Model Railway Operations

Thoughts on Model Railways Operations

My recent experience on the D&S created a discussion around Operating Systems for Model Railroad Operations. I guess the first rule of Model Railroads applies here.

 Rule #1 Its my Railroad/way and therefore things occur as I see fit.

I think we all agree that this is the first and final rule on all things on a layout. 

Personally, on the CB&W I set up my layout so that my guests can settle in to the jobs they do as easily and painlessly as possible. I spend time between sessions ensuring cars are in the right sidings, that trains starting at the beginning of a session are correctly blocked, that cars being pulled in a session are at the front of a row of cars, not sitting at the back end. Even though I did not get to run a timetable on the CBW, which is still a goal for the GSD, switch jobs provided plenty of challenges and entertainment for visitors.

Running a sequence list means no one is waiting around for a job.

There is no doubt running a Timetable is closest to Prototypical Operations, but to iron out the issues on the layout and get a feel for how long particular trains take to run I tended to run sequences. I think Timetables are the ultimate goal of Operations.

In the past I used Train Orders, Manifests and Station Switchlists generated by JMRI, not car-cards and weigh-bills. These lists clearly show what all the work for a particular job is. Manifests show train drivers what is on their train at any time, what and where cars are to be dropped and what and from where cars are to be pulled. Switchlists show Station Masters, what and from where cars are to be pulled and what train they are heading out on and what cars are inbound to their station. Operators can plan ahead. All described at the beginning of a running session so each operator can plan ahead.

Chuck Hiscock has taken all his Car-Cards and Weigh-Bills off his Sante Fe Industrial Railroad and uses them to generate hand written Switchlists for his operators. He has a huge rack of car cards in front of his dispatchers desk. This can be replicated on a computer.

All these things go to ensuring my guests/mates have a positive experience during the two hours of operating. 

The main problem with the manifest/switchlist system is that one needs to print them for each session, where card cards are enduring. Also you need to keep JMRI up to date with train movements to ensure it knows where cars are. This is easily done during the session as each train completes its cycle, indeed even if the train finishes half way through its cycle. JMRI can be updated after each station move. There is also a fair bit of work to set up everything in JMRI, but you could also say the same for car-cards etc. 

The limitation of the car-card system, as I see it, is operators need to flick through the cards to work out their tasks as the clock is ticking. Also Station Masters don't know what is inbound until the train arrives and cards are handed over. There is no capacity to plan ahead. Car-Cards and Weigh-bills were a great way to undertake operations before computers came around. Like clockwork trains they provided a great way of enjoying model trains for as realistic operations as one could get. As clockwork morphed into DC operations things improved. Now with DCC things are improving further. It follows the 1950's era car-card system might need to be dispatched to the breaker yard. Whilst I know guys are wedded to the Car-cards system, rule #1 applies remember. I will do my best to ensure the GSD is a modern state of the art layout, running in the 1970's

Amen