The Allagash

This past fall Mike C was on the Crew Call podcast with Mike R...

The conversation was on the Allagash operating without the usual bunch of operators during Covid. Very good convo, its something I suspect I will have to deploy someday when I get to that level. But like you mentioned I think layout design plays a part. The Allagash is not a double main with unit trains etc. Even on a larger railroad I think one can still scale up or down depending on operators. I guess knowing your crew size is important in planning and could save a lot of money and space if you know it might be just a couple of friends each time

Interactions

Interesting question.  I think that may be generally true.  Although I’d bet any all switching operation you find that can support multiple crews has at least some designed in interactions.

It may also depend on constraints that have been built into the layout.  For example, all running layout may be intended to operate with a dispatcher.  If there are turnouts that can only be controlled from the dispatcher’s panel, that could be a problem if you need to scale down a session.  If you want to stick with a fixed schedule and car routing, it’s going to be harder to scale than if you’re willing to shuffle waybills and change thing up a little to keep an interesting operation for a smaller crew.

....

We have people finally trying out the idea of Remote Operations and for those who are doing it, it's working well enough to enjoy the hobby.  Presently it's done with two man teams, one remote engineer running the power and a local conductor/brakeman/switchman managing the freight, but it's a beginning.

Middle Layouts

My last layout was one of the "middle" layouts you referred to.  There was a lot of interaction between the local switching freights, and the through freights that transversed the mainline.  Those who came for op sessions seemed to enjoy those interactions very much.  

That being said, I also ran solo ops, or ops with less than a full crew.  While the interplay of trains was somewhat lessened, it didn't seem to diminish anyone's enjoyment.  What may have helped though was that I designed the layout with a continuous running mainline loop.  During op sessions with less than a full crew, (and sometimes even with a full crew) or when running solo ops, I always had a train that continuously circulated the mainline and had superiority over all other trains on the layout.  Local crews and other mainline trains always had to clear for the "circulator".  This made scaling back operations seem less drastic and preserved the feel of those train interactions everyone enjoyed. 

operating without the usual bunch of operators

any layout can be operated alone if one just uses sequence operation. No clock, slow or fast. You do one thing at  a time in specified order at whatever speed you feel like doing it. Where ever you stop on tuesday night is where you continue from on saturday afternoon. I think your available space, your hobby budget,  and your tolerance for spending time layout building are better factors to consider than operations when planning how big to make your layout.  My under construction layout could keep up to five operators busy but I'll be running it by myself most times.....DaveB

It depends how it is set up, 

It depends how it is set up,  I have trains that only interact with themselves like the PFE train,  it can run or not,  the PFE cars sitting at the 6 packing houses will just not move but will move next time the PFE train is run, as it only deals with itself.  

The Grain Shuttle needs to run but it can be done off line as it makes one stop and exchanges cars at Gila Springs only once during the operating session going to TX on one session then going to CA on the other session for the return trip. 

As long as the transfer runs get done everything else for the locals work out,  If the transfers can not be run,  I can do it after the session or before if I know in advanced I will be short on crew.  

Available space

I don’t know if this fits your original thought but when I designed my track plan the size of my room and the type of operating controlled the whole process. I was hit with a severe reality check over what I wanted and what I could do, it turned out that minimum curve radius and aisle width added an additional constraint. Yes I had to eat my pride but I was forced to rethink the whole project. As far as scalability that was baked in meaning I can operate by myself but that is only switching for an op session I need four people, a dispatcher, yardmaster, and two(one person) operators. In short these considerations and more need to be considered during the design phase and I think this is where a lot of folk get stuck or intimidated. I’m still learning and have a way to go but I’m enjoying the ride.

Bill

We scale operations on the

We scale operations on the Missabe by not running to one (or two) of the 4 major north end ore yards. Each route has road ops, local switching (as said above, do it, or don't) but ore sorting and the Proctor Hill Ore and Dock jobs need to operated to avoid constipation.  That said, since the car volume is reduced, the Hill and Dock jobs can be combined.