Screenshots of trackplan for Yard

Here are eight screen grabs of the yard in question.  

 

- The Darker Grey Track (the one closest to the left and top of the drawing) is the P&A Mainline
- All Light Grey Tracks are part of the Yard
- The Yard Lead is the track next to the Mainline
- The two tracks that head towards the Roundhouse are the "Ready" Tracks  Coaling tower will be located near the Turntable pit (Still to be drawn in)


 

- The Yard continues down with the Diesel Fueling/Sanding Stations located on the two stub ended tracks shown here.
- Note the two Double Slips that were needed to be able to fit everything.  It allows for locomotives to leave the yard and enter the Locomotive Service Facility


 

- The seven tracks starting from the Right to Left are 7 of 15 Tracks. 
- The second track from the Left is the Caboose Track

 

- This shows 13 of the 15 Tracks in the Yard.


 

- All 15 Tracks, Plus the Caboose Track and Mainline are shown here, as well as the slight bend in the yard.  


 

- The is the southern end of the Yard.


 
- The track that is farthest on the Right in this view is where I was thinking of adding the RIP Track

 

- I'm still working on this end.  It's only 18" wide at this point.  (the rest of the yard is 36" wide accessible from either side - Mainline crew on the left side, Yard crew on the right side)

Thanks all.

Ken L

Body track to main

That looks like a pretty nice yard.  My one suggestion is to put a single crossover between the lead and A/D track so that if necessary a train can go between the main and a yard body track without making the switchback movement on the yard lead.

Agree with Ken.  Also,

Agree with Ken.  

Also, I would suggest: (If room and needed track length can be met)

1. Get rid of your crossovers (You want to avoid having to backtrack to get where you are going as much as possible)

2. Add an additional A/D track even if this means taking out a classification track. (Good sized yards such as this should not be limited to one arrival/departure at a time.  Plus you don’t want your railroad to get “backed up” waiting for yard clearance)

3.  Make sure your switch lead has direct access to all your A/D track(s) as well as all your classification tracks

4.  Make sure yard switching does not impede arrivals and departures.   Both should be able to continue without disrupting the other

5.  If it does not impede needed length or operations, stay away from stub tracks.  For example, locomotive fueling/service track(s), RIP track(s), and caboose tracks.
 

Good start hear!  A few adjustments and think you have got it!

Joe

Division Point Yard

In my understanding a "division point yard" was a yard where all the through freights were switched and reblocked.  Which really doesn't match what you are doing, but you can call it whatever you want.

One might be a ready track, the other is an inbound track.  If you put "ready" engines on both "ready" tracks you will block the turntable.  I would add or two ready tracks that are at least one engine long.

Why would you turn an ABBA set of F units?  The whole point of an ABBA set of power is to NOT have to turn it.

Consider making the fuel/sanding station a double ended track.  

You need a pair of crossovers at the beginning of the yard, one lefthand, one right.  One long double ended pair of service tracks would be better than two sets of short stubby service tracks.  Double slips are very rare so I tend to avoid them at every opportunity.  The only reason I would build a double switch is if I wanted to earn a trackwork MMR certificate.

So the caboose track is on the opposite end of the yard from where the switch engine is located and looks to be a stub ended track breaking off the "other way".  If I am switching a train I have to remove the caboose, shove it to the other end of the yard, run around it, the put it away.  Not particularly handy.

Also need a double crossover if there is a lead on the south end.

Icing tracks were usually where perishable loads were originated and locations several hundred/a thousand miles apart.  For example an icing facility would make more sense located near where the creamery is (from a previous thread) than a random "division point" in the middle of nowhere.  That is the answer if you are asking a "would it be prototypical?" question.  If you are asking a would it add operations if I added an icing track, the answer is yes.  Consideration, does the yard north of you have the capacity to make a reefer block to set out to be iced?

Thanks all

For the feedback so far.  

I would like to address one subject that now confuses me.  Back in 1993 I attended an NMRA National Convention at Valley Forge, PA.  During a clinic, two retired railroad yard employees gave a clinic on how to Design a prototypical yard.  The one point I remember that has always stuck with me is there is no such thing as an Arrival/Departure Track.  They insisted ANY TRACK can be used for arrivals or departures for trains.  Typically the longer tracks are where trains are received and parked awaiting crews to connect their locomotive and leave. I haven't redone the southern end yet, but the north end hopefully shows two separate yard ladders that will facilitate both car classification by the Yard Crew and inbound/outbound trains.  Typically the five Classification tracks on the Left will handle inbound/outbound trains, though any track can be used.  

I have also been thinking of perhaps splitting the yard, having the mainline run in the middle of it so there would be a dedicated Eastbound and Westbound yard.  Would that be better?

Thanks 

Ken L. 

Any track

The local prototype yards I’m familiar with all allow any track to be an arrival/departure track.  But in order to do that, you need to be able to get directly from the main to any track.  The lack of a crossover that would let that happen in the plan you posted is probably why we’ve been assuming you intended to separate the A/D function to just the one track next to the main.

Please help me understand what most Railroads would do for Through Freights where most of the Cars on the train are blocked for their destination to Pittsburgh with only "SHORT" (i.e. Short of the next division) Cars are dropped off to be reblocked into the Locals?  What would the kind of Yard I am trying to create here be called.  Or am I getting away from typical Prototype practices here and I totally misunderstand what a yard between two divisions look like.  

So I should have at least three tracks connecting to the turntable then?

Wouldn't they need to be refueled, had sand refilled, etc?  When did crews decide to have this done?  

It looks like I will have to extend the yard farther than I really wanted to, but if having a double ended fuel/sand station would be better, then that is what I will need to do

You need a pair of crossovers at the beginning of the yard, one lefthand, one right.  One long double ended pair of service tracks would be better than two sets of short stubby service tracks.  Double slips are very rare so I tend to avoid them at every opportunity.  The only reason I would build a double switch is if I wanted to earn a trackwork MMR certificate.



 

So the caboose track is on the opposite end of the yard from where the switch engine is located and looks to be a stub ended track breaking off the "other way".  If I am switching a train I have to remove the caboose, shove it to the other end of the yard, run around it, the put it away.  Not particularly handy.



I forgot to mention I intend to have trains of an actual length of 20-25' (including caboose and locomotive) so that is about 30-40 cars (of various 36', 40' and 50' length).  

Also need a double crossover if there is a lead on the south end.

I am debating how much a stretch it will be to add a meat packing plant for the area near South Erie.  From what I can tell for 1953 it would be a stretch as much of the meat packing is mostly centralized and being done in Chicago, IL.  And even if I did, the icing would be done at the plant I would think, not the yard.  Wouldn't reefers need to have ice added at some point.  Or did the Ice usually hold for it's entire route?  I want to follow what was typically done by the prototype in 1953. 

Thanks again! 

Ken L. 

The reason that ABBA sets don't need turning

Is that it is quicker and easier for the crew to leave the lead engine and walk to the trailing engine or for the new crew coming in to select the engine that is going to be the lead unit than it is to turn an engine. 

On a model railroad, if you have a crew in one engine only then it needs to be turned so that the crew is always in the lead engine.

Yard

Personally I think model railroads overdo the concept of a division point yards.  A division point yard doesn't have to be at the boundary between two divisions.  Its just the POINT on the DIVISON where train are classified. It could be on a boundary or it could be in the middle of the division.  If you think about it if its on the northern boundary, then its not on the southern boundary.

Where there are yards and what they do depends on what blocks the yards make and how much they can detail block to bypass yards.  If all the through freights do is set out a switch block and pick up a "not here" block, then I would say its not a division point yard.  If trains carry blocks for that yard (regardless of where the cars go) and are reblocked for further destinations, then its a division point yard. For example, back in the 1980's on the UP yards from Houston to Chicago make "N Platte" Block, but virtually none of the cars go to N Platte, they all got to points beyond N Platte, but they are reblocked at N Platte.  

I wouldn't get hung up on the name.  Who cares whether its a division point yard or whatever?  It does what your railroad needs it to do.

A F unit has a range of 500-750 miles, a set of power could make 2-3 round trips between Erie and Pittsburgh before they needed to be serviced.  The train crew didn't necessarily make the decision, the yard managers and mechanical folks did.  The crew or mechanical folks would report fuel readings and the decision would be made whether to fuel.

Or ... there was a plan that this train's inbound power was always fueled and this other train's power always "turned in the yard" (went from an inbound train to an outbound train without servicing.) One of the major advantages of diesel engine was that it DIDN'T need to to be serviced after every trip, it was the Energizer bunny and could keep on going.  By the time you get to the SD40, a engine had about 1000 mile range before it needed to be refueled.

Of course the question I have is what trains are you even servicing?  If the only thing this yard originates is two locals on days and two locals on nights and only has one switch engine, they only need servicing every 2nd or 3rd day, what other power are you servicing?

Once again these are the "prototype" questions.  If you want to have every train that passes through stop and refuel its engines to add model railroad action, go for it.

Yikes! Is that what you use in other yards?  A friend of mine used #8's in yard and while it looked beautiful, it was a wooly bear to classify cars, switching from track to track on 8 ft long lead took forever and really cut into the production in the yard.  The UP had a lot of #10 crossovers into yards, and #7's and #8's in the yard itself, so you are using switches even bigger than some prototypes.

If that's your standard, go for it.

The prototype doesn't necessarily and with #8 and #12 switches, don't think its an issue.

How many cabooses are you needing to handle?  You are running 4 locals and yard engine, you said all the through freights have a through block and short block that sets out for those locals, so there wouldn't be more than a half dozen cabooses at any given time.  If you don't have a switcher on the south end, I wouldn't put a caboose track on the south end.  I would put it all on the N end, easier to keep track of things.

I don't have any icing facilities on my layout and there were none on my branch.  But based on what I've read, an iced reefer would last for a day, day and half.  If a train can average 25 mph for 24 hours, that's 600 miles.  Philadelphia to Chicago is 750 miles , New York is 790 miles.  If the train can average  25-30 mph it could make it Phillie to Chicago in 24-36 hrs.  If it can go 28-33 mph  it can make it from New York to Chicago in 24-36 hrs.

Bottom line is, unless something has gone horribly wrong, there shouldn't be a need to ice anything (other than originating loads) on your line.

R&D

Yes and no.  Having working in and around many yards of many sizes over many years, my experience is that smaller yards do not have "designated" receiving or departure yards, its all just the "yard" and trains are put wherever they will fit.

However larger yard definitely DO have receiving and departure yards that are specifically designed to do just that, or at least dedicated departure and receiving tracks.

Those yards in a more modern era will have the tracks, or pairs of tracks, spaced wider with a road between them so carmen's repair carts can drive up and down the tracks to do repairs and maintenance.  Departure tracks will have air lines installed on the last 200 ft or so of the tracks soo the cuts can be charged from "ground air" and air tested without engines on the train.  In the arrival yard they will distribute brake shoes along the tracks so the carmen won't have to carry them in.  arrival and departure tracks may also have permanently mounted, folding blue flags at the clearance points and switch stand that will allow the track to be locked out.  In older yards that spacing wouldn't be that common, but they still had dedicated tracks/yards for inbound trains/cuts.

If you go on Google Books, you can download a copy of John Droege's treatise, "Freight Terminals and Trains" and it is about as comprehensive a volume on the design of steam era yards as you can want.  It was written and 1912 and updated in the 1920's.  In it he discusses both receiving and departure yards, calling them by those names, he also discusses air plants in yards to do air test so that existed for at least the last century.

You can depart a train out of any track, but in a large production classification yard, they generally use R&D tracks for the through freights because of the availability of ground air and the time it takes to work the outbound train.  Model railroaders tend to put the crossover at the lead the "wrong" way to prevent that.  I have only seen one prototype yard designed that way, and it was done for a specific purpose.

We were building a new classification, industry support yard near Baytown, TX and the crossover right before the lead was such that it would be impossible to go from the yard tracks to the main track directly.  I was Asst Trainmaster and I pointed out that it was oriented "wrong" the trainmaster, he said he had specifically required it to be that way, because it forced the crews to switch off the lead.  He didn't want a crew on the main switching into the yard  through the crossover.  Since 90% or more of all the cars that were going to be handled in that yard were hazmat or plastics, not switching through crossover and reducing derailment risk, made perfect sense.

Please help me understand

Where there are yards and what they do depends on what blocks the yards make and how much they can detail block to bypass yards.  If all the through freights do is set out a switch block and pick up a "not here" block, then I would say its not a division point yard.  If trains carry blocks for that yard (regardless of where the cars go) and are reblocked for further destinations, then its a division point yard. For example, back in the 1980's on the UP yards from Houston to Chicago make "N Platte" Block, but virtually none of the cars go to N Platte, they all got to points beyond N Platte, but they are reblocked at N Platte.  

I wouldn't get hung up on the name.  Who cares whether its a division point yard or whatever?  It does what your railroad needs it to do.

For 1953, where I'm still using primarily Steam Locomotives - though the NYC was heavily Dieselized by 1953, I'm tweaking history a bit, and having the P&A take ownership of some of the "retired" NYC Locomotives.  Because of this P&A Management (though controlled by the NYC is still somewhat independent from it) hasn't retired the Steam Fleet yet, though some F3's and FA/B's have been purchased.  They have been assigned to mostly the Northern Division because of the 2-3% grades, and even with the HP available, several trains still need helpers to traverse the division.  The Southwest Division is mostly along the Allegheny River so the grades are 1% or less, and therefore steam is still mostly used.  

Once again these are the "prototype" questions.  If you want to have every train that passes through stop and refuel its engines to add model railroad action, go for it.


I am attempting to avoid the "model railroad" additions and stick with (as much as possible) with prototype practices.  Now and then I may invoke "Rule #1" but i'm trying to keep that at a bare minimum while still having enough excitement and interest in the Operating of the railroad.  

Wouldn't a Steam Locomotive once traversing the Southwest Division need to be serviced - refueled, ash pan dumped, water added, and so on?  In Other words "Turned" - which if I understand the prototype terminology correctly has nothing to do with a ride on the turntable, please correct me if i'm wrong.  

This yard also is at the end of a helper district so Helper engines (most likely sets of A-B-B-A of F Units) though I may use Heavy Mike's as there is a shortage of F Units still in 1953?  So if there are steam locomotives that are going between this yard and about 1/2 way north on the division (to crest the summit so there is a steep grade heading both north and south requiring helpers for heavy trains, especially Lake Coal heading north, but that whole operation should be discussed in a separate thread when the time comes to address that. ;->

 

If that's your standard, go for it.

I find too many issues switching in yards with the #6's.  I had a friend who built a yard using PECO "large radius" turnouts and never had issues with switching.  They look similar to a #8 (frog wise) so I'm hoping using a #8 should improve operations I hope.  The #12's on the mainline are mostly for the passenger cars and long based steam locomotives as going through #8's look horrible.  

My question is, on the model, is the same true?  Maybe it is.  It's something for me to think about.

This leads to me other question in the other thread.  Where cabooses assigned to crews, or were they pooled?  If pooled, then the caboose stays on the train even with the crew changes.  If the Crew's have their own caboose, then the caboose goes with the crew.  Now this is one area where I will divert from being "prototypical".  Once a crew is done with one train, they become a new and different crew so they can take whatever next assignment they select on the Call Board so even if the Crews have assigned cabooses, a model train crew is not stuck for the whole session with that caboose.  But the question of pool vs assigned makes a difference as if they are assigned then crews need a place to park the caboose so they can get their rest before returning to work.  

If any of this is more "model talk" (except for when I mention it) and needs to be corrected to be more reconciled to what really was happening in 1953 for most eastern RR's then please correct me.  This is why I am asking all of these questions! 

I don't have any icing facilities on my layout and there were none on my branch.  But based on what I've read, an iced reefer would last for a day, day and half.  If a train can average 25 mph for 24 hours, that's 600 miles.  Philadelphia to Chicago is 750 miles , New York is 790 miles.  If the train can average  25-30 mph it could make it Phillie to Chicago in 24-36 hrs.  If it can go 28-33 mph  it can make it from New York to Chicago in 24-36 hrs.

Bottom line is, unless something has gone horribly wrong, there shouldn't be a need to ice anything (other than originating loads) on your line.



Thanks again. I have learned a great deal! 

Ken L. 

Crew Changes

Another question.  It looks to be about 70 miles from Erie to Franklin and about 80 miles from Franklin to Pittsburgh.  Would there really be a crew change there?  For every train you are going to pay the crews 200 miles to operate 150 miles.  Even at 10 mph average, it would take less than 8 hours to run from Franklin to Erie.  Even at 5 mph average (a brisk walk) you could go from Franklin to Erie in less than the hours of service.

Either your road is hideously slow or goes in an incredibly circuitous route (taking 100 miles to go 70) or the crew have a LOT of time left over after their run.  Is your intent to double the crews back?  For example a train operates from Erie to Franklin then gets on train going back from Franklin to Erie and ties up, or vice versa (same Franklin to Pittsburgh).

Reefers

The waybill.

Normal there was an SOP.  Reefers traveled on train #108.  When train #108 arrives the yard, all the reefers who waybills indicate service that requires icing enroute on train #108 are taken to the ice dock and iced.  The yard clerical/yardmaster forces would determine which cars went to be iced.  Since the reefers travel on train #108, the dispatch office knows that train #108 has reefers, if train #108 is badly delayed the dispatch office coordinates with the superintendent to arrange for an alternate service.

Mechanical reefers, the yard forces would see if the reefer was running and report it bad order.  They were fueled at set locations (but could run a week or so rather than a day or two for the ice reefers.)

Aside:  back when I worked in Houston, if there was a hurricane forecast to come ashore, on the first things was to start tracing for empty reefers in the affected area and we would grab those reefers and send 1 to each of the major outlying yards.  We didn't want to keep anything cold, they just had a generator that could produce 110 volt electricity and if the power went out the B&B would hook them up to the depot to keep the lights, radios and computer lines in the depot operating.

Grades

Forgot about the helpers with the question on servicing.  Also confusion about the term "turning power".  I thought you were referring to physically rotating engines/consists end for end (wye or turntable) and you were meaning just to turn the power back without changing the physical orientation of the engine.

Here's another purpose for your yard :  tonnage adjustment.

Trains would arrive and set out or pick up cuts of cars in order to balance the tonnage to the locomotives with the territory.  You might have a SWD train or two terminate at the yard, then use that tonnage to fill out other trains.  Similarly NWD trains might reduce tonnage at the yard and then extras/section would be operated over the hills.

Another option would be to put a couple track yard at the top of the hill, especially if you cut out the helpers short.  Turns would carry tonnage to the top of the hill and then a train would fill a the top with additional tonnage for the downgrade trip.

Here's the broader context for the RR

Something here isn’t adding up.  The route run is across mountains.  So it does not run at relatively fast speeds.  The NKP which runs across mostly (if not all) FLAT land with only minor grades have division of 200 miles.  So with having to deal with adding helpers (for most trains) and the much slower speeds, the amount of time it takes to traverse the Northern Division is the same as what it would take a NKP train to travers from say Franfort, IN to Charleston, IL.  

What about the time needed to refuel for coal and water along the way?  Setting retainers at the start and end of the helper district?  All these things add time.  So what am I misunderstanding? 

If I can get away with creating two divisions, instead of 3, I could model more of the P&A which would be awesome. 

OK.  I was attempting to keep things simple when asking some questions, but I need to dig deeper into the weeds to explain things.  So I’m sorry for the long answer here but hopefully it provides better context.

The Southwest Division actually does not just include the line to Pittsburgh.  The track to Pittsburgh actually is a Subdivision that runs from a Jct. 24 miles northeast of PA along the Allegheny River to Pittsburgh.

The Southwest Division actually is 110 miles running along the east bank of the Allegheny River and the north bank of the Kiskiminetas River eventually reaching the end of the Southwest Division in a fictional town called East Connellsville.  The actual location is still in flux.  I was thinking of an area around Somerset, but I’m still researching that.  The Southeast Division goes from this point where it reaches the South Penn ROW to eventually terminate in Harrisburg where it primarily interchanges with the Reading RR and others.   

To dig a bit deeper into the weeds, the Original P&A main was to go from Lake Erie to Pittsburgh, using in part the original Allegheny Valley RR that was supposed to run from Pittsburgh to Oil City, PA which the investors for the P&A acquired when the AVR went bankrupt (instead of the PRR acquiring it) and they extended the line north from Franklin to South Erie.  The South Penn ROW becomes available to the P&A during the 1920s.   There is a long back story explaining how the NYC eventually acquires the P&A. 

So with all that context, what would be a more realistic plan for where the ends of each division should be?  I know there is Rule #1, but my enjoyment, in part, comes from a positive review of those who know the real railroads very well, and say to me what I have designed and built is believable!  So thanks!

Reefers - a bit confused...

So would every yard have an ice platform to handle such a situation?  If yes, then I need to add one to each yard, if not, I need to figure which yards should have one and which ones do not need one.  

Thanks.

Ken L.

Ice docks

No.  Icing platforms were relatively rare by the 1950's.  Mostly on the major perishable routes.  How much perishable business that needs refrigeration do you originate?

My story answers the question "how did they know to ice the reefers?".  They ice the reefers  at point A and then the train goes 500 miles.  BY SCHEDULE the train gets again iced at M.  It goes by 10 other yards that have no icing facilities because it BY SCHEDULE ices at A and M.  The yard at E doesn't even consider icing it because it gets iced at A and M.   Not their job.  It doesn't have an ice dock because it doesn't originate perishable loads.  The yard at J has an icing dock because there is a meat packing plant there.  However the yard at J doesn't ice the train because it BY SCHEDULE ices at A and M, not J.  Unless disaster strikes the yard at J won't even consider icing the train because BY SCHEDULE the train ices at A and M.

Railroads like to do the same thing every day.

Thanks for the clarification...

..on the Reefer question.

Not much originates on the P&A. But cars heading eat to Philadelphia via the P&A from either Erie, though most likely Pittsburgh to Harrisburg then on the Reading to reach it's destination might need ice at some point.  The question is where.  If reefers were iced in Chicago for instance, would they reice in Pittsburgh or Harrisburg along this trip.  

With your additional information, I don't need to worry about ice platforms for this yard. Though depending on answers from my other post I might not need this yard at all and I can model perhaps more of the entire RR, though that would mean increasing the Factor of actual scale miles to simulated scale miles.  What I mean is for every actual scale mile (in HO scale that is about 61 Feet) it represents 5 actual miles (if I did the math right).  This is accomplished using 3 decks, with the mainline mostly being on 6-9" deep shelves (except for towns and yards).  If I increased that to a 1:10 ratio, I could possibly fit the entire run from South Erie To Pittsburgh and to Harrisburg.

Thanks again.

Ken L 

Division point

A division point is the boundary between divisions or subdivisions, and thus crew districts.  They are not local yards or classification yards.  They need a place to park several trains while they wait for new crews and maybe power and caboose swaps.  (Just waiting on a fresh crew can take many hours.)  As such you  need to think of most of the yard as arrival departure tracks.  Therefore they need straight access to the mainline.

Some limited block swapping might be done at a division point yard, but that won't be its main purpose.

Big division point yards are classification yards and are made up of several subyards, one of which will be a local yard.  Most division point yards will have a few shorter tracks used as the local yard, and they might have their own switch lead.  Outbound trains built in the local yard will probably be set over into a departure track for inspection and to lace up the air hoses and, if yard air is available, charge the brakes.

Ken, your yard would be located near Pennsylvania's oil fields, and even in the 1950s I would expect there to be a reasonable amount of refined products moving by rail.

Scott Chatfield

Going to start a new thread on Length of Divsions.

I want to continue the discussion of this particular yard but also want to dig deeper (and bring more attention to it in the Thread Title, so I'm going to copy my "In the weeds" post to start it.

Thanks all

Ken L. 

Hi Scott!

It's been a long time since we seen each other.  I missed seeing you at the NMRA Conventions! Though I have missed the last few myself.  

I need to ask, are you speaking from a more modern perspective, or was this the case typically for the 1950s.  I ask because Franfort, IN was a yard that had  four divisions or subdivisions radiating out of Frankfort: Toledo Div. (2nd Sub) and Sandusky Div. to the east, and Peoria Div. and St. Louis Div. Symbol ("fast") freights arriving in Frankfort were well blocked, and they typically were allotted something like 20 minutes for the engines to be serviced or changed, cabooses changed, shorts (cars for stations short of the next division point) or propers (Frankfort cars) to be removed, and throughs to be added.

Not saying you are wrong, just trying to make sure I understand the correct context and see what I am misunderstanding.  Thanks!

Ken L. 

How long is a string?

If you know the answer to that one you will know how long a division is.

The Nickel Plate was not typical

In the 1950s the "basic day" was 100 miles.  It was based on the idea that a train could go 100 miles in 12 hours, which is an average of 8.5mph.  Blazing.... 

Now consider that a fair number of trips took the full 16 hours allotted by the Hours Of Service Law and you can see things did not happen fast on a lot of railroads.

In the 1970s it was a big deal that the "basic day" was extended all the way out to 108 miles, and now with the Hours of Service reduced to 12 hours, plus deferred maintenance, lots of trains "died on the Law."  See "Cotton Belt".  Still blazing ....

Now a lot of a crew's day is spent getting out of their origin and waiting to get into their terminal.  Always has been.  Not a new problem.

I'm not saying the Nickel Plate didn't expedite trains through Frankfort, Indiana, but it was definitely the exception.  It was one of the biggest yards on the NKP, so it wasn't just a division point yard.  But let's consider what it would take to do all that work in just 20 minutes.

First, swapping engines.  To do so that quickly means the new crew has already been on duty a while and has their engine in position to replace the inbound engine.  Most railroads didn't even call the new crew until they saw the whites of the inbound's eyes, so to speak.  That means the train isn't leaving for at least three hours.

Same is true for the caboose and the rear end crew, which have to be moved by a yard job.

Now we're swapping a block or two.  To do it this fast we will have to switch with air, which takes more time per move.  And this work is done by yard crews, not road crews.  Sounds like they had several crews waiting on this train.  

Scott Chatfield

PS: haven't been to an NMRA convention in years.  RPM meets took their place for me.  I've found that two days of clinics is about all my back and tush can handle....

Thanks for clarifying Scott!

That helps!

Hope to see you at the Chicagoland RPM  and/or the Cocoa Beach RPM meet in January when they resume!!

Ken L.