If you are going to do an "operations manual", you will need 3 major components, how to move the trains across the railroad, how to get the cars onto trains and how to get the cars to and from industries.
Moving trains across the railroad involves things like a timetable page, schedules of trains, rules for your system that controls the main track and special instructions that cover exceptions to the regular or general rules and instructions ("At Anna, inbound trains must contact the yardmaster for yarding instructions before passing the overpass.") There will also be instructions on what work trains have to do, what stations they serve, where they set out or pick up and what destinations of cars they carry. It could also indicate how many or what type engines the trains should have. You could have additional instructions for the dispatchers giving them hints on how to manage the traffic flows and what are the critical things they need to watch for or do to keep things going ("Make sure the Valley Flyer gets by Baker Jct before you let the Baker switcher work the coal mine.")
Getting the cars onto the train are instructions for yard crews and yardmasters. It tells what blocks or destinations ride on what trains in what order. It will give enough information on how to manage the yard so the yard crews can support the schedule to get the right cars on the right trains at the right time (on schedule). This is one of the most critical functions on a model railroad. If the yard bogs down or can't get the right cars on the right trains, it will negatively affect the entire operation.
The industry work outlines which jobs work which industries, where the industries are and where specific cars may have to be spotted. Typically the last two points are done through maps of industrial areas or stations showing the track layout, the locations of the industries, the capacity of the tracks and the locations of specific spots.
Dave H. Painted side goes up. My website : wnbranch.com
what are you doing currently during an operating session?
having just read Koester's book on multi-deck layouts, it sounds like they need a dispatcher and station managers who manage some operation on the fly.
On the Pacific Southern , a non-waybill operating session is very simple. Engineers get a card from the dispatcher indicating what train to run, origin, destination and station stops. engineers follow signals, and get there when the get there. There are many passenger trains and unit freight sitting in yards and usually travel from one yard to another of smaller coach yards.
I know this isn't very sophisticated, but things are relatively lively. The usually minor problems add to the entertainment
greg - Philadelphia & Reading / Reading
What you want is an expanded employee timetable, which was a sizeable booklet that every operating employee was required to carry when on duty.
Then, if you operate with a clock (fast or otherwise) rather than by sequence (after this, do that) you will also need a dispatcher to issue train orders when the timetable gets out of mesh with the clock.
Obviously, the ET will have to be assembled by somebody (or several somebodies) who are familiar with the club layout and with the desired kind of operations. The format should parallel that of prototype employee timetables, but doesn't have to be an exact copy of one unless your layout was built to, and is run as, a specific part of a prototype railroad.
In my case, I cheated. My layout was designed to facilitate operating to the timetable of a specific JNR main line, which I have been working with ever since it was current - half a century now. The real work was done by a JNR employee who I never met. That's one advantage of working to a prototype.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan on September, 1964)
I don't use a "book" per se, I have maps of every switching area located on the fascia at every switching area, each yard has a blocking chart and schedule for the yard attached to the fascia in a plastic document cover. I used the document covers designed to to go in a loose leaf binder and I attach it to the fascia with a couple screws and washers through the binder holes. That way it "tilts" up for easy reading and if something changes I can just slide the old one out and slip the new one in.
The crew carries a timetable which has the timetable schedule pages (times of the scheduled trains, list of stations) plus any special instructions relating to train operation. I am rebuilding my layout due to a move and the new one will run more extras so I will have a "line up" that has the approximate times the extra trains are planned to run.
By putting the info on the fascia its available to everybody, they can look at it while they hold thier list and throttle and its less for people to carry.
We did ours using excell and word with diagrams,schedules, etc. It's 8 1/2 x 11 since our eyes don't work well with small print sizes. Color coding helps with quick reference.
Richard
Does anyone have a sample of an operations playbook. We're looking for an example to use for our club in Crockett, Ca. It would have all information needed for an operating session concerning the layout, towns, industreis siding length, etc.. I want to print it in a size that would fit in a back pocket. I'm sure Tony Koester and Andy Sperandeo have one! We want one too!