One of the biggest obstacles to my running trains in a prototypical fashion is the fact that I didn't include a good sized yard in my track plan. The layout fills a 12.5 X 20 foot room in my basement. I walk into the narrow space between the two return loops shown in the crude sketch below. The dotted rectangle coming down the middle of the room was an idea for an add-on yard I flirted with, but in the end I decided I prefer the nice open space in the middle of the room and easy access to both sides of the layout
I know I'm missing a part of the fun of model railroad operations by not having a main yard to build and break down trains, but I've managed to find some creative ways to stage trains that come on and off the layout. I imagine there is a large yard near Kings Port called Williams Yard (named after my Uncle Bill, who years ago gave me boxes of his old HO equipment when he switched to N scale). WilliamsYard is represented by hidden track that goes under the overpass this picture. Trains are made up by hand and reversed under the overpass to be staged for future use.
I do have a small Car Float Yard on the other side of the layout at West Mill so I can enjoy some of the fun of making up trains there. Transfer runs to the Car Float Yard are broken up into small trains serving local industries, or as transfers to Mayfield Yard on the KP&W track branching off at Empire Grain.
Mayfield Yard is represented by two hidden tracks here.
The Float Yard and Mayfield Yard are two destinations some of my trains can go. I can also use hidden portions of the main line to stage trains. After some tinkering around, I've come up with an ops scheme that allows me to move up to seven trains during an extended session.
For now, however, let's take a look at how I'm hoping to use the Car Movement Cards. For illustrative purposes I'll use a one car train on Extra #3007 (referred to by locals as "The Growler" because of the Bachmann GP40's noise...which is actually much quieter after I put some electrical tape inside the shell to reduce shell vibration. I think the unit itself is getting quieter over time as well.)
Any way....Extra #3007 emerges from the overpass, presumably having just left Williams Yard...
...with its one Penn Central boxcar and caboose in tow.
The car card for the boxcar came from this box mounted on the layout fascia that now represents Williams Yard.
I'm in the process of writing one or more cards for every car on the layout. As a way of generating traffic on the layout, I could shuffle the cards and pull out as many as I wish to work with, but I'm also considering taking a look at JRMI, or going back to Dallas Model Works hobby site to take another look at the free traffic generator feature they offer.
In today's example I pulled one card for the PC 50 foot boxcar #229046.
Flipping the card over reveals information about its return trip after unloading at Peerless Appliance, so its a two cycle card. Despite all of the information on this side about the car going to Rotterdam Junction and onward to Massachusetts on the B&M, I really only need to route it to staging at Williams Yard. The rest of the information just makes it more interesting for me.
For now though, I'm taking the card with me as I run Extra 3007 as its corresponding car is part of the train.
I thought I'd throw in another move to illustrate the use of the new card boxes I described in my previous post. Michigan Central Gondola #350623, loaded with steel pipe from nearby KP Steel, is waiting on an interchange track for Extra #3007 to pick it up.
Here is the interchange track's box with the car movement card for MC #350623 in it and ready to go.
The car card for the gondola shows its reporting information and notes that its being routed to Terminal Yard for delivery to Gervais Pipe and Fitting in Empire City. This REALLY "off-layout" destination is actually located on a friend's layout in Georgia! (More on these very fun, long distance "virtual ops" later). I'll represent the gondola's trip to Terminal Yard on my layout by running the train into hidden staging.
Once the gondola is picked up I'll pull the card out from the box and take it with me as I run the train.
Next up: Extra #3007 arrives at West Mill's Float Yard where it will drop off PC boxcar #229046, so it can be picked up later by the KP&W for Mayfield Yard.
The PC boxcar is set out....
...and its corresponding card is placed in the Float Yard box to indicate its presence at the Float Yard and describe its next move (to Mayfield).
The rest of the train heads off to staging (presumably to Terminal Yard in Empire City.
Later that day the King Port & Western's "Mayfield Turn" arrives at West Mill to drop off and pick up cars at the Float Yard.
Here is the corresponding card for that KP&W car.
The card indicates that the car is loaded with new washing machines made by Peerless Appliance that are bound for Battaglia Bros. Warehouse in Kings Port. For the Penn Central, the card notes that the car is "On-coming" to its system at West Mill from the KP&W.
...And its corresponding card is placed in the Float Yard box
The "Turn" picks up Penn Central boxcar #229046 (and its car card is removed from the Float Yard box)...
...and heads off layout to Mayfield with the PC car that will eventually to be delivered to Peerless Appliance.
Well, this post is plenty long! I hope it conveys a sene of what I'm tryng to do with ops nowadays. You railroaders out there, please feel free to provide feedback regarding the use of the cards.
Thanks for taking a look everyone!
One thing I've observed in car card operations is that they can be hard to carry and handle. The example you're giving is one card, but a 10 car train has 10 cards. This starts to get unwieldy, and dropping the deck is a while new issue. There are also problems with finding places to lay and sort them.
ReplyDeleteI have to agree that I've never liked seeing photos of layout ops session in which participants have laid car cards on the tracks or scenery while working trains. I suppose that's why you sometimes see people wearing shop aprons with pockets while running some larger layouts. I haven't tackled the problem of card carrying convenience (there's some alliteration for you!)but do see the dilemma. I'll experiment with small clipboards or other organizing devices. I don't really have much more room on the layout's fascia to accommodate little shelves for cards, something I've seen work nicely in some hobby magazine photo tours but will ponder the issue. Dropping the cards could simulate Penn Central miss-routed or lost cars!
DeleteNice description of the Kings Port Division / Kings Port & Western operations. As you know I'm a big fan of the PC cards you printed out and have enjoyed using the ones you sent me. Your card boxes look great. To alleviate some of the potential issues pointed out by John B. I found that making a switch list from the info on the car cards to be quick and easy. Also I'm using a pocket made from a folded over index card to ID the train and keep the cards in order. Both have worked really well thus far.
ReplyDeleteI've enjoyed the research into filling out the car cards and really enjoy using them. The JMRI does look interesting. I'll need to set down some additional time to read through it again.
As always the photography and modeling is first rate and I found this blog entry very informative. Thanks for posting it. Looking forward to the next installment!
Thanks John! I like switch lists as well and have used them in the past. I've even made up a facsimile of a PC switch list I saw on Penn Central online but haven't done much with it yet.
DeleteI suppose one possibility might be to take advantage of the two slots of the Williams Yard card box pictured above. I could keep all cards in the rear slot until building a train. Once the train was created, the corresponding cards could be placed in the front slot that could be called the "train slot". I could write down the information from all cards in the "Train slot" on the switch list indicating the Set-Outs. Information from cards contained in the industry boxes along the way that represent Pick-Ups could also be included on the switch list. Cards related to Set-Outs would remain in the "train slot" until the cars actually reached their destinations. Then the corresponding cards could be taken from the "train slot" and placed in the appropriate industry boxes. Cards for Pick-Ups already located in industry boxes could be removed when the car is picked up, and then placed in the "train slot". That way I wouldn't need to carry the cards all around, but they would be kept together in an organized fashion.
I'll experiment with this and post about it if I like the way it works. This kind of feedback from you guys is exactly what I'm looking for. Thanks!
The shelf that I built for the old car cards and waybills works the same with the car movement card.
ReplyDeletepictures here http://coalandsteelrailroad.blogspot.com/2016/01/blog-post.html
That's a nice example and a good option for keeping cards organized and off the layout itself. I've taken up a lot of my layout's fascia space with mechanical turnout controls, track diagrams, and now card boxes, so I really don't have a nice place to set up a couple of those stations, but I like them! Thanks for the link!
Deleteoperation update, Car Movement Card part 2
ReplyDeletehttps://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zbJfRl61VLA
That works!
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