kain687what should be my train of thought for building for operation
what should be my train of thought for building for operation
Two Information Station PDF-downloads in my library include Chuck Hitchcock's Modeling realistic passenger trains operations, and Frank Ellison's Realistic freight operations. It just doesn't get any better than this folks!
Example #1: Understanding the "whys" of freight yard operations makes the "whys" of passenger yard design & operations much easier...
- Freight: Frank Ellison's primers on the (7) major freight yard designs (Central Ladders - Curved Grid - Double Diamond - Interchange - Junction - Stub Terminal - V-Type) are thorough and yet simple and to the point.
- Passenger: Can you guess out of (3) passenger station yard designs (Stub-End - Combination - Through) -- which one is hardest to operate? ...and how do you model trackage to turn a passenger train consist around to then back into a Stub-End Terminal?
Example #2 - Horseshoe Curve: You will see in forum threads that it is not advisable to model track grades over 2%. The grade of Horseshoe Curve is 1.73% -- and had the valley been directly bridged from East Point (1594' elevation) to West Point (1796' elevation) the grade would have been 4.37%.
If the prototype does it a certain way -- It is a good idea to adopt those prototype operations to modeling operations when possible.
Conemaugh Road & Traction circa 1956
No one way to approach it. How defined and focused your theme and operations are depends on your modeling goals and style.
Location - Not only geography but time. By choosing your location you limit your choices, which can be a good thing. Sometimes the choice of location drives the choice of railroad, sometimes the choice of railroad drives the choice of location.
Era - Era drives the equipment, the operations, the customers. My 1905 era layout will has different customers than my 1950 era layout did. The narrower the era the more consistent the look of the railroad.
Customers - Railroads are there to serve customers. Sometimes the location determines custormer mix, sometimes the customer mix determines location. Choosing customer's carefully enhances the mood of the layout, choosing customers cafeteria style can decrease the cohesiveness of the layout concept.
Car forwarding systems - How you will direct and coordinate the movement of your cars. Once again the choice of method depends on the amount of detail and control you want. How you control the movement of your cars affects the way you build trains.
Train scheduling systems - Your transportation plan, what trains you run, where they go, what they carry, who they serve.
Train authority system - The rules that let your trains move across the track. Can be anything from total VFR to TT&TO.
The Trackplan - the physical space and track arrangement to accomplish and support all of the above.
Which order you consider all those things is your choice, you can approach it in any order, but you should consider ALL of those aspects (and here is the critical part) BEFORE you buy a single piece of track, BEFORE you buy a single industry kit, BEFORE you drive a single nail or cut a single piece of wood. Realize that a choice you make in one category may cause you to change your plans in another category, so realize that you have to be flexible and will have to make compromises. The more research and investigation you do the more information you will have to make better decisions to reach your goals.
Dave H. Painted side goes up. My website : wnbranch.com
Do a google search of "Model Railroad Operations" and I bet you get a million articles.
The basic idea is to look at your model railroad as part of a larger system that extends "beyond the benchwork"... In other words, every piece of rolling stock and every train is coming from one place, and headed to another.
Your layout may provide some industries that either ship or receive cars (or both!) and it's your railroad's job to make sure they get the cars they need.
Let's say you have a lumber yard on your layout.
The yard takes in loads of framing lumber and materials like drywall on bulkhead flats, or if you're modeling the mid-70's on, on centerbeam flats. It also receives 8' studs and plywood from boxcars. If the yard is big enough, it might also receive loads of millwork, such as doors, windows and trim mouldings. More modern yards would more likely receive these items by truck, but to keep our railroad busy you can stretch a little.
Now, thinking about the traffic in and out of the lumber yard, you have an idea of what kind of rolling stock you'll need. Mostly boxcars and flats. But where would they come from? Assuming your location is Cincinnati, Ohio (as it says under your avatar), materials can come to you from all over.
Well, larger dimensional lumber like 2x10 or 2x12 might come from the Pacific Northwest, so your cars might be marked for Burlington Northern or its predecessors, or perhaps one of the Canadian roads. Those cars would come from the west. Studs might come from Georgia, so cars might be marked for Southern Railway, L&N, or CSX if its more modern. Those cars would arrive from the south. Maybe you get your door units from New Jersey, requiring cars marked for the CNJ, Erie Lackawanna or later on, Conrail. These cars would arrive from the east.
But what does that mean on your layout? Well, depending on how much room you have, you might have a yard where all inbound trains drop off the cars to be set out at your industries. Your lumber would arrive on an eastbound train, which would drop the cars at the yard, then proceed on to its destination. Same thing with your car load of doors and windows. It arrives from the east, drops off the car in the yard, then moves along to the west. Either one of these trains might include the cars from the south, which may have been added at a junction further along that's not modeled on your layout.
So, now in your yard you have three different cars that came from three different places, but they all have the same destination. You then have a local freight scheduled to take care of spotting the cars at the lumber yard.
The local might have a small switch engine and a caboose, and just the cars for the lumber yard, or it might be longer, and include a number of cars that are going to the same town but to different industries.
The local takes care of spotting the cars on the siding to be unloaded, placing the boxcar at the warehouse door, and the flats out in the yard to be worked by the fork lift. It will also pull any empty cars that were left after the last operating session.
The empties then get returned to the yard, where they are sorted again by destination, so they can be picked up by either your east or westbound trains.
That's operations in a nutshell.
To really make it work, you need to have at least a small yard where cars can be stored and sorted. This can be anything from a single track siding to a large facility with arrival/departure tracks, classification tracks and an engine terminal.
You can also add more towns, more industries, and other operating features like an interchange with another railroad, or a branch line that leaves the main to serve a remote town or an industry like a coal mine or a quarry.
Some people turn up their noses at operations, thinking it's too much like "work"... To do it right, especially on a larger layout, you need to put some thought into it, prepare train schedules, waybills and the like. But I've found that it adds a dimension of realism to my train running time, and I really enjoy switching cars in the yard, building up and taking apart trains, and figuring out the switching puzzles I've created in my industrial areas. It's a lot like playing a game, especially if you have some friends come over to help you operate. There are basic rules to follow to keep things moving, and its important to take turns, especially on a single track railroad with passing sidings!
Anyway, do a search, and see what kind of information you come up with. I think you'll really enjoy the added fun you'll have with an ops-oriented layout.
Lee
Route of the Alpha Jets www.wmrywesternlines.net
the question/s is what should be my train of thought for building for operation of a lay out