Hello

Nice to see you back again on the forum.

For sure it will be a very interessting blog, and operations solo or in group stay a very important finality for our layout

I like the way you color coded everything and especialy the cars cards; very inspirating for my because of my on the way planning of the extension of my layout.

I will keep in mind this color coded cards and box for my layout; I have a small pocket book where I note many idea or good things which I can use for my own layout.

This one is already notified in my small book and I will follow this blog with attention.

Colour Codes

Those CC&WB look familiar... 

I like the way you matched the colour code for the blocking with a colour bar on the fascia labelling of the card boxes themselves. Nice box labeling.

Oops - credit missing

Thanks Marc - its good to be back 

The color coding idea is far from original and I almost forgot to give credit to  Chris van der Heide who has created Excel spreadsheets (which I have modified slightly) to manage card cards and waybills on his Algoma Central Railway.

You just beat me to it Chris

Chris - I found your post just after I posted my "Oops".
Apologies for not crediting you immediately

.

No worries.

It's kinda neat seeing other people using what I created. 

Ops...

fernpoint said:

Operation is good at that: Helps to pinpoint the weak areas in track n' trains.

Thought my layout was "operational ready" only to discover I had a couple/three pieces of rolling stock that weren't up to muster as well as a problematic switch or two. MOW (me) had to come out and fix one switch while a train (run by a friend) waited. Can't get more real than that!

It's all fun... well... most of it's fun. Fixing issues DURING a session isn't one of the more funner things.

Andre

Glad you're back!

I certainly hope you will find enjoyment in operating your railway.

We, over at the R&T, certainly are having fun running trains over on this side of the pond. Ops really does give the railway a raison detre.

MCE Powercab and WiThrottle

Andre - I have a "tight" check rail that I never noticed until switching ops got intense. I was certain I had tested everything to death, but apparently not.....

Rick - I totally agree. Ops was the target when I started conceiving the C&A about seven years ago.

Talking of ops, I have moved to wireless (on the cheap) by running a JMRI WiThrottle server on a laptop.
I have a couple of old iPhones that I installed WiThrottle Lite on and I haven't looked back. The dynamic allocation of function button labels makes for a much more user friendly experience than the Powercab (which is still used to provide DCC power for the layout). 

 

Following

I'll be following this with anticipation! Rob, everything you do gets me fired up to work on my layout!

Ops

Looks like fun, very neat and clean arrangements.

I need more cabeese

Thanks Tim - pleased to be of assistance 

Dave - thanks and needless to say I have been checking out your many ideas for ops.

Another immediate side effect of creating multiple trains is the shortage of cabooses - I need two more quickly !

Fortunately I have two un-built kits "in stock" and I have started the first:

 
This is a Silver Streak drovers caboose, which is a straightforward build, but I have decided to add some interest by having working marker lights.

The first hurdle is getting power from the truck axles so I'm trying a really simple solution first:

 I've just drilled a hole through the side frame connecting bolster and CA'd some phosphor bronze wire in place. If this proves unreliable, then either I double up the wires or get some strip. 

...

That is a nice little Drover's Caboose to add a little shorthand passenger service to an otherwise routine freight.

Lens stress

Benny - I have my treasured copy of Lucius Beebe's "Mixed Train Daily" and this has given a a lot of inspiration for the C&A. 

The caboose working marker lights are tricky to create (at least the way I'm doing it).

 Above is the brass casting for the lamps which I have had to drill out to accommodate the lenses and SMD lights.
I'm using MV lenses and those of you familiar with them will know they are "silvered" on the back. This has to be removed and this is no mean feat on a lens 1 millimeter in diameter. The lens on the left shows the colored bead and that on the right has been ever so slightly CA'd to the  card sheet. I can then use and emery board and need le file to remove the silvering before CA'ing the de-silvered lens into the lamp mounting hole. You can see an amber lens fitted to the right hand marker lamp. I have to use an Optivisor to do this - my eyes are long past being able to do this unaided ! Thanks to Bernd Schroter for this technique and also sourcing the lenses for me. 

Operational question (number 1)

Now that I am attempting some operating, questions arise.

On the C&A a couple of trains “shuttle” back and forth between Cornhill and Atherton at each end of the line. This provides “meets” during the day for operational interest.
In the example below I’m running a train from A to D with a set out at B which has a leading spur.
 
I see three options to deal with this:

1) Drop the car off at C (which has a run-around) and then collect it on the return trip from D, to then set out at B
2) Drop the car off at C and let the "other" train collect it for set out at B
3) Take the car all the way to D and drop it off on the return trip.

I’m assuming that the choice of option will be based on the activity and current location of the “other” train (please correct me if I’m wrong on this) but I have two questions:

- Would the engineer make a decision based on his knowledge of operations on that day?

- The waybill will have a “To” destination of B, but knowing that a direct drop is impossible, should the notes
  acknowledge the fact in some way?  

Thanks in anticipation……..

Facing Point Spur

If both trains are expected to typically switch at C, and there's a double-ended track *other than the passing siding* you can park it on you could do 2, but 3 is the easiest and mostly likely approach to take. Just haul it through and set it off in the opposite direction. You wouldn't want to have to stop at C just to drop/pick up that car when there's no other work happening. (However this answer might also change if there's not just one but many cars being lifted/set out at B and train length considerations are coming into play after working C.)

You wouldn't want to block the passing siding, especially if this is the only track available for passing/meeting trains between A and D. (The "town" schematic isn't quite clear if and where other siding and yard tracks might be and their layout.

I would assume the trains have no idea where exactly the other one is. In "real life" the operators wouldn't be able to see each other and their trains across the aisle, and depending on era there would be no radio communications at all between the trains. The whole system of timetable operations worked well in a world where there was no such thing as reliable communications directly to and between trains.

I wouldn't note anything on the waybill itself, it only needs to know where the car is supposed to end up. Figuring out how to get it there is the rest of the game.

If you want to provide specific switching instructions, that can be provided as a "message" instruction to the train crew, or if it's a permanent instruction, add a footnote to your timetable and/or a label on the fascia for switching instructions.

1) Drop the car off at C

Options 1 and 2 are basically the same thing, just depends on who you want to do the work.

That's what I do.  I give the train crews messages from the "agent's" with their orders.  In my case, Mortonville is B and Montchanin is C.

The Mortonville switch breaks off for a NWD train.  The SWD local gets this message telling him to take the Mortonville cars to Montchanin.

Then the NWD local gets this message telling him to pick up Mortonville cars.

The caveat with this option is you have to have a track that you can afford to leave the cars in at C that is accessible to both trains.  If C only has a passing siding then blocking the siding may not be an acceptable answer.

Also a valid option if you don't have a spot you can afford to block at C.  Whatever it takes to get there.

Nope, but the conductor would.  The engineer doesn't decide, he just follows signals. 

...

Option C would be the best in the interest of not blocking the passing siding unless the car can be dumped off in the spur and nobody else will use that spur until the train returns.  This variant on Option B would be used if it was a heavy car and it would make no sense to take it up the hill just to bring it back down again...

There is also Option D, the train leaves Home Base in reverse, or Option E with the loaded car on the point, and any switching of a pulled car being done at the place with the runaround...but this would be the least palatable approach to this problem.

Thank you

Chris, Dave and Benny - many thanks gentlemen for your feedback. Very informative and I appreciate the extra background info around the answers.  A few options/variations for me to try out.

I like the idea of a little bit of additional paperwork (messages) which although not essential for a solo operation, adds atmosphere.  I like to run slowly and try to operate as if I was actually back in 1933. I think "connecting" with your railroad is very pleasurable and that's one of the reasons I got most of my scenery done before attempting ops. I can't get my head round plywood central running although I appreciate many people do it very successfully.
Thanks again 

More questions will arise..... 

The "feel" of operations on a model railroad

I posted a version of this on WPF recently, but this type of picture embodies the "feel" of model railroading operations that I try to aspire to :
 

Not pretty - but it works

This morning I completed a test of the electronics needed to drive the caboose marker lights. This is a simple diode bridge rectifier with a smoothing/keep alive capacitor:
 Not pretty, but it did work first time when I connected it to the track. The only change I needed to make was increasing the SMD (LED) driver resistor to 10k ohms to reduce the brightness to something I thought was realistic.
Now I just need to tidy it up, cut down the PCB and fit it to the caboose 

"1) Drop the car off at C

  Hi Rob, Situations always vary due to local circumstances but generally option 3 would be most common for a local turn. There's also an option 4 which would be to drop the car into the spur on the way out, it might be used if the customer wanted the car earlier or the crew didn't want to stop on the way home for some reason.....DaveB 

Lighting test on the track

Hello Mr B 

I think Option 3 will be the normal mode for me, mainly because it's a lot simpler for visiting crew. I'll add some suitable instructions/message to show that the car should be dropped "on the turn".

I have tidied up the lighting pcb and installed it in the caboose. I did a further test with "lash up" wiring to ensure that all was well and more importantly that the axle wire pickups worked reliably - which they do. 
If I remove track power there is about 3 seconds of full intensity light from the smoothing capacitor, although the lamps remain lit (but steadily dimming) for another 4 seconds - a more than adequate performance:
 

Now I can complete detailing the caboose and get it painted and weathered.

Lift and drop

While I know some roads used the terms "lift" and "drop", I always avoided them because they can have multiple meanings.  

For example if you said you were going to "drop" the car on the railroads I am familiar with, that would mean the train would set the car out at B on the trip from A to D.  It would never make it to C or D.  We always used "set out" to mean station work and "spot" to mean industry work. 

Railroads have been good at having unique terms.

" I'll add some suitable

   Hi Rob, Don't confuse them :> )  In American railroading drop means putting the car into a facing point spur while spot means putting the car into a trailing point turnout, so the "turn" ( a local that works out and back)would possibly drop the car on the way out or more likely spot the car on the way home....DaveB