

By speaking about prehistory, I mean an old thread which come back, I don't remember if I have read it...so long time it was published.

I just read part 01 and part 02 with great interest.

I have made a copy for my documentation about how to operate a layout of the three parts

Simple thread, so well explained, yes now I understand better the way to go to operate a layout.

Can't understand it needs so much time to come out of time and receive some comments.

Since I draw slowly unfortunately due of time, my new track plan for the extension of my layout this thread is so welcome and open a lot my emphasis to draw something which can run and operate in a good way my layout

Info

The first trick is finding out what trains the prototype ran.  Passenger trains are pretty easy, since railroads published public timetables and passenger schedules are in the Official Railway Guide.  Freight trains are much more complicated to research.  Most freight schedules were internal documents, so its harder to find documentation, and were subject to more ad hoc operation. Even after finding what trains operated, one has to figure out what cars they carried, since different trains carried different cars for different destinations.

The second trick is being able to distill that down to operation on a model railroad.  We generally don't have room to include all the trains with all the cars.  We also don't have the length of run to use the schedules directly.

All railroads have a distribution network, a type of hub and spoke system, to move cars.  The key is figuring out what the railroad did generally and what your layout will support and then adapt what your layout will support to what the prototype did.  If you lack the information on the prototype, then using a general concept of how a railroad works will suffice.

A railroad has layer of locals and switch engines that gather cars from industries, they take those to yards.  The cars are bundled together into "blocks" of cars, all of whom are going in the same general direction and will be handled the same way to the next yard.  Through freights carry the blocks from yard to yard, and the cars may be switched several times at various yard along the way.  Eventually the cars arrive at a yard that originates the local that serves the destination industry.  The cars are switched into that local's train and delivered to the final customer.

Not all locals serve all industries, most industries get switched only once a day.  Typically we modelers switch industries waaaaaaaay more than the prototype does in order to generate activity, fun for our operators.

The era also makes a difference.  If you are operating on a railroad that operates with a "division point" system then it will get switched way more than a more modern railroad that uses interdivisional runs that skip intermediate yards.

On the UP, a car going from Pine Bluff, Arkansas to Portland, Oregon would be picked up by a traveling switch engine at Pine Bluff.  If would be put into a Little Rock block, picked up by a train from Louisiana and taken to Little Rock.  It would be switched there and put into a Kansas City block and a train from Little Rock to Kansas City.  At Kansas City it would be put into a N Platte block and put into a train going to N Platte where it would be switched again, this time into a Hinkle, OR block.  A train would take it to Hinkle, where it would be switched into a Portland block and a train would take it to Portland.  At Portland it would be switched into the local that served the destination industry. 

If the car is interchanged, it follows a similar path, it just changes railroads and may get switched a couple extra times.

Depending on how big your layout is will determine how much of that operation your include.

We resurrect the better threads

We deliberately search our site each week for the better threads and feature them in our weekly emails.

These three related "ops" threads popped up in a search and I realized resurrecting these three connected threads could be helpful -- so we featured them in this week's email blast.

Back when these threads were originally posted, our registered reader number was about 1/3rd of what it is now, so many of our regulars probably never saw these threads.

Our website forum is a goldmine of useful nuggets, so if you're not a registered reader and getting our weekly email blasts, you're missing out on a lot of useful goodies for your hobby!

P.S. If a thread has no comments, then just resurrect it and it will soon get plenty of comments -- witness this thread!

Too many trains during session

One trap many layout owners fall into when starting operations is a train for every reason. My example is a M&StL type layout I operate on. The main yard, which is undersized, has blocks of cars for East, West, locals, industry jobs and interchange with the GN, NP. I have been to a dozen sessions and have yet to see the GN or NP make an appearance.

I think it would help to take off those cars unless the job is scheduled during that shift. 
yes, I know prototypes have to work around cars not leaving this shift. So when planning a session or start up, run less trains/jobs. You can always add more later. Adding jobs is fun. More motive power, cars, and interactions. Trying to remove cars and power during a session is more difficult. 
 

GN/NP Interchange

One way to solve that problem of the GN/NP not making an appearance is to have the interchange happen at the yard..  The GN and NP cars are switched into a track going to the GN and NP, then between sessions the GN and NP magically appear, pull the their cars and deliver cars back to the M&StL (which miraculously appear to be very similar to the cars they just pulled).

In reality, you just rebill the cars as if they are from the GN and NP, hopefully to other locations on the layout so they will have a different return path.  That allows the "interchange" to continue and churns the cars. but doesn't require a physical interchange train.