When I operate my railroad by myself, I use car cards and waybills and a train sheet. I start the next time at the point where I finished last time.

When I operate with friends, we start our op session with the first train in the morning. This way you have prepared trains in the yard. All crews have a soft start. Not every session we finish with the last train in the evening. Sometimes "time is over" and I finish this session in the next days.

Wolfgang

I have to restage the BC&SJ starting new sessions pretty much from scratch because I have muzzle loading staging areas. With a staging area connecting the two ends of the layout it becomes much easier to recycle trains. If you have mole staging it's even easier.

Charlie

My system is also continuous in that you can stop and start anytime in the cycle, however, there is a morning and evening and if I have a group we will start in the AM. Using car cards and waybills, I use "active" staging, meaning that at the end of a run, waybills are advanced and a switcher re sorts the train in the staging yard in preparation for the return trip. Not totally realistic but ok as a job on its own. Plus I use every inch of layout space.  

Steve

Operations I never realized I was doing it but, I as a loaner operated as a role playing game. I would. before starting, I hade all my cars setting where ever they were and gave each a destination with a job of being returned someplace as an empty or being shipped out as full loaded and ready to be picked up for delivery. Then I would assign an engine and crew Me or Myself or I depending which engined were going where. once everything was delivered I would start again from where ever the cars were and reassign them their jobs as to where each car was, what it was haling or where it was going to go to pick up it's next load and where that load would need to be shipped to. Then repeat all steps include Engine service, wash, fuel, coal, oil or park for the night.

If this is a Poll where is the Girl"

Dan

Right now, since I'm still laying track and building benchwork, my Op Sessiosn are just me randomly switching the industries I have online so far.  Because I'm building a shelf-style industrial switching layout, I don't have lots of staging, and won't have a ton of operators whenI have formal sessions.  This means that at the end of the day, the pike will have to be set for the next session, as I don't have anywhere to put excess capacity, except in my very small fiddle yard.  Of course, if I started storing cars there, it would be very hard to fiddle.

I'm also sold on switch list style operations - car cars are tough on a small layout.

 car cars are tough on a small layout.

To each his or her own, I guess. Car cards and waybills have worked great for me on multiple small layouts.

Resets take a couple of minutes, they are self-correcting for any operator mistakes, and most operators already know how to use them.

the question is this; when you operate do you start your session with everything staged or have you developed your plan well enough to allow you to finish a session and pick up exactly where you left off?

There's quite a bit more to this question than preference -- it's not a always a matter of "developing your plan well enough".

A lot depends on the type of staging that is possible. I operate on a terrific layout where only hidden stub-ended staging would fit in order to incorporate all the elements the owner desired. Reset requires that those trains be backed out and reset between sessions.

A second consideration is personality. If all the trains coming from staging are more-or-less the same, it's easier to make operation continuous. But if the trains have distinct personalities, which I think is more interesting, this isn't always possible (although through-type staging makes it easier).

For example, consider a layout with an expedited fruit perishable moving east to market, an expedited TOFC train westward that's the hotter than the two daily Amtraks, a coal drag westward to a large cement plant, and several other unique trains. Interesting, right?

Accommodating that variety requires some reset work between sessions.

Although I'm not near the operating session level of readiness, I plan on using car cards & waybills, as well as switch lists, something akin to what Paul Dolkos describes in his MRP 2010 headline article.  In other words, the engineers and conductors will not really use the CC&WBs, just the switch lists, and the dispatcher will do the CC&WB paperwork at a desk (aka my workbench).  This is similar to the prototype I'm modeling, the RF&P.

R/,

Norm

I try to eschew the use of cc&wb's as much as possible, because I really do not like the Old Line Graphics (OLG)-style (or for those of you new to the hobby, Micro Mark-style) car cards and waybills. Why? Because they are quite simply, not realistic in form or function. Many people don't care about that, they just want a fun and want an easy way to simulate their cars movements, but a growing number in the hobby have taken it to a new level. I also prefer using switchlists, which is what I do on my layout, in combination with other prototype-based paperwork. Most people will say, "why fix what ain't broke? blah, blah, blah" and to them I say, it's time to kick things up a notch in the realisim department, and those of us, particularly who model specific prototypes or specific types of operations, want to, or even need to, do things a little more, shall we say, "involved"......Granted, it ain't for everybody, but I do really get annoyed by those who think it is an unecessary improvement, because they don't (or won't) look outside the box.

RAH

Fellows ,

Dice roll generates destinations .

Car cards control four forty foot cars or their equivalent length "sets" of cars . Car cards have four , four place waybills . This makes six spots for MT , six for loaded . corresponding with one di . Roll di , align waybill with corresponding number nad condition of car . Condition of car is determined by it's condition when it arrived where it is , arrived loaded , it is now MT .

Self direction .

Cars can be pulled as needed { a full carfloat needs emptied totally and re loaded as cars arrive for it } the carfloat having gone up river and  returned .

The idea is to have two to four "sets" of cars in your train at all times .

This allows the "game" to be left and re started over long periods of time. The game is never 're set " it continues by turning off lights  . Then  picking up again where ever you left off.

I devised this when I realized that fellows were setting up the "game " ,  when it is over it is over . It needing re set to operate again.