Operation and maintenance
Operational Mishap
Now that the track and wiring on my N&W Pocahontas District are completed I couldn't resist having a friend over for the first operating session. For better or worse, my friend has very little knowledge about real trains, or even model railroads, but he's shown interest in the layout, so I thought I'd give him a try.
Does setting up for ops have to be hard?
Does setting up for ops need to be hard? Must you buy special software to make car cards and waybills? Read this thread and find out ...
I will more or less replicate setting up the same switching area for car card and waybills (CC&WB) that was set up for JMRI in a previous thread here. Since I am not familiar with the prototype or the specific interests/goals of the JMRI layout, I may not replicate it directly.
The DRE Shifter
The Extension shifter is on its way out to switch the Delaware River Extension.
The Shifter has an engine and 6 cars . It has 6 cars to pull. The shifter can use the entire DRE lead (24 cars long) but track I is only one car/engine long, more than that and the equipment will foul the car float apron.
Engine terminal operations
I saw the answer to my question somewhere in a post but have lost the source.
I would like to have my engine terminal operations as close to prototype as possible. I have the water and coal requirements figured out (I think!) but the sand is evading me. I can't get a handle on how much sand would be delivered to the sand bin per day/week. I know it would greatly vary with the number of engines, size of sand domes and service.
Best contact-cleaners: Rail-Zip 2, CRC 2-26, LPS 1, DeoxIT D5?
[Note: This thread deals mainly with conductivity issues relating to the internal electrical connections between the wheels and motor in my Kato Portrams (where access is extremely limited), and less-so with general track-cleaning methods].
New [Free] Switch List Generator (V 1.1)
A new version of my earlier spreadsheet is now available and is being used on a fully operating (not merely switching) layout.
New functionality involves the ability to handle multiple (up to 3) types of cars at a given slot, handle specific manually assigned cars by car markings and provide a (manual) communication medium between train crews and Agent/Operators responsible for various stations, both within a session and across sessions
Missing Pennsylvania RR Northern Division website with invaluable car-card/waybill tutorial
Switching and Fast Clocks
The recent discussion started here - http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/node/27512 by Trevor Marshall, hit upon a sub topic regarding the use (or lack thereof) of using fast clocks during a session, as specifically mentioned by Joe Atkinson and Tim Garland, and has made me think of asking specifically, since switching time can't be scaled down (especially if you are simulating things like air tests, hand brakes and crewmen "on the ground"), how does one simulate times meet, or connections?
Best way to store bamboo skewers on a layout's fascia, when using them for uncoupling?
I use bamboo skewers for uncoupling on my On30 layout because they're extremely inexpensive and work very well (just insert the sharp end between the knuckles and rotate).
But I have never found a good container for them to attach to the fascia of my layout. People try to stick them into the car card boxes, but the boxes are to short, the skewers often fall out.
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