Operations vs No operations

[BRAKIE]

Guys In a nut shell..I will not build a layout of any size without operation being the center of the design.Even my 2 industrial switching layouts is design for prototypical operation...[:D] No friends one does not need a large layout for operation.

[bcammack]

Jetrock, that's a good observation. I wonder if all the folks who made such a bruhah over Dave Barrow's latest iteration of his Cat Mountain & Santa Fe in last year's Layout Planning annual understand what you do about operations?

[Jetrock]

Well, personally I kind of turned up my nose at the Cat Mountain & Santa Fe too, but then I like a pretty layout--but I insist on one that I can switch until the cows come home! This book on operation did explain in a way I could understand why some model railroaders would like that, though.

I figure that the folks who made the brouhaha can go have a dust-up with the guys who made a brouhaha over Dave Frary's last layout article. If we can stop them from killing each other they might end up with a humdinger of a club layout.

Braced for operation! After a bit of consideration, rather than build the two six-foot sections in between my current layout modules, I figured that it would be easy enough to make a quickie two-foot adapter piece to connect the two modules now (a six-foot yard and a six-foot passing track/industrial/interchange area.) By this weekend I expect to try out my first set of wheel reports. I have spent a few odd hours either making & breaking up trains in the yard or switching back & forth on the street--but due to the lack of connection, I couldn't move trains from one to the other! I figure I can forgive 2 feet of bare MDF with track nailed to it, which will eventually be replaced by 12 more feet of industrial district...

BRAKIE: At least on the ones I've seen, small layouts almost invariably push operations to the foreground, with the possible exception of "pizza-box" loop-only layouts. Big layouts put more focus on construction, and running can almost be an afterhought, although one hopes that someone who builds a big layout likes to operate it too!

With a shelf layout you can't just sit back and watch the trains run--so of course operation is the answer to "what do you do with it?"

[Anonymous]

I admit it is rather fun and relaxing to see your trains run in circles, but after a while, it can get dull.

I have very limited experience operating, but what operating I've done was a lot of fun. A bit stressful at first, but I got the hang of it quickly, and had more fun. It would be something I'd like to get in to again, if only I could find a layout crew to run with.

Alvie.

[Jetrock]

Okay, so I got my little "shoo-fly" module in place--one thing about operation, it makes track and car problems leap out like sore thumbs!

Before I built my yard I only used a half-dozen cars on my switching layout--my best runners. But with the yard built and capacity quadrupled and then some, I dragged everything out of boxes and put it on the layout. I took the time to change over to metal wheels and Kadees but didn't "tune" any of the new cars--and sure enough, those are the ones that derailed and otherwise caused grief. Also, my industrial district, which has been sitting largely neglected in the garage all summer while I built a diorama and the yard, showed a few new track problems where cardboard street surfaces had shifted in car-derailing fashion.

So it's off to the car shop with three-quarters of the rolling stock, and then a session of street resurfacing to get the in-street track up to spec. I'm seriously considering ordering some giant sheets of styrene in order to replace the more temperature-sensitive (and humidity-sensitive) cardboard of my streets.

Biggest bugaboo: low-hanging couplers snagging the edges of street surfaces between the rails. The resurfacing crew may have to lower the street level to allow a bit more rails to poke above the streets--which would simplify track cleaning and avoid a snag or three.

[johncolley]

jeremyB, you missed the point! Tacking on a caboose and bringing a road engine from service to hook up to your train IS OPERATING! So take it a little further, pump up the air, do a brake test, ease open the throttle and crawl out onto the main for a departure on time! Man! You is operating! Now if you like to let it run some miles, doing laps, that can be more enjoyment, too! Happy Railroading is what it's all about. Don't get caught up in the us or them thing, enjoy it all!

[JeremyB]

Hey JOHN

what point did I miss? you dont have to flip out It was a simple question

[robengland]

Operations is #1 for me, but I feel I still want to have a loop somewhere for all those non-mr visitors who just want to "see the trains going"

As for snagging couplers, cut the hooks off. They aren't prototypic anyway (ever seen a prototype magnetic uncoupler?). Uncouple manually - now you are operating :-)

[bcammack]

Those hooks are supposed to appear as brake hoses on the prototype, no? Snagging couplers can be rectified with a pair of adjustment pliers available from Micro Mark.

[railman]

operations are nice, but for 4 by 8's you can't criticise those with just continuious running...really all you have room for. Throw in too much switching, and you've got nothing but track, and that doesn't look really good either.

[Jetrock]

Nonsense! One can operate up a storm on a 4x8 trackplan without covering the surface with track...you don't need to add a LOT of switching, just a couple sidings and a yard are really all you need.

Heck, I don't have ROOM for a 4x8, and I can operate...

[Hawks05]

i'd like to get a yard on my 4x8 but i don't have the money for switches and don't know where to start. i have 2 switches. one is just a straight section off the front of the layout. the other is at the end of the front that wraps around to almost another full circle.

i hate continuous run. thats why i hope my friend starts working on his layout so i can help with that and then when he starts laying down track we can do some operating. his room is huge by my standards and its going to be double level. i can't wait till its finally up and running.

for now i'm stuck with continuous running until i figure out a track plan with a yard in it for a 4x8. when i get my own place, or married, whatever i'm going to have a huge layout for sure where i can operate.

[wpsteve]

When I was designing my Western Pacific layout one of the considerations was the Dispatcher and enough sidings to make it so we could move lots of trains and still have local switching. I have 4 yards that have industries to work. Then there are the long haul trains that do some work along the way. We also have peddlers that go out and work along the way.
We have 15 guys come by on every other Thursday night and I feel this is when the real fun begins [:D]
When I first built the layout I had a track I could install to run round and round but found I never used it, so it's gone..
I travel to op sessions through out the country and really enjoy this part of the hobby as a few others have stated....
If your ever in Central California give me a call, we have two operations railroads up he in Sonora !

[Jetrock]

Hawks05: Even two switches is enough for a little bit of operation, as long as you have a plan to work from.

Here are some track plans for point-to-point 4x8 layouts that only require a couple of switches:

http://www.thortrains.net/poorhob.html

You can start out with the two-turnout version and expand it as shown later on as you get more track and other components.

Here's another 4x8 point-to-point plan--it requires a couple more switches but could easily be simplified and expanded later:

http://www.thortrains.net/4holay1.html

Or, if you have room for a 4x8 you may have room to cut that 4x8 in half into two 2x8 sheets, and have an 8x10 L-shaped "along the wall" point-to-point layout. Ideally you could get another couple of switches to provide a runaround track, then just stick a switch at each end to serve industries and you're ready to operate. Eventually you can add more switches to represent a small yard and add more industries. You really don't need much to have operation on a layout--it just requires some thought.

www.carendt.com has layouts that makes a 4x8 seem huge, some with only one or two switches, that often feature quite a bit of operation.

If you want something REALLY simple, take those two switches, grab a small piece of lumber (1x4 feet should be plenty) and make yourself an Inglenook Switching Puzzle mini layout. It's small enough to detail the heck out of on a budget, and you can always tack it onto a larger layout later. Plus it's small enough to sit unobtrusively in a bedroom.

If I can operate in 16 square feet, you certainly should be able to operate in 32!