Pre-Ops Ops!

I enjoy the pre-ops ops too. I spend a lot of time switching staged trains into the correct order before an op session. It's lots of fun!

op session

On my old layout I had Stub ended staging. It would take me 3.5 hours to restage. My new layout takes less than a hour to do it. The secret for me was through staging . The orgin starts at Pitt. Jct. staging and the trains runs to Connellsville staging all I have to do is flip the car card waybill over. I do have stub ended staging but its just moving the engine and caboose and flipping the waybills. There are about 300 cars on the layout and one hour is the normal restaging time..

Pre Ops

It is necessary for a good session, I do enjoy getting things ready. Depending upon how well the cars were spotted during the last session by crews, it takes me about one to two hours. Most time is spent checking waybills and making sure the cars are properly spotted and both yards are in good shape to make sure there will be a balanced flow of cars. I have three stub end interchanges, two yards and fourteen industries. Industries have room for two to eight cars and trains are eight to ten cars. Two trains are unit trains so those only take a couple of minutes. I have about 120 cars on my layout. 

So not an Instant On layout?

This would be he opposite of Trevor Marshalls Instant On layout. I do know many layout owners to enjoy operating during the set up phase. It also helps gem find lost cars, or car cards and waybills, check for working turnouts and clean areas that might need that attention. 

I also think that after each session, the workload would get less and less, and more routine. The basics of flipping waybills is always necessary, and putting out a clean dispatchers train sheet. But if you work on 10% of your rolling stock per session, doing preventive maintenance, it can really cut down on the operation issues during a session. 

I think the pre op is an added benefit, because I get to find the issues that need my attention instead of my operating crew.