I have finished all of the track work on my Donner Summit layout! It's micro-engineering code 83 flex with fast tracks turnouts. I built all the number 6's because I have the jig and I had Cream City build the rest 8's, 5's and a curved turnout. I have a lot of feeders to add to keep the track running reliably.

I also need to add one more town on the NCNGRR HOn3 branch. Now I am thinking about how I want to do my operations. I just had a chance to run on Don Mitchell's home layout. He uses colored tabs which he learned at the feet of the master John Allen when he operated the Gorre and Daphetid. I really liked the system and am thinking I will use that for the NCNGRR and the local freights on the SP. I won't go into how the system works but suffice to say that a tab with four colors on the roof of the car tells you which town and industry the car should be moved to. When the car arrives the tab is moved to set it up for it's next move.

The rest of the trains will be through freights and passenger trains. The passenger trains will be on a timetable. The freights will be run as extras but leaving staging on a timetable to be made up at each session according to what is available in staging attach end of the layout. I.e. It will be necessary to restate the passenger trains between sessions so they are at the correct starting position, but freights will be left where they end at beach session. No colored tabs would be needed for these trains and they will essentially operate as unit trains - there won't be any switching of the cars on these trains.

I also need to get the dcc control system wired up. It will use a jmri wireless server which will be acceded by iPods, ipads, iPhones and android phones. This will provide the radio walk around throttles. On the layout end I am going to use a SPROG connected to about 5 dcc boosters og my own design.

I am hoping to have a first op session in a few months. Let you know how it goes! Duncan