Joe and Charlie,

I received my copy of live ops #4 last friday and have watched it, and enjoyed it several times so far. Thanks for a great production .

Hi Ken,

We're glad you liked it. They're fun to produce and they help people who are unable to make it to an op session get some idea of what they're like. I'll try to address your questions.

I was impressed by the way crews handled their trains. I liked the way Jim and Ray set the turnout at Oak Hill. Engineer waiting for conductor to reset the turnout and board the caboose after the train had gone through. Simulating the man on the ground.

Except for perhaps the monster Tehachapi Pass layout the La Mesa club is constructing in Balboa Park in San Diego our layouts are waay too small to accurately simulate any but the shortest of short lines. My layout currently has about 2 scale miles (120') of mainline.

If the goal were to run as many trains as possible in a session we could whip trains back and forth at 60 (scale) mph and each run would last barely 3 minutes (allowing for getting in and out of the staging areas).

But that's not my goal. When I run a train I want to take some time to enjoy the experience instead of rush to get it done. That's a reason I like track warrants - the time it takes to dictate and read 'em back slows down the pace of operations a bit.

As you observed, operating the train as though there are actually men on the ground who need to walk over to a switch stand to through a switch then walk back to the train to get on (don't want to strand your crewmen in the middle of nowhere!) gives ops a bit more realism and further helps to slow down the pace.

Comments have beeen made about hearing the Dispatcher on the DVD. When he is dictating a track warrant is it being played over a loud speaker? If that is so is that usual during an operating session?  and for what purpose. As for the  ambient noise you warned about at the start of the DVD I thought it helped to convey the atmosphre of the operating session. Going by the back ground chatter the operators were enjoying themselves which is the main thing.

Hearing the dispatcher radio channel chatter helps give the feel of an op session. Our technology for this with OSL4 (and OSL3) was rather crude. We taped a radio under the camcorder microphone! So yes, you were hearing a 'loudspeaker'. This would not be done except that we were taping the session.

• The ambient noise in the train room is multi-part
• sound decoders
• wheel noise as the trains roll along the track
• conductors or the radio to the dispatcher
• conducts and engineers conferring
• foamers idly speculating about nearly anything (and often on non-railroad related topics). This can get to be the biggest source of noise in a train room if non-operators are allowed to watch. I'm going to be enforcing an 'if you're watching fine, if you're kibitzing then do it in the crew lounge' policy to keep down the noise level.

I've been experimenting with a new way of doing dispatcher sound tracks. I take a radio and put it in an isolated desk drawer with a wireless camcorder microphone. Then I use an on-camera mike into the other track to record room noise (and the Q&A between camera guy and trainmen). This helps isolate the dispatcher channel from the train room noise.

I noticed that Ron the conductor on the DSHE was not wearing a radio head set. How was he getting his track warrents? Was he walking over to the dispatcher and receiving them verbally? When the DSHE stops just short of Deschutes Jct Ron says that he has to "talk to despatch" 

Ron is a professional car man for a 'well know' large railroad here in the Portland area. But he doesn't have his own FRS radio. Jeessh! So when a radio isn't available he resorts to using the 'sneaker channel' and hikes over to the dispatcher's office. Crude but workable. If you don't have enough radios for everyone the conductors take priority over engineers. If they're not enough for the conductors then the radio-less need to go see the DS. Mostly though there are enuf radios.

What happens to the Track Warrent form once the warrent has been fulfilled?

The DS leaves copies of their warrants in the Dispatchers office for the Superintendent of Nearly Everything to scrutinize if there were problems in the session that may have been caused by DS error in creating warrents or crew error in interpreting them.

The crews hold onto their warrants until the end of their run then put 'em in a pile over by where the clip boards roost (although it's usual to find dead train sheets and warrants on almost any horizontal surface in the train room during post-session cleanup!)

When a train crew needs to speak to a YM say to ask permission enter a yard is that done verbally? Does the crew of a "hot" train say the RXE have to ask permission from the YM to enter a yard or does this train just go on through on the main line? For instance would a crew going through South Jackson on the main have to ask the South Jackson YM permission to do so?

Some of my yard masters don't like radio headsets (one of the reasons they asked to be YM since they figure they don't need to talk to the DS all the time so they don't need to wear one). Others like to be able to communicate with the DS at all times. The railroad policy is that YMs should have ears on so the DS can get hold of them when needed. This policy is hardly ever enforced.

So yes, most times a crew showing up at yard limits will comminicate with the YM using the sonic frequecy device (their voice).

The RXE (and all other trains) should ask instructions to enter the yard under my ops scheme. This is probably not prototypical (but radio headsets and track warrants in 1952 isn't prototypical either). I like them to ask on the off chance that the YM has screwed up big time and the main through the yard isn't clear and the YM wants them through on the siding (better than holding them out I suppose but not good).

Under time table and train orders in 1952 a 1st class train just sails through the yard with all other trains required to clear up for its schedule. This means if a 1st class train is running rather late the yard crews would have to be extremely careful about excursions on the main track, probably a flag man would be in order unless the main track through the yard is signaled.

I have found live ops #4 quite informative and usefull. I am trying to operate my layout although much smaller in a very similar way to Charlie. So far we have had two sessions using track warrents (the prototype here calls them Train Authority Forms). Eventually the plan is to go to TT&TO operations. As I have no background in railways any information is helpful. I am finding out  that there are quite a number of differences in the way railways operate between the US and OZ.

Thanks to the model-trains-vide.com team including Horace for a great DVD.

Regards Ken