Good Afternoon and Welcome

Good Afternoon and Welcome

How many have layoutsDC

are planning a new oneDCC; NCE, MRC, Digitrax

What scale? HO; O; N; otherStarted Operation

4 X 8 to 10 X 10Have Operated Layouts

Scenery

The hand out is just an outline. My presentation is 99 slides with an18 page narrative. If you would like a DVD copy of this clinic that includes the slides and the narrative plus the intro video,email me.

This clinic is not about layout design; bench work; height; width; laying track; wiring etc. It is about operation ideas and suggestions for the enjoyment of your layout.

Part 1 Foundation

Operations2( slide #’s)

The very first thing I would like to say about operation is don’t wait until the layout is finished. We all know when that will be. (4) We started the GLN at the marshaling yard so we could start operations. As soon as the yard was done ( it is four tracks holding 96 34 ft coal hoppers) we laid main line in both directions and started operations in and out of the yard. Get operating because you will learn as you operate and that will influence what you build as your layout grows. 4 X 8 get a train running !!

What is operations ? Some say running a real railroad inminiature simulating the movement of freight and passengers over a distance between towns, manufactures, shippers and stations. In reality it is YOUR railroad and operations can be ANYTHING you want it to be. Today I'd like to look at the room size layout and how its track plan components can facilitate operations and compare it to a full-size basement layout so we can see how to do some selective compression. I’ll be using operations on my GLN as examples of various types of operation and trains. In each case the size of the train is NOT important. What Iwant to convey is the various types of operations that are possible and think about your layout and its possibilities. As all of our layout have selective compression, you have to decide on two things. First the number and types of industries on your layout ( how much switching do you want to do ) thus the consists of the trains. And second the size of the trains. My mainline trains are 30 – 50 cars but a smaller layout could have the same operation format with less than10 car trains. The GLN has many large industries but a smaller layout could do the same basic operations with smaller and less industries. Look at what we are going to show today in terms of your layout and the possibilities that you may have overlooked for operations .

A train is an engine and a car ; a caboose is optional. You don't need a 3 enginelashup and 40 cars. The daily local can be and usually is less then 10 cars.

A small shelf layout, for example an 18” to 24" x 10 to 12 feet could be linear or L shape around the corner. A layout of the size will hold 30 to 40 cars. Plenty of room for a yard at each end and some sidings an interchange track, even an engine facility. Put John Allen's switching problem module in and you've got enough railroad to keep 3-5 operators busy for an evening

Let's start with a basic track plan with point-to-point movement. Draw your track plan and lay it out linear, even if it's a loop. One very important concept to keep in mind is that the size of the trains, its consist and the number of trains may increase as the size of a layout but the basic operations can remain the same. One very important decision you need to make is the amount of switching you want to do as compared to just running trains. As we will see later, operations is moving freight and passengers between towns and manufacturing complexes and switching within those complexes. Even a small layout can have multiple destinations for commodities and people. Should you decide to have passenger service a station or two will be needed. Simple small stations require the same servicing as the large union station complexes and take less real estate. The small whistle stop stations can be put just about anywhere and gives that daily passenger another stop on its run.

All railroads and layout need realestate. Your room is 10’ X 10’ and finding a place to put that storage track or two is a challenge. Under a mountain, behind that row of buildings all work. Don’t over look what is behind the walls of your “designated space”. Is it next to a closet, attic or otherwise non living space. A simple hole in the wall ”tunnel” and you have a storage or fiddle yard. You can still have shelves above and storage cabinets below the yard. This yard could be a terminus yard at either end of the layout or an interchange yard coming onto the layout.. It could be a fiddle yard for the “mole” yardmaster. Be innovative and creative in your thoughts and design.

Jobs6

Engineer;brakeman;conductor;yard master; dispatcher;trainmaster; engine hostler; Clerks;

(10) Two man crews; If you find that you have more operators than trains then two man crews are the answer. While one operates the throttle as engineer the other is the conductor and switchman. Have them work together really helps new members learn the layout. It also works well if you are using car cards or track warrants. We have found that some of the runs are better served with two man crews with the amount of switching required.

Also consider switching jobs during the op session. 2-3 hours of passenger runs might get boring for some.

Through Freights11

These are the easiest as they can leave a staging yard, travel the layout and exit to a staging yard. They can start in a yard on the layout and then after moving on the layout exit to a staging track. They can start in a staging yard toward the end of a session and terminate in a yard on the layout. This could be your major yard, an interchange yard or that small yard. These through freights are great for that new operator that is not yet comfortable with the layout or switching. This same type of running is also done with passenger trains. Coming onto the layout, stopping at stations and then exiting. Unlike way freights the passengers can run that reverse loop and then exit into the same track they entered

Interchange Yards and Bridge Traffic13

One of the big advantages of an interchange track is the introduction of other railroads coming onto your layout. This can be a yard or even one track that a passing freight can drop a car or two for a train to pick up that is headed in a direction that this train is not. Even one track can hold a few cars that give you an operation schedule that would otherwise not be available. To accomplish this you will need a track plan that either includes a north south and east west routes. Another way is to have a branch line off the main that has an interchange yard or siding that the through freight can drop a car or two for the next train that is headed up the branch. In the same way a branch line train could drop a car or two for the next through freight to pick up headed in a different direction than the branch line train. The same thing can be accomplished out of your main yard but one of these short interchange tracks opens up great possibilities. The interchange track does not need to go anywhere if you don’t have the room for a long branch line. Just head it into a tunnel and make it a staging track.

The Large Yard15

This can be the main focal point of the railroad. Your trough freights can come in for a crew change, engine servicing and new caboose. Classification can take place and then way freights or dailies can originate. Lots of industrial switching can happen off sidings. An engine facility will be needed and maybe a MOW siding or RIP track. Don’t forget your passenger trains. They need more than a station for people. What about the mail and those REA cars. That dinner needs a commissary to resupply. All of this is switching potential. The large yard does take a large piece of real estate but look at all that is going on here. The yard can be run by a yardmaster but the engineer can have yard duties when he brings his train in.

The Small Yard21

The small yard or even a storage siding is a very prototypical place for a way freight to store his train while he works the industrial sidings close byup and down the main line. These sidings may be a few car lengths away or a mile or two. Look at locating this track so the engineer can work both directions. It needs to be accessible from both ends as you can then have your siding switches facing and trailing. This will give your operators more flexibility and challenge and is good for the engineer and dispatcher to work around other through traffic

Staging Yards23

Now is a good time to mention staging. On some point to point layouts they have large staging yards at each end of the line for trains to come onto the layout, do some running and or switching and continue on to the other end of the layout and exit to the other staging yard. I feel that there is an alternative to the terminus end staging. Find places to put staging between the ends of the mainline run. A two track staging hidden yard will serve four trains. Two out bound and two inbound. The big advantage to this is that more trains can start at the beginning of the operation session. I have operated on layouts that have the traditional two staging yards and experienced watching operators sit for a half hour or more waiting for their train to come on the layout. The layout was large enough to have multiple trains on it but the design would have one train after another just follow each other. If there were other places on the mainline to start trains others could start in both directions creating traffic all over the mainline. Remember a staging track will service two trains, one outbound and one inbound. That inbound train can come from another staging track or a train that started on the layout.

(24) Instead of that large staging yard, look for several 1-3 track staging yards that can be hid under a mountain, put behind a city scene or started in a factory entrance. Multiple staging yards also enables more trains to enter the layout at the same time instead of all lining up at the throat of a large staging yard. Get trains running and let the dispatcher deal with the traffic.

You have acquired more cars than your layout will hold “ does this sound familiar”? A fiddle yard ( off site) is where a ‘mole’ yard master actually picks cars off the track and replaces them with new ones from a shelf or drawer. He has a list of train numbers and their consists to get ready to go out on the layout during the session.

Engine Hosteling and Servicing26

An engine facility doesn't take a 16 stall roundhouse to do engine servicing. Remember that interchange yard? All trains into the yard can have engine switching and crew changes requiring new cabooses. Any kind of simple engine facility with water,ash pits; diesel fuel etc. will do. Even one track can work. A spare engine for the first train in to switch with. After he leaves the next train in can switch with the engine and caboose from the first train and so on. This does take some time and so the dispatcher will have to keep track of the inbound and outbound trains as well as the mainline trains so the bottlenecks are minimize in the yard. Between these trains and engine hosteling and the car transfers it is easy to see how even a small yard can keep a dedicated yardmaster very busy.

Helper Service28

Getting up a grade will require that extra amount of power. Now on a small layout you may say that there isn’t enough room or long enough trains to justify that helper engine. Well consider reevaluating that distance and grade and I believe you will come up with a short section that will need a push up the hill. Weather you have a dedicated helper engineer or have your mainline engineer MU the helper and run them together. We assign new operators to some helper service due to the careful control necessary on the throttle. Also look at the different ways for that helper to consist onto the train. Is it a metal or wood caboose? How will the pusher hook onto the train and disconnect at the top and return to the bottom. All of this is operation and takes planning. Now let’s look at some specific trains and industries.

Part 2 Industries

Passenger34

Passenger service needs only an engine and one passenger car. A station or two and you have the basics for service. You can increase the traffic with two trains running opposite directions. Besides increasing the traffic you also give your dispatcher some real challenges. Remember that passenger trains also carry baggage and the mail. You can schedule an REA car, a mail car, a baggage car, pickup that sleeper car and get a diner from the commissary. All and all your just passenger trains can become very busy trains on and off schedule. Run an a clock having your dispatcher keep the other traffic holding in yards or on passing sidings will keep the passengers on time. Say it only takes two actual minutes to get from staging to a station. Using an 8:1fast clock that's 16 minutes and one way to stretch the layout size. Any additional consist switching of baggage or mail cars will greatly increase the time that passenger train is on the layout. Reverse loops are an excellent track design at either end of the run as they lead to out and back passenger services. A passenger train that starts in a staging yard comes on the layout, stops at a couple station and maybe a yard to switch a mail car then continues to a station then a reverse loop and back to the yard to drop a baggage car an on to the staging yard maybe stopping at a station on the way. Even on a small layout with communications to a dispatcher and all those stops and switching with a fast clock you’re looking at several hours of running time.

(40) My last comment on passenger trains is get some passengers in them.

Coal39

Coal mines and tipples are normally set up so the different tracks load coal of various sizes. These sizes range from very small pea size coal to very large chunks the size of microwaves. Let's say your mine has two tracks and there are two cars in each track another mine is larger and has three tracks and three cars per track. Normal coal traffic is from the mine to a collection point known as a Marshaling Yard. (42) This Marshaling Yard can also collect trains from off line interchange storage tracks. We have three shorter trains that come to the Marshaling Yard from hidden staging tracks. (I’d like to point out here that when a train comes into the Marshaling Yard with his fulls then the engine and caboose go to the nearest engine servicing facility. It will be here for a period of time until a cut of empties are delivered to the Marshaling yard. The engine and caboose then proceed back to the Marshaling Yard, pickup his allotted empties and proceeds to his original location.)

Now all 13 cars have arrivedat the Marshaling Yard.They aremixed with other cars that have come in from off-line mines. All these cars are consistedinto a train headed to the Classification Yard. Here all the lump size loads are classified into a train headed to a power plant. Another train of various size cars are headed to the interchange yard. There the cars will be consisted with others to head out as a way freight to service powerplants and local coal retailers. This classification process will require at least one yard lead and one empty make up track. We run five different sizes of coal. To accommodate my operators I have each of the five different sizes in different Road Name cars so when the train comes in from the Marshaling Yard with four sizes of coal and the engineer needs to make up a train with all the same size coal all he needs to do is look for all N&W cars in the yard, classify them into a train on the make up track hook up a helper engine and he's ready to go.

There is a process of washing and cleaning the loads that may be done at the mines, Marshaling Yard or Classification Yard. This washing facility can be set up as a fulls inand fulls out process. The GLN has six mines on the layout holding a total of 68 cars on a dead-end branch line with three trackholding switch back yard. The branch line ends at the four track Marshaling Yard at Flat Top that holds 96 cars. (43) The classification and washing facility is at Williamson and has a long yard lead at both ends holding 190 cars. Helper service is required westbound to Huntington so an engine facility is there also. Trains are classified according to coal size with 30 to 35 cars requiring that helper service from Williamson. They continue to the major yard in Cincy.This is the major yard of the layout holding about 350 cars. Here there's crew and engine change for continuation to the Gary steel mill. Some coal is stored in Cincy yard for smaller customers in way freights. All traffic requires empties for the fulls at the mines and fulls are traded for empties at the end points. Consider leaving a few cars from the through freights; coal, grain, box etc for consisting into the way freights, daily locals etc. This gives that yard a real purpose and focal point for many trains.Don’t forget that the mines need wood.