The situation

Last year I solicited the input of MRH forum members on designs for this section of our model railroad, and I am well pleased with the outcome. I tested the design by mocking it up in Trainz and making sure it could receive an inbound train of empty reefers and full freight, pull loaded reefers from packing sheds, transfer freshly iced reefers to the sheds, shove empties onto the icing rack, assemble an outbound train of reefers full of produce, turn the locomotive, and depart. And so on. 

The photo shows the structural scheme - notice the two-track staging channel dead center in the image. That’s the solution inspired by Dave Husman (if it’s a disaster it’s my fault, not his!) that avoided a really nasty mess with close clearance hidden staging under the main deck. 

Because I’ve prioritized the experiences of my students, building that chunk of model railroad has been a very rewarding, enriching, educational, and excruciating endeavor. You know the formula for planning a bathroom remodel (estimated time x 3 = minimum time required)? The formula for building a model railroad with twelve-year-olds is x 8. At best. 

But somehow we got to this point and are ready to lay track. I’ve got all the Micro Engineering turnouts and pre-weathered flex track I need, plus joiners and spikes. And since the entire branch represents a Beebe & Clegg - ish branch, the ballast profile is virtually flat on grade, and the model roadbed is glorious homosote, truly a pleasure to drive spikes into (apologies to my caulking colleagues).

Then BAM, quarantine, no school, no students. 

Jeff Allen

I'm doing it

I’m sorry students, I just can’t wait. If we’re lucky maybe classes will resume before the end of the school year. Operating this terminal branch is the experience I’ve been holding out to you since you started working on it last year, and I’d like you to have that experience if and when you return.

So I’m moving ahead with the tracklaying and feeder wiring without you. Sniff.

Jeff Allen

6 weeks here in WA

In Ohio...

They're saying till at least April 3rd. I'm thinking that's pretty optimistic.

You should be able to keep the kids posted on the progress... and ask/answer questions... online.... just like you do here. Just because you can't meet in person doesn't mean they can't participate!

How about videos

Go ahead and proceed but video and post almost daily.  Script out what you are going to do so you have reference materials for later on.  Sounds like a great series of vids.  Have fun.  Russ

Well IF....

IF it turns out things really fall into a deep hole and school is shut down for months offer them a way to drop in and see how things progressed and a chance to operate.

Then again if this happens school make up time is going to be happening.

Jack

Youtube Live??

Hi Jeff,

From memory Skype video I think is limited to about 10 participants, but something like Youtube Live at a couple of nominated times might be an option for say 1/2-hour to 1-hour duration. Questions can asked and answered in chat and a video camera on a tripod  could show track laying, electrical testing, test run (loco only and then with a train). For something like electrical testing, explain what you want to see as result as well as what you don't want to see (positive and negative testing) 

This might be an option that might work for you and your students?  

Want to draw a pretty map of my layout using Adobe Illustrator

Any quick advice...I have downloaded Illustrator but not that easy to use I find...

When magazines print an article about a private layout...what software are they using?

Is there a "plugin" to add?

Illustrator

I know that MR uses Illustrator with some custom plug-ins. And frankly, they pump out the best looking track plans going. 

I actually don't know what we use - that's probably a JoeF thing. 

I've seen references elsewhere about using SCARM or 3rdPlanit. 

You could blame the state for...

shutting down rail operation due to the virus,as was dome in NM and the Railrunner commuter rail service.

the service shutdown was announced last fri,as was the state wide school shutdown.

Adobe Illustrator

School shutdown - parents view

Hi,

we're facing school shutdown, too, in parts of central Europe. During the last day of school the kids received a load of homework, so we sat down with our kid and made a plan for this week. Even though we know the subjects our kid is being taught, we don't know much about the teaching. I do expect a lot of variation across the kids in the class - which means the whole bunch will have to be covered again once the school re-opens.

There is the other thing - we are supposed to work from home, but the kids have to be cared for (and taught!). We effectively got kids at home for 15+ weeks this year - and we don't have enough leave to take care of school holidays before the closing. We think it would have been better to take days (weeks) out of the spring and summer school holidays and move them to right now.

Now we are supposed to stay at home, but anyone with small kids knows the reality of that. Playgrounds have been closed which means the same kids will play out on the street in front of the playground - putting our kids into more danger than by having them on the playground in the first place...

The only good thing - I have more time to try and do model railroading with the kids - who are in a bad mood as they're not able to get their daily fix of being around their friends at school

Stay healthy!

a moment of bliss

So I did it. In between posting student assignments, checking them in, and answering questions by email I found enough small chunks of time over the last two days to get all of the feeders hooked up for the Day Branch.

These t-tap connectors made it extremely quick and easy. I'm squeezing in up to three 22 gage feeders per connector, a trade off when it comes to trouble shooting, but so far they've been fine. That twisted pair of 16 gage solid conductor was a two day project for a couple of eleven-year-olds (it's over 80 feet long).  

Then I polished up the rails, threw out a handful of cars and pulled into town with a short train of empties. Turned the caboose and the locomotive, made my spots and picked up my loads, reassembled the train and pulled out of  town. 

OK, plywood pacific but still very satisfying for me to finally run the layout that has been a figment of my imagination for so long. 

Several of you have proposed sharing video with my students - interestingly today's videoconference staff meeting was all about cutting down on the amount of screen time kids are having to deal with during "distance learning." It really is a deluge, no doubt about it. It's ok, there's still plenty of pencil and paper math to do!

Jeff Allen

There may be concerns about "screen time" , but how many hours

would they be doing in class if the school was open?  Is there any way to teach with less screen time than normal class time?  I know that my daughters have been concerned about my grand kids spending too much time on screens before the school closures, but in a quarantine situation where they can't go outside to play with their friends, screen time may be the only break parents get!

I think you should post a video or perhaps a few short videos.  Certainly building or seeing a model railroad built is educational, but it would also be a fun time to break up some of the monotony of the quarantine. 

  we're facing school

My wife is a nanny for 5 kids in northern virginia, basically the west suburbs of metropolitan Washington DC (or the national capital region).  What shocks me is they or off school for many weeks and apparently no home work and no learning stuff for home.  And people wonder why kids educated overseas come here and get the jobs requiring high academic achievement.  Here the parents are all high earners but are allow the children to live on video games and ipads and stay up half the night.  It's shocking.

Here they cancel school if they see a snow flake or it's a bit too cold and windy.  They cancel school for teacher blah blah days.  Then they are out for fairly long summer breaks. 

Now with the shut down for the Corona virus kids are going to have little if any school work and be bored out of their minds and drive their parent up a tree.  I doubt when things settle down they will do to school in the summer to make up for the lost weeks or months.  Noooo...  they'll just start up at the end of summer and be even further behind.

Again, is it no wonder people come from other countries like India an Asia and take the good jobs.  We have only ourselves to blame.

I do feel sorry for the parents trying to work from home and screaming very 10 minutes and the kids who are bored and restless and misbehaving.

very satisfying for me

And that my friend is all that's important!  If it makes you feel good to see a train running and doing shunting / switching, then congrats for that major milestone.  Russ

Thanks Russ B, you're right. And thanks C Russ too!

I agree, and the social element is very powerful. What I started doing last night is sharing pictures that I took over the past two school years of them working on the railroad, in many cases components of the Day Branch pictured above, as a connector to pictures of what's starting to happen without them. 

And short videos will be a natural extension of that. But I want to be wary of tantalizing them with the hands-on fun that they're missing. 

Jeff Allen

Plywood pacific

Getting to the point you can operate it is great progress!  Hope your students can enjoy it vicariously.

Students at home

How about a student challenge.  Make a tree with you making the first one and showing the video, paint a person again with you doing it first, make a structure using stuff around the house, carboard etc, with video first.  When school starts again they can place their projects on the layout and then make a back-to-school video.  They can all watch the video with some pride and tell their friends 'I made that'!.  Sounds like a really fun and unique teaching aid.  Russ

@Jim F

I don't want to get too far off topic here, but I want to clarify some of your concerns as I'm a teacher in WA state that for 6 weeks can't provide instruction to my students because of Federal and State laws. If I provide instruction, the school district then becomes liable for teaching ALL students, this means the 3 year old Special ED kid that goes to preschool for an hour and half each day to learn social skills, to the 12 year old Special ED kid that is wheelchair bound and can't communicate.

Unless a school district is willing to subject themselves to lawsuits for violating FEDERAL and STATE LAWS, they can't provide instruction. We were given 2 days to create review packets for kids. Some schools got 2 hours of notice... We can't grade any of the assignments because that is related to 'instruction'. Yes it sucks, and trust me many teachers don't like it. But this is an unusal circumstance that is taking place across the nation, so ever student will behind next year.

Rant over, back to trains...

Craig 

State and federal laws don't apply the same way ...

when you're a private school, so I doubt that's a concern.

And frankly, this is one time i would agree with playwright George Chapman, who in 1654 said presciently "The law is an ass"

Here in Georgia there are

Here in Georgia there are several systems shut down (including our county) but all the teachers are putting lessons online, grading assignments, etc. I've heard no mention of any Federal law that pertains to this. Perhaps it deals specifically with Special Education students?   

Note: my wife is a teacher and it has been very intense trying to convert from classroom  teaching to online virtually overnight.

Some laws are for normal times

Last comment on schools and services....

I will refrain from posting more instead of derailing this thread. But I just wanted to link to show everyone that I'm not just speaking nonsense...

From the National Association of Special Education Teachers, from the Department of Education.

"If an LEA (local education agency aka school district) closes its schools to slow or stop the spread of COVID-19, and does not provide any educational services to the general student population, then an LEA would not be required to provide services to students with disabilities during that same period of time....

"If an LEA continues to provide educational opportunities to the general student population during a school closure, the school must ensure that students with disabilities also have equal access to the same opportunities, including the provision of FAPE. (34 CFR §§ 104.4, 104.33 (Section 504) and 28 CFR § 35.130 (Title II of the ADA)). SEAs, LEAs, and schools must ensure that, to the greatest extent possible, each student with a disability can be provided the special education and related services identified in the student’s IEP developed under IDEA, or a plan developed under Section 504. (34 CFR §§ 300.101 and 300.201 (IDEA), and 34 CFR § 104.33 (Section 504))...." (bolding/underline mine). 

https://www.naset.org/index.php?id=5424&fbclid=IwAR2rtgGZLkCQULB9JrbBAhGV5H6m9mWbYmi4xe79LQxR9tweI0Jo6ulyWdc

It's a whole lot easier for a school district not to provide services for any student during an extended closure than attempt to do so and miss providing a service to a Special Ed student. 

Is it right or wrong? I don't know. That's a debate for a forum somewhere other than this forum...

Rant over... And sorry for the derailment. 

Craig