Yard operation
Now to talk about the operation of the yard. This is a Terminal Yard not a Major Classification Yard. Trains coming in and going out are taking loads and empties to this location or from this location. Through trains will stop for Crew and in some cases Power changes as well as caboose changes and then be sent on their way with the consist intact. That gives me the reason to model the main engine terminal on the system as several junctions are near by and it is convenient for nearly all motive power to make an occasion trip to this terminal at least quarterly. I will also address staging requirements for the railroad and how they will affect operations.
There will also be ways for the operation to evolve as things go so one is not locked rigidly in place.
Quick review of the physical capabilities Hansmann Yard. Each track will be able to hold a 50 car train. This number is important for a couple of reasons, one is I like long trains. My steam Locomotives are mostly able to pull a 50 car train on any grade I will have with only two exceptions and I may get them to that point if not they will be double headed or will work as one pulling and one pushing. Secondly it determines the length of passing tracks and staging tracks which must be matched to train length if the railroad is to remain fluid. One real railroads the operating department would limit train length in many cases not by what could be pulled but by what would fit in the passing track.
As a humorous note on the Virginian sometimes passenger trains would go into the siding to let coal trains pass because they were too long for any siding and it was easier to stop and start a two or three car passenger train than a 200 car coal train. The Virginian knew where the money came from.
The layout can handle a maximum of 14 tracks in width. One main, one passing, eleven classification, and one thoroughfare tracks. The main is the main and will not be blocked except for a through train doing a crew change and if no others are scheduled before it's expected departure. Siding will handle some inbound trains. Out bounds will depart from the tracks they are made up on.
We will address merchandise trains first which will arrive early in the am and depart after midnight. I will go into this in more detail as we go. There will be eight of these trains and I will list them by railroad and destination. Since I am modeling a short section of railroad and have no desire to run a fast clock we will go real time. The time to get from the yard to the designated staging track will be around 15 minutes or less real time. Trains will depart on 15 minute headway.
1200 am start
Virginian and Lake Erie Railroad
50 cars Wheeling to Kenova
50 cars Wheeling to Toledo
50 Cars Wheeling to Cleveland
50 Cars Wheeling to Pittsburgh
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
50 cars Wheeling to Pittsburgh
50 cars Wheeling to Columbus/Cincinnati
Pennsylvania Railroad
50 cars Wheeling to Pittsburgh
50 cars Wheeling to Columbus
As can be seen 400 cars in eight trains will leave and go to eight staging tracks and the previous eight filled Yard tracks will be empty by 0200 hours. They will be ready to receive and classify in bound trains of a like number which will be broken down into eight local trains.
Starting at 0215 Trains will begin arriving and will begin to be broken up by two switch crews working at each end of the yard. The in bounds will as they arrive and each crew will have around 30 minutes to break the train down into its new train.
Virginian and Lake Erie Railroad
50 cars Kenova to Wheeling
50 cars Toledo to Wheeling
50 cars Cleveland to Wheeling
50 cars Pittsburgh to Wheeling
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
50 cars Pittsburgh to Wheeling
50 cars Columbus/Cincinnati to Wheeling
Pennsylvania Railroad
50 cars Pittsburgh to Wheeling
50 cars Columbus to Wheeling
By 0500 all inbound trains should be switched into the required trains and the locals can begin to depart for their respective destinations. Four locals (200 cars) will go to off layout destinations and end up on staging tracks. These locals cars will be used in the next days session as returns. Four locals (200 cars) will go to on layout destinations and be exchanged for pick ups to be delivered to other destinations that will return to the yard at the end of business day. There will be some exceptions to this the grocery and freight house districts will be drops in the am and will be picked up after 5 pm. This will get them into the yard on time for the same day departure. Locomotives will leave drop and return light and later in the day leave light and return with a train. Two of the locals will be more in the normal mode of operation and will take longer to complete their runs.
While the local trains are in a slower level of activity the mill switchers can access trackage rights to make runs between plants and to access the mineral yard. This activity has three windows about 8 hours apart. During the night when the activity is limited to switching and out bound and inbound main line trains the mill switchers have an easy time of it and during the time after most of the locals have completed their work in the afternoon and evening most activity will be in the yard. During the day after the early morning and before the late afternoon rush from the locals they will also have time for intrer-plant moves. In plant switching can go on all day independent of activity on the rest of the railroad.
Four locals will arrive from staging to be made up into out bound trains. These trains will likely begin arriving after 3pm and all be in the yard by 6pm. The four locals from staging will switch to a different consist form what the departed with as their will be two tracks in staging for each train one from and one two the terminal. The trains will then be different each time from and two the yard. From 6 pm till midnight 2 crews will switch the returning locals into the eight out bound trains for each railroad.
Now in light of the yard activity being mostly after three pm and before seven am the seven to three time period would be a good time to have through trains and mineral trains arriving at the yard. Through trains will often have power changed and cabooses and will go from staging track to staging track. The actual train cars can be reused and can become different trains as they are not switched on the modeled portion of the railroad. Just a power and caboose change in staging results in a new train and really multiplies the freight car roster.
We addressed eight merchandise trains and the locals that would be made up from them. Now lets look to the mineral trains. One each as needed will be run, coal, ore, limestone to the tracks in the yard. Trains will be in 50 car lengths and can be loaded or unloaded to depict the proper aspect by using removable loads. One staging track will be needed to load the empty train so it can return as a load. Three trains in the Hansmann yard will take turns using two staging tracks.
Through trains will only have to change crews and or power/caboose and crews and run from staging to staging. Because of this we can reuse the freight cars and only change the power and caboose for it to represent multiple trains. They can be run at any time during a session that has more operators than trains or on occasion to force other trains to clear a path for them and add to the operating session.
Good times for this would be during the arrival and departure times of the merchandise trains. If for example the yard is getting behind working in a through train could slow down the arrival of the next in bound for a few minutes and keep the yard fluid while providing a reason to hold a main line train.
Through trains to run, can happen when ever the traffic permits or when activity is below what is needed:
Piggy back that can run between Pittsburgh/Kenova, Toledo/Kenova, Cleveland/Kenova, and returns so one through train can actually become six different trains.
Merchandise train that can run between Pittsburgh/Kenova, Toledo/Kenova, Cleveland/Kenova, and returns so one through train can actually become six different trains.
Now there will also be mineral trains that are through trains and will allow me to run some 100 car trains since they need not be switched or even unloaded. They will run from staging to staging and will represent trains going to the following destinations. Coal will go from Kenova to All destinations. Limestone to Pittsburgh and Cleveland from Kenova or South of Wheeling. Ore from Toledo and Cleveland to Pittsburgh and Kenova. Empties from Pittsburgh to all locations. Coal can run from North of Wheeling South to Kenova.
So by using 4 100 car hopper trains I can run all kinds of long mineral traffic to run through the modeled portion with nothing more than a crew change and power and caboose change. These mineral trains will force all other trains into the sidings so that they may clear the railroad. They can represent as many trains as needed because they will not be switched on the modeled portion of the line.
That will also help with my need for long trains and they will be available to run when ever.
All this activity will require a total of 28 staging tracks which can be fitted in under the visible portion of the layout.
By using real time the operating session can be started and stopped where ever it ends and the clock just has a start time adjusted to reflect the time on the railroad. If a 4 hour session is used it will actually take 6 sessions to compete an entire day of work and the repetitive nature of some of the cars will be forgotten.
Not all of the trains will need to be run for a functional railroad or even exist but can be adopted as rolling stock is amassed. Once about 600 to 800 cars are in service very interesting sessions can be put into service. And much less will actually provide enjoyment and fun. I would think 400 cars could provide lots of fun and I already have more than that.
The sessions and layout should be able to keep one to eight guys busy on an operating session and the jobs can be tailored to how many folks arrive. For example if one figures a normal session would have more than six folks and be 4 hours long and only two show up you could break the session down into several one hour sessions and stop the trains one is working on after a shorter interval and move on to other trains that should be in the same interval and run them performing the task that they would do according to their schedule.
Another option would be to run the through trains or the steel mill switchers. It should be quite easy to fit the trains to the number of guys that show up weather it is one or eight.
Sorry no pictures to look at for this one but there will be more in later posts.
The layout will be able to handle more than 1200 cars before being clogged and will have the ability to operate with much less.
Next up the first steel mills along the line.