Newbie Father and Son

My second to last operating crew was a father and his young son of 8 years old. Neither of them had ever operated a real model railroad before, so this was a total new experience for both of them. First I let both of them run a train around the yard with some simple switching moves so they could learn how to run the locos and practice making sure the turnouts were aligned properly.

Once the training was done I sent them out as a engineer/conductor crew to switch one of the local freights. Here's a picture of Mark and Gabe blocking their local freight by industry before leaving Eckman yard. 

Dad was the conductor and the son was the engineer. I did notice however that midway through the local run, it seemed like the youngster was telling the dad how the switching moves should be done, rather than the other way around. Go figure! Young minds sure catch on quick!

In the end though we all had a lot of fun. They weren't happy to hear the layout had to come down. I think they really wanted to come back and run trains again. So I'll have to keep them on my crew list for the new layout. 

Final Regular Op Session

Before dismantling I wanted to have one final op session with some of my regular crew.  Here's Dave, Randy, Matt, and Lester hard at work each running their own trains.

Since they had all operated here before and were familiar with how things worked on the railroad, dispatching this session was a real joy. Instead of having to explain things, I got to watch more as the layout really came to life.

It's amazing how many more trains get run with an experienced crew. I actually had one local freight run two times in the same session, which has never happened before. So that was fun to see. 

Final Photos

By way of bringing things to a close, I'll post a few final photos of the layout. Though these pictures will be nothing new for those who have seen my posts before, it may prove enjoyable for those who are catching the layout for the first time at the very end. 

With great fondness, farewell Pokey 2.0! It's been lots of fun! 

farewell Pokey 2.0!

No! That's terrible news!

On the other hand, the next Pokey will be even better I am sure

All the best with the move Paul, I hope you're not going to far away?

Cheers,

@ Bill

You surprised me by your post! I still have a picture to add so I made this post private, but I imagine you have the ability to see such posts.

Either way, thanks for the kind farewell.  I will be staying the Minneapolis area, so if ever you are back down this way, please come to visit!

Thanks for sharing your journey!

I followed your journey and was always impressed with what you accomplished in such a short period of time.

I'm not surprised by this.... I've seen that same thing on my friend's layout(s). Once your crew gets into the rhythm you'll be surprised at how well things run and the extra amount of trains that can be run.

I too look forward to reading about the next Pokey. Fare winds and following seas on the next journey in your life!

Wow

Too bad it has to come down as I never was able to get up there. It has been a pleasure watching you put this together and work and interact with the suggestions from the forums. I am sure the next one will be even better for all the experience you received. 

Tom

Thanks...

Thanks for sharing your journey with us. I will sure miss the Pokey 2.0, but I look forward to Pokey 3.0. 

Congrats on the new job.  

I'm going to go be alone for a while now. 

No. 

I have something in my eye. 

Am not. 

Randy

Farewell Pokey

Paul:

Like many others who have followed your progress (enviously!) I am stunned to read your news, but I am eager to read your next adventure, once you are settled.  I hope you will continue to share your progress.

JimW

Phoenix

Its always sad to  have to restart, but its a chance to do new things or old things better.

Until we meet again

And I know we will!

So glad you'll be staying in the Minneapolis area so when I'm in town I can catch up on your progress. Notice how I just invited myself over? I'm not usually so forward but I enjoyed my last visit so much I just can't help it!

 Best of luck and can't wait to see what you'll do next.

 Rick

Bye Pokey 2.0

Sorry to see any version of the Pokey go away. But, I look forward to seeing a new version arise from the rubble. Good luck with the new job.

Don Trettel

Disapointed to see it go

Darn man, a heck of a bummer. Really sorry to see it go, as I've thoroughly enjoyed watching your progress. That being said, I'm sure the next one will be even better! Looking forward to seeing what you're going to come up with next!!

Wow!

Guys,

You overwhelm me with kind thoughts and wishes. Almost makes me wish I had torn the layout down earlier! Well, not quite, but really, thanks! The fact that you all enjoyed the layout so much, even though most of you never actually got to see it, makes the effort all worthwhile. 

I can't wait to start the next layout. I'm already thinking about things I'd like to change. The operational scheme really worked out well, however I would love to have separate coal and freight yards if possible, or at least some stub end tracks to hold the empty hopper pool. I'd also like to have less hidden track, and space the mines out more so it's easier to run multiple coal shifters without getting in each others way. I'm sure there are other things that could be changed, but until I know what kind of space I actually have to work with, most of this will have to remain in the "wish" realm for now. 

Looking forward to having all of you follow along when version 3.0 begins!

Paul, lovely RR. Did you

Moving

What can I say. I’m easily moved. 

My wife want us to build and move in 2-3 years but she changes her mind about this daily. (Almost as fast as her hair color but that’s another story. ) I am still plugging away at slightly faster than glacial speed since the journey is as rewarding as the destination. There are so many new things to learn that you and I have a lot of reasons to keep moving on. A new layout seems exhausting at first but quickly I settled into things that seem familiar with a twist. This time with occupancy detectors and IR sensors in staging so points won’t get fouled; maybe JMRI and associated WiThrottle; signaling; new scenery techniques and tunnel liners (ala Paul K); and many more. Even a double deck layout will be new for me although O scale makes for some deep scenes and possible reach in issues. 

You have provided me, well many of us, an opportunity to be with you throughout the build and I look forward to your next adventure. 

Wowzers Inspector Gadget

Paul, good luck with the new

Paul, good luck with the new job and move. Maybe a new design on these pages can take place like it did with the present layout. It was great to follow along with the design and watch it go from plan to reality. Maybe a lot of the great work like buildings and trees can be saved for the next layout, should make the process go faster. Sad to see this layout go it really was a great looking railroad.

Every Cloud

Has A Silver Lining!

Paul- I've enjoyed watching your build over the past few years and really look forward to seeing what your next version of the Pokey will look like.  Hard to tear down such a beautiful layout I am sure, but the prospect of putting all the lessons your learned on 2.0 into the next reincarnation is exciting. 

By the way- still amazes me that your mock-ups of the mines look so decent in the photos!  Shows you what good scenery will do to bring it all together.

Best of luck,

Craig

Hard to believe all the time

Actually it seems to be the norm these days.

A couple of questions that I have had to think about.

I built my railroad when I moved to Reno as a semi-modular design so I could take large sections with me when I moved.  It came in handy when I moved to Las Vegas.  Different sized room but it greatly decreased re-building time.  Now I am moving to West Virginia and I am likely to abandon 1915 Nevada mining railroads for modeling WV coal railroads.  

1.  Can you move any parts of your railroad intact?

2. Will you continue to model the N&W or take this opportunity to consider something else?

Preview

Guys, reading all your comments has been quite rewarding for me. Thanks for the well wishes! I'm glad to hear so many have enjoyed following my progress on the Pokey!

I'll try to answer some of your questions about the future as best as I can at this point. When I built this layout I fully expected it would be with me well into retirement, so it was not built in a way that can be moved very easily. I have some friends that have moved past layouts in pieces and reassembled them in a new location. I might be wrong on this, but that doesn't seem to be much of an option for me with this layout.  

That being said, I am looking forward to designing a new layout on the same operational scheme as this one. I will continue to model the N&W Pocahontas district between Bluefield, WV and Williamson WV. I really like that locale and the look of the Appalachian forests and mountains found there. 

I'm hoping the new layout will have more visible track than this layout did, but that's going to depend a lot on the space I have to work with. I would also like to have some more serpentine curves to the layout. The prototype really snaked its way around the mountains, and I'd like to capture that look more with a new track plan. A good example of what I'm talking about can be found on Michael's Nicholas & Ashley Creek RY here on MRH. I really like the way his track plan curves around and would like to follow his example. 

As for scenery, my new layout will use the forest technique I devised for this layout with a modification or two I learned by experience to make things go quicker. Rock faces are a different story. I really like the way my rock faces turned out, and I got quicker at hand carving them as time went on. But on the new layout I'd like to have less rock faces and more forest to save time on construction. 

Another change I will be making is with wiring. This layout was divided into numerous train blocks each with a taillight bulb wired in for short protection. That worked extremely well, but takes more time to set up. On the new layout I will have less blocks, and use commercial circuit breakers for short protection. Hopefully that will help me get up and running quicker, because I love running trains! Good thing I have a lot of other layouts to run ops on while I'm in the process of building a new layout, otherwise I think I'd go crazy!

I hope that answers at least some of your questions and gives you a preview of coming attractions. If you have any ideas or suggestions for my new layout, please feel free to share them! I'm always open to new ideas!

Paul when you get ready to

Paul when you get ready to put things together, do so like you did the last one on the forums. You just might get lots of good suggestions again.

Say it Isn't So!

Paul,

I was floored when I read this!  I've really enjoyed watching your layout grow, especially since it paralleled mine in so many ways and we had lots of laughs and "ah ha" moments.  (thanks for the shout out and nice compliment!)  Those closing photos are excellent!  Your rockwork and forest scenery are superb!

I'll echo the sentiments of everyone who beat me to the punch and say good luck with the new job and I can't wait to see how the Pokey 3.0 develops!