Operation and maintenance
Waybill & Car Cards: a "new" concept for JMRI Operations
I must say the Tony Thompson approach to Waybills push me to think about the standard CC&WB in a different perspective. And when I start a discussion with a member of JMRI Yahoo group the idea takes shape:
Why don't integrate both documents key informations in a single card: a "Waycard" ?
Simulating communications by train crew to dispatcher when not near a station circa early 1950s
To set things in context, I am referring to a time period before the use of radios, when railroads used a telephone based system for communication between the Dispatcher and station agent/operators.
Water Tank Cars
Does anyone know where I can find prototype operating particles for Southern Pacific water tank cars, I know they were used on the Siskiyou Line but were they used on the cascade Line or at Niles Canyon and Altamont Pass.
When were they used and for what purpose, where were they stored when not in use ? I'm sure there is a web site out there with all this information so if someone could point me in the right direction it would be greatly appreciated.
Reading Car Numbers/Reporting Marks
I've a question for those experienced operators out there. I placed my sidings and yard tracks 2 to 2 1/4 inches apart, which from everything I've read is pretty much standard for HO scale. Now that I have most of the track in my major town area up and running, I've noticed that it is really difficult to see car numbers on cars on parallel tracks if both tracks have cars on them.
My question is, how do experienced operators deal with this problem?
Thanx in advance!
George
Where did bricks get delivered from Brickyards circa 1940s and 1950s
In the midwest especially, brickyards were served by railroads. Box cars would be loaded with bricks. But I can't seem to find information as to where there destination was. There were no Home Depots or Lowes back then, and I would highly doubt fully loaded box cars of bricks would be delivered to their final destination (i.e. the bricklayer). So where did they go for a brick laying company would go and buy them?
Any additional information would be appreciated.
Ken L
Signals on the Original V&O
Does anyone know/remember how Allen McClelland made the signals on his original V&O layout? Were they commercial, kitbashed, or completely scratchbuilt?
I want to eventually signal my Midland Atlantic layout and have always been a fan of Pennsy positional light signals, however, they just don't seem to fit in with my layout out concept. I've always liked the signals on the original V&O and thought that might be the way to go, but the price of built up signals similar to the ones Allen used are, shall we say, "cost prohibitive".
What are your operations basics?
I know some folks have large to very large layouts and use the schedule of the prototype. For myself, and others, who do not have a prototype, and have a very small layout, please tell me about your operations setup.
My layout plan:
Operation on a switching layout.
I am working on a 2' wide shelf industrial layout (8' x 10' x 5') and am wondering if there is a lower limit to the number of customer spots that are needed to keep the layout from becoming boring to operate. The current design has 22 customers with a total of 56 car spots. I have a four track fiddle yard to supply the layout that holds 34 cars. This is a post depression USRA era layout based on an actual prototype (NKP). The prototype had over forty customer spots in a rather tight area (roughly 5 blocks by 10 blocks), so dense trackage and buildi
Prototype HO Signals
I model in HO and I am looking for information to build my own target signals (single light). Does anyone know what the correct prototype size is for led's (3 mm, 5 mm, etc.) in signals? It appears the size in some of the commercially available ones are too large and do not look like the prototype.
Thanks.
Cars for the freight house
I'm writing waybills for my layout and stumble across many questions. Maybe you could help:
The biggest station on my layout is a small town along a freelanced branch line of the Pennsylvania Railroad. There will be a freight house. There won't be more than two incoming cars each day.
Now I'm wondering how the LCL-traffic in a small town could look like:
A few captive cars between my station and one or two hubs for LCL (one north staging, one south staging)?
Only or almost only PRR-cars?
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