Sequential Ops and an idea for the Bloomberg Turn

 Hello,

I thought that I was finished posting about my first Sequential Ops experiment but I just had an idea about it in the middle of the night (some of my best thinking occurs when I briefly wake up at 2AM!) that I think will add more interest and operations possibilities!

In my last post I mentioned that the Bloomberg Turn does not affect my new staging yard since it simply leaves West Mill and rolls into a hidden staging track on the West Mill side of the layout, (supposedly switching industries in Bloomberg).

Here is the hidden staging area the Bloomberg Turn enters.

You'll notice a turnout just in front of the tunnel.  My original plan was that one hidden track would represent Bloomberg while the other was for Mayfield.   I imagined that the two routes divided somewhere beyond the tunnel, with the PC track heading up the Catskills to Bloomberg while the KP&W track led to its Mayfield Yard.  

In past PCCMs I've shown both PC and KP&W trains taking the branchline into that tunnel.  Now that I dispatch Mayfield Yard trains from my new staging yard both tracks in this hidden staging will become Penn Central right of way.

My middle of the night idea was this:  What if I dispatched a Bloomberg Turn from West Mill into one of the hidden staging tracks and later brought out a similar train staged on other track that represents the Turn...returning!?

In the wee hours of the morning I went through a thought process that initially almost shelved the whole idea because I imagined I'd need to purchase two identical locomotives and cabooses to create identical outgoing and incoming Bloomberg Turns.  That would be a big expense for a train that really only runs about 20 feet and does no actual switching!

Next, before drifting off again, it occurred to me that I only needed to purchase one locomotive and one caboose if (big IF!) I could match them with some of my existing equipment.  

After waking up in the light of day and thinking more clearly I had an inspiration to check my current roster.   I realized that a pair of my GP38-2s and N8 cabooses might work to create the illusion of an out and back train.

Sure, the numbers are different but it won't be noticeable as the time between the Turn's departure from West Mill and its return to the yard later may be over an hour, or even occur during the next session.    Besides, the Sequential Ops are my own private running so the only person who might even think about the number discrepancy would be me.

Here's how it would work:   I'd arrange sometime in my sequence of trains to dispatch the Bloomberg Turn (WmB-1).  It would be seen heading into hidden staging with appropriate cars for various Bloomberg industries like Van Winkle Canning, Woodstock Hills Natural Soda, the Bloomberg Agway, etc.

Sometime later in my sequence of trains I'd call out the other Bloomberg Turn in hidden staging to represent BWm-2 returning to West Mill with cars picked up at Bloomberg industries.

The cool thing about this approach, of course, is that I won't need to do any manual 0-5-0 switcher moves of cars or repositioning of locomotives or cabooses to convey the idea that the Turn has come back!

Here is a video illustrating the idea:

As noted at the end of the video, the cars brought back to West Mill can be added to various trains to support more Sequential Ops!   Now instead of merely sitting in staging, the Bloomberg Turn can support more car forwarding!

Sequential ops part 2

 Hello again!

I'm continuing down my list, or sequence, of trains that I set up in my new staging yard to see how well it works for creating interesting model railroad operations. Once again I'll post several videos to convey the amount of time, work, and FUN involved in running these train movements!

Today, the next action in the sequence is for the yard switcher to prepare a cut of loaded hoppers to be set on the car float.  SD9 #6922 will manage the actual loading later but for now the hoppers need to be moved to a different track to free up working room in the yard.

More space is cleared at West Mill when the South Local serving Tri Mount Cement and Half Moon Wholesale Lumber Distributors backs out of West Mill and heads out of town (into the new staging yard.)

One train goes into staging and another is about to come out.   WiBi-4, a KP&W transfer run from Williams Yard for Binghamton will be dispatched from the new staging yard soon.  The train will stop at West Mill to pick up and set out interchange cars with the Penn Central.  In the video below, Switcher #8951 is seen pulling two cars for the WiBi to pick up.

The exchange of pick-ups and set-outs for the southbound WiBi-4 requires a number of moves, but its an enjoyable way to spend the time!

The exchange of cars completed, the switcher takes the KP&W hoppers into the yard while WiBi-4 continues on its way to Binghamton.

The next move sends cars to staging of a different sort. Space is freed up in the yard by setting the string of loaded coal hoppers from Mayfield on the car float for Con Ed in Port Owen.

The current status at West Mill has the car float ready to shove off for Port Owen....

....while a Yard Local is ready to depart with cars for nearby businesses: Sal's Salvage, Canton Box Co., and Empire Grain.

The short local powered by GP9 #7175 begins its work at Sal's Salvage.   The moves involved in making a pick-up/ set-out exchange at Sal's alone required several minutes of actual op time!

The Yard Local then works Canton Box Co. and Empire Grain.  These moves took several more minutes.  The video of the action edited for time is over four minutes long!  That exceeds the file size for uploading videos directly to the blog so I made an unlisted YouTube video.    If you have the patience for a segment that long, click on the link below: 

Yard Local Video

After the Yard Local returned there are still trains to dispatch; one is a Bloomberg Turn that includes the three covered hoppers just pulled from Empire Grain.  They will be forwarded to the Bloomberg Agway...

...along with other cars for the various industries in Bloomberg's Industrial Park.

The Bloomberg Turn doesn't affect the new staging yard as it disappears "off layout" on the West Mill side of the layout here....

The remaining cars at West Mill will make up a Kings Port Turn...

 ... that can serve businesses such as Reynolds Beverage Distributors, the Kings Port Team Track, Booms Ready Mix, Blue Ribbon Flour and Battaglia's Warehouse....

.....as well as the Gulf Facility and the KP&W interchange track.

All of this switching work can be completed without interfering with the new staging yard that is located to the right of the Gulf facility.

The Kings Port Turn will actually return to West Mill (perhaps with some tankers from Gulf, among other cars) so, like the Bloomberg Turn, it won't occupy a track in the staging yard when its run is completed.   This allows me to stage two additional trains that could either be run-throughs for my own enjoyment, an MOW train, or even a short passenger run.

That concludes my first experimental Sequential Ops.  I like the way its working and hope to develop more than one sequence of trains to stage and run.  All of the train action seen in the above videos included cars that were brought into West Mill Yard from staged trains, proving that the new yard is an effective source for car forwarding fun!

In order to simulate a customer driven operations scheme and to interject an element of randomness to keep things fresh, I'm thinking about resurrecting my old Car Movement cards and switchlists...

...that I created based on Penn Central prototypes I found a long time ago on the Penn Central Railroad Online website.   John and I used these in our original "virtual ops".  I could create a number of car movement cards specifically for my Sequential Ops and randomly draw some to create the manifests for my various staged trains.   The cards would determine destinations for the cars after they arrived at West Mill, which would direct me in assembling local trains, transfer runs, or cuts of cars to be picked up by passing trains like WV-2 or WiBi-4.

Thanks for following along with my thought process and the first Sequential Ops action!

Sequential Ops with the New Layout Configuration

 Hello!

If you read my previous post you know that I made a significant alteration to my layout at the end of last year.  What was once a continuous long dogbone track plan is now an "out and back " plan ending at a decent sized staging yard.  (Seen below) I still need to color match the new fascia!

The previous post described my reasons for undertaking this renovation after running the layout in its previous form for over 25 years, so today I'll focus instead on how the new configuration is working for operations.

My original thought was to provide staging for several run-through trains passing by West Mill Yard while I worked the yard itself.  After further developing the new track plan it occurred to me that I can arrange many enjoyable ops such as transfer runs that will set out and pick up cars at West Mill, including exchanges of interchange traffic between the Penn Central and my freelanced Kings Port & Western R.R.   Cars that are set out at West Mill can be assembled into local trains like the Kings Port Turn that can perform actual switching, while the switching for other runs like the Bloomberg Turn going up the Catskills will be implied as they head "off layout" (i.e. into staging)

John and I have recently been discussing "Sequential Ops" in which a list of trains is created, staged in advance, and run in an organized fashion. John  is taking a more structured approach to this than I am right now but I'm pondering which elements to include in my own operations.  First, I wanted to create a sequence of trains and see how it works out on the new layout track plan.

So, without further ado, I'll present a number of posts following a sequence of trains facilitated by the news staging yard and the out-and-back plan.  The posts will mostly consist of videos of the action edited for time, but I believe they will still provide a sense of how much time, work, and most importantly, FUN it is to run these trains!

My sequence of train action begins with the West Mill Yard crew sorting cars that arrived overnight into blocks for various trains.  The "overnight cars" were randomly selected for today but I can imagine developing some sort of traffic generator that would determine which cars to place in the yard at the start of the sequential ops.

 WV-2 is the first train that will come out of the staging yard.  West Mill sets out the block for WV-2 for easy pick up:

 The switcher's next job is assembling a Southbound Local

After assembling the Southbound Local its time to off-load the car float.   The tugboat Robert R. brought the float in from Port Owen with eight empty coal hoppers from the Con Ed plant.

WV-2 leaves the new staging yard and arrives to make pick-ups and set-outs at West Mill:

The initial pick up/ set outs exchange is made:

WV-2 finishes the exchange and leaves for Selkirk with the pick ups from West Mill

After WV-2 leaves town, yard switcher #8951 pulls the cars the train left behind, takes them into the yard, and couples three of them to coal hoppers for the next KP&W transfer to Mayfield Yard.

The second train to leave the staging yard, a KP&W Transfer pooled-powered by RS3# #566 and an LV Geep heads out from another track that lines it up to arrive at the south end of West Mill.  

One of my favorite ops on the layout is the KP&W exchange of coal hopper loads and empties at West Mill.

The Transfer's consist does a runaround move to lead the string of cars back to Mayfield.  This requires a few moves.

The Mayfield Transfer leaves West Mill and returns to staging.

It took me a very enjoyable hour to complete all of the railroad action shown in today's videos.   Since the WV-2 and the Mayfield Transfer were already set up in the staging prior to the ops session I didn't need to spend anytime placing trains on the layout like I would have needed to do before redesigning the track plan.

The best part is that there are more trains in staging prepared for additional ops!   The seven track staging yard lets me run as many as six trains, simply picking up where I left off until the sequence of trains has been run.

This initial experiment seemed to work out pretty well.  I did learn that I need to be careful about how many cars I set in West Mill Yard to get things started to avoid congestion!   Around 20 cars seemed to be about right. 

I plan to continue posting about this first Sequential Ops in a day or two so check back to see what happens next!