NP,
Gonna do my best here to emphasize singleton operation, while leaving the door open for those who do have crews available.
Rich,
I'll be describing my system specifically, but will do my best to note all the places where you can plug your info into the methods I use.
Elmer,
I understand the attraction of computers and they work great for many operators. But they can be intimidating to new operators, who are still trying to figure out an ops scheme and would just as soon worry about computers and ops later. In this sense, my system is pre-computer. But I don't reject computer assistance, in fact doing some of this stuff is helped along by using Word and/or Excel to keep and manage lists.A good example is my Industry File.
The first thing to do is to figure out where stuff comes from and goes to: what your sources and destinations of traffic are, along with keeping track of hidden staging and on-layout staging. My Industry File is on paper cards, in a box, because that works better for me.
The cards are organized by station/town. Each industry served, as well as company material locations (coal, ballast, etc) has a card. I have a coded system to simplify things that is peculiar to my dual-gauge system, so I won't put it up right now. The important thing is to have your own system, so you're comfortable with it. I mark down the following info on each industry card: station name, industry name, number of car spots (with each track noted separately if more than one track at the location), different commodities shipped in and out, and AAR type designation of cars typically used. I also included a code for frequency of loads in/out to help keep track of busy industries vs low traffic ones. I use the industry cards to help write waybills. I try to fill out all four stops on a waybill, but I rarely try to do this in a 4-step sequence any more. I generally pull the waybill out of a car card, stick it into the Loads section of the relevant car card box when a car is set-out. True, I still retain some multi-step stop sequences and still make sequences on cars in assigned service so that the MT (empty) car goes back to where it's needed to start the next cycle. These often have just the 2 stops on the front of the waybill filled in. I even use just one stop at times. This eliminates all the intricate fashioning of multi-step sequences of stops that can really get confusing in it's quest for perfect randomization in 4 steps on a single card. I use the turning of the waybill to the next stop and placement at the back of the Loads queue to randomize, one of the main features of my scheme that really simplifies set-up the first time around, while still maintaining the randomization that's the goal of most car forwarding systems. Also, note that the individual Loads files at each station supplement the Loads files maintained to support staging. My primary standard gauge Loads files are illustrated above in the staging area. I also have a smaller version inside the layout room that serves as the Loads files for my narrowgauge staging If you are using cards (the assumption here just so we're all still on the same page), once you have the industry info sorted out by station, then it's time to label whatever car boxes you have available. I generally customize each station's labeling, but follow a format keyed to my label printer's capabilities. The station name and timetable directions (East/West) are marked with a circular frame in my scheme, while industrial locations and natural features have a "wood" scheme. Labels on the card boxes are simple. Busy industries will have their own box slot, while others might be doubled- or tripled-up if they have just a trickle of cars. I'll likely have more to say on waybills later, but let's turn back to the train cards and clips to finish this entry out. you've already seen the SG staging with it's shelf to hold the card packs for each track there. I have a couple of shelves outside the layout room door for the narrowgauge staging and station locations where I typically leave or pick-up a train. The two major locations for the are Durango and Silverton; I group the rest with one or the other. The shelves have a couple of magnetic strips, which provide a handy way to keep the cardpacks from slipping around. Durango sees NG trains that go East to Chama and Alamosa (which are represented by a double track loop underneath Durango); or West onto the RGS (represented by a track that circles into the staging area that goes around Durango); or West in the dual-gauge to the coal mines at Hesperus; or up the Silverton branch. The Chama loop can hold four trains, RGS just one. Silverton receives trains from Durango, but also sends trains up the branches of the Silverton Union RR to Red Mountain and Animas Forks. The Silverton, Gladstone & Northerly is repesented as the third leg of the wye, circling back through Red Mountain, forming a NG break-in loop. It can hold one train in staging hidden in the tunnel that the 3rd leg of the wye goes. So I label the shelves here and organize my card packs according to where trains have been left. The train sequencing will be the next topic, but shoot those questions at me if you want further elaboration on things so far. I don't have a good graphic of my trackplan, but I think the written descriptions should work better to help you conceptualize how to organize based on your cicrcumstances.
The cards are organized by station/town. Each industry served, as well as company material locations (coal, ballast, etc) has a card. I have a coded system to simplify things that is peculiar to my dual-gauge system, so I won't put it up right now. The important thing is to have your own system, so you're comfortable with it. I mark down the following info on each industry card: station name, industry name, number of car spots (with each track noted separately if more than one track at the location), different commodities shipped in and out, and AAR type designation of cars typically used. I also included a code for frequency of loads in/out to help keep track of busy industries vs low traffic ones.
I use the industry cards to help write waybills. I try to fill out all four stops on a waybill, but I rarely try to do this in a 4-step sequence any more. I generally pull the waybill out of a car card, stick it into the Loads section of the relevant car card box when a car is set-out.
True, I still retain some multi-step stop sequences and still make sequences on cars in assigned service so that the MT (empty) car goes back to where it's needed to start the next cycle. These often have just the 2 stops on the front of the waybill filled in. I even use just one stop at times. This eliminates all the intricate fashioning of multi-step sequences of stops that can really get confusing in it's quest for perfect randomization in 4 steps on a single card. I use the turning of the waybill to the next stop and placement at the back of the Loads queue to randomize, one of the main features of my scheme that really simplifies set-up the first time around, while still maintaining the randomization that's the goal of most car forwarding systems. Also, note that the individual Loads files at each station supplement the Loads files maintained to support staging. My primary standard gauge Loads files are illustrated above in the staging area. I also have a smaller version inside the layout room that serves as the Loads files for my narrowgauge staging If you are using cards (the assumption here just so we're all still on the same page), once you have the industry info sorted out by station, then it's time to label whatever car boxes you have available. I generally customize each station's labeling, but follow a format keyed to my label printer's capabilities. The station name and timetable directions (East/West) are marked with a circular frame in my scheme, while industrial locations and natural features have a "wood" scheme. Labels on the card boxes are simple. Busy industries will have their own box slot, while others might be doubled- or tripled-up if they have just a trickle of cars. I'll likely have more to say on waybills later, but let's turn back to the train cards and clips to finish this entry out. you've already seen the SG staging with it's shelf to hold the card packs for each track there. I have a couple of shelves outside the layout room door for the narrowgauge staging and station locations where I typically leave or pick-up a train. The two major locations for the are Durango and Silverton; I group the rest with one or the other. The shelves have a couple of magnetic strips, which provide a handy way to keep the cardpacks from slipping around. Durango sees NG trains that go East to Chama and Alamosa (which are represented by a double track loop underneath Durango); or West onto the RGS (represented by a track that circles into the staging area that goes around Durango); or West in the dual-gauge to the coal mines at Hesperus; or up the Silverton branch. The Chama loop can hold four trains, RGS just one. Silverton receives trains from Durango, but also sends trains up the branches of the Silverton Union RR to Red Mountain and Animas Forks. The Silverton, Gladstone & Northerly is repesented as the third leg of the wye, circling back through Red Mountain, forming a NG break-in loop. It can hold one train in staging hidden in the tunnel that the 3rd leg of the wye goes. So I label the shelves here and organize my card packs according to where trains have been left. The train sequencing will be the next topic, but shoot those questions at me if you want further elaboration on things so far. I don't have a good graphic of my trackplan, but I think the written descriptions should work better to help you conceptualize how to organize based on your cicrcumstances.
True, I still retain some multi-step stop sequences and still make sequences on cars in assigned service so that the MT (empty) car goes back to where it's needed to start the next cycle. These often have just the 2 stops on the front of the waybill filled in. I even use just one stop at times. This eliminates all the intricate fashioning of multi-step sequences of stops that can really get confusing in it's quest for perfect randomization in 4 steps on a single card. I use the turning of the waybill to the next stop and placement at the back of the Loads queue to randomize, one of the main features of my scheme that really simplifies set-up the first time around, while still maintaining the randomization that's the goal of most car forwarding systems.
Also, note that the individual Loads files at each station supplement the Loads files maintained to support staging. My primary standard gauge Loads files are illustrated above in the staging area. I also have a smaller version inside the layout room that serves as the Loads files for my narrowgauge staging
If you are using cards (the assumption here just so we're all still on the same page), once you have the industry info sorted out by station, then it's time to label whatever car boxes you have available.
I generally customize each station's labeling, but follow a format keyed to my label printer's capabilities. The station name and timetable directions (East/West) are marked with a circular frame in my scheme, while industrial locations and natural features have a "wood" scheme. Labels on the card boxes are simple. Busy industries will have their own box slot, while others might be doubled- or tripled-up if they have just a trickle of cars.
I'll likely have more to say on waybills later, but let's turn back to the train cards and clips to finish this entry out. you've already seen the SG staging with it's shelf to hold the card packs for each track there. I have a couple of shelves outside the layout room door for the narrowgauge staging and station locations where I typically leave or pick-up a train. The two major locations for the are Durango and Silverton; I group the rest with one or the other. The shelves have a couple of magnetic strips, which provide a handy way to keep the cardpacks from slipping around.
Durango sees NG trains that go East to Chama and Alamosa (which are represented by a double track loop underneath Durango); or West onto the RGS (represented by a track that circles into the staging area that goes around Durango); or West in the dual-gauge to the coal mines at Hesperus; or up the Silverton branch. The Chama loop can hold four trains, RGS just one. Silverton receives trains from Durango, but also sends trains up the branches of the Silverton Union RR to Red Mountain and Animas Forks. The Silverton, Gladstone & Northerly is repesented as the third leg of the wye, circling back through Red Mountain, forming a NG break-in loop. It can hold one train in staging hidden in the tunnel that the 3rd leg of the wye goes. So I label the shelves here and organize my card packs according to where trains have been left. The train sequencing will be the next topic, but shoot those questions at me if you want further elaboration on things so far. I don't have a good graphic of my trackplan, but I think the written descriptions should work better to help you conceptualize how to organize based on your cicrcumstances.
Durango sees NG trains that go East to Chama and Alamosa (which are represented by a double track loop underneath Durango); or West onto the RGS (represented by a track that circles into the staging area that goes around Durango); or West in the dual-gauge to the coal mines at Hesperus; or up the Silverton branch. The Chama loop can hold four trains, RGS just one.
Silverton receives trains from Durango, but also sends trains up the branches of the Silverton Union RR to Red Mountain and Animas Forks. The Silverton, Gladstone & Northerly is repesented as the third leg of the wye, circling back through Red Mountain, forming a NG break-in loop. It can hold one train in staging hidden in the tunnel that the 3rd leg of the wye goes.
So I label the shelves here and organize my card packs according to where trains have been left. The train sequencing will be the next topic, but shoot those questions at me if you want further elaboration on things so far. I don't have a good graphic of my trackplan, but I think the written descriptions should work better to help you conceptualize how to organize based on your cicrcumstances.
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
Rich, I think the best thing that you could do as a lone operator is to get an Operations Program for your computer. The one by JMRI is free and supposed to be good. (I use Rail Op which is very similar to JMRI Ops.) There is a learning curve to it just as there is for any program.
The advantage for a lone operator is that once you have it set up and have a daily trains list, you let the computer build the trains. Then you just run them according to the printed manifest that results. It is sort of like a switch list. So you take that and switch out the cars according to what the list tells you to do.
There is a more random type operation that way, as you don't know before hand where the cars in the train are going.
Elmer.
The above is my opinion, from an active and experienced Model Railroader in N scale and HO since 1961.
(Modeling Freelance, Eastern US, HO scale, in 1962, with NCE DCC for locomotive control and a stand alone LocoNet for block detection and signals.) http://waynes-trains.com/ at home, and N scale at the Club.
Car cards, waybills, suitable loads !!!
Yikes, it is all Greek to me.
I don't believe that I am alone when I express interest in "operations" but confess total ignorance as to how to begin.
Over the last 8 year period, I have built and expanded a fairly large layout, double main line, large passenger station, coach yard, freight yard, engine service facility, sidings, spurs, whatever.
I have a decent number of freight cars, passenger cars, steamers and diesels.
I am a lone wolf operator with the only exception being a 2-day visit by a fellow member of this forum where we attempted operations based upon a predetermined "work order" sheet. it kinda worked, although neither of us had any idea how to set it up.
As a lone wolf, I go down to my layout and start running trains.
Operations? I am clueless. Where to begin? What to do?
Rich
Alton Junction
Fantastic Mike! A lot of help here, keep it going.
Maybe run a local and show us how and what you do.
Why doesn't the Model Railroader Forum have a forum dedicated to operation? Discussing it here in The General Discussion topics pushes these good/important threads down, off the first page so quickly with all the "How do I", "What's the best", "Where can I find", "My P2K loco squeals" and "Eating at the Diner" type of posts!
I'm going to make this suggestion to the "Powers that be".
NP 2626 "Northern Pacific, really terrific"
Northern Pacific Railway Historical Association: http://www.nprha.org/
A fellow list member asked for some pics that help illustrate the way my card system works.
First, I use a sequential operating system. Trains have to run in a rough order, but because I have multiple branch lines and staging, even that isn't set in stone. I like to be able to step into the layout and run something that suits my fancy. On the other hand, I like to keep up with things so it's still simple to set things up if people are coming over for an ops session. My goal was to have an ops system in place that suits the lone operator, ops sessions, or both. I'm going to talk more about the actual "paperwork" than the ops system. The point is that these simple methods are readily adaptable to whatever system you'e using when you feel the need for creating a visual order out of your ops scheme.
For the car cards and waybills, I use the standard format one with 4-turn waybills available from a number of vendors. MicroMark has decent card boxes, but I also use a few homemade ones. This one is in staging and holds loads to be assigned to standard gauge cars moving onto the layout. I rarely keep a waybill on the same car card through all 4 turns, instead pulling them, rotating the waybill to the next load, and mixing it back into the waiting load boxes, usually by placing at the back of the stack of waybills.This randomizes loads pretty well for me and I don't always take the front card. Sometimes you want to send a tank car, and the next waybill is grain, just dig until you find a suitable load.
Because I have quite a bit of dual-gauge track, I have to be careful not to get too many SG cars in the mix or I tend to plug up the line. I'll look at what's in the way at various places in the layout before making up trains in staging with loads going to various industries. The three switching locations along the line have differing numbers of slots to help keep things sorted. I'll put up the train cards next. I make them day-glo, but you can do whatever works for you. I use a Brother label maker to keep things neat, then seal the edges of the labels with scotch tape to keep them from peeling off. For the narrowgauge, Passenger trains are red and freight and mixed trains are yellow. On the standard gauge, These show the front and back, usually a set of East and West trains in the case of my layout. I use a black binder clip to hold cards together with the train card, then it stands up once things are clipped together. Makes a neat package to drop in the card box in yards and along the way I also use green to designate through freights, where I usually don't even bother with adding waybills to the car cards except for the rare case when a through freight will drop a load. While I have been putting the lead unit on the binder clip along, with trailing units on the back with a label with the unit #s, which often get knocked off and lost, I am starting to leave the trailing units off. The consist is always assigned to the lead unit in my scheme, so that's all you really need to know to get going. BTW "SG" here stands for steam generator. Here are some cards for passenger trains: You can just leave the card pack with the train as a marker for where you're at in your op sequence in between sessions. It's bright enough not to miss, without being too big to be intrusive. You do have to keep the binder clip off the track, though, a problem that could be cured by handle plastikote dip on the end of the binder clip. I'm just careful about where I sit them. Cards for the Yard switchers are simple. I sometimes make up a switch list, but when I'm by myself I can find the card boxes and wing it without paperwork. Finally, here's the lineup in staging. In the left back distance, you can see the row of card packs perched on the shelf behind the visible staging tracks (there are two more on the other side of the wall, under the layout.) Be glad to answer questions. This system is meant to be flexible, use cheap, readily available materials, and help those of us who are better visual learners figure out what out op system should be.
Because I have quite a bit of dual-gauge track, I have to be careful not to get too many SG cars in the mix or I tend to plug up the line. I'll look at what's in the way at various places in the layout before making up trains in staging with loads going to various industries. The three switching locations along the line have differing numbers of slots to help keep things sorted.
I'll put up the train cards next. I make them day-glo, but you can do whatever works for you. I use a Brother label maker to keep things neat, then seal the edges of the labels with scotch tape to keep them from peeling off. For the narrowgauge, Passenger trains are red and freight and mixed trains are yellow. On the standard gauge, These show the front and back, usually a set of East and West trains in the case of my layout. I use a black binder clip to hold cards together with the train card, then it stands up once things are clipped together. Makes a neat package to drop in the card box in yards and along the way
I also use green to designate through freights, where I usually don't even bother with adding waybills to the car cards except for the rare case when a through freight will drop a load. While I have been putting the lead unit on the binder clip along, with trailing units on the back with a label with the unit #s, which often get knocked off and lost, I am starting to leave the trailing units off. The consist is always assigned to the lead unit in my scheme, so that's all you really need to know to get going. BTW "SG" here stands for steam generator. Here are some cards for passenger trains: You can just leave the card pack with the train as a marker for where you're at in your op sequence in between sessions. It's bright enough not to miss, without being too big to be intrusive. You do have to keep the binder clip off the track, though, a problem that could be cured by handle plastikote dip on the end of the binder clip. I'm just careful about where I sit them. Cards for the Yard switchers are simple. I sometimes make up a switch list, but when I'm by myself I can find the card boxes and wing it without paperwork. Finally, here's the lineup in staging. In the left back distance, you can see the row of card packs perched on the shelf behind the visible staging tracks (there are two more on the other side of the wall, under the layout.) Be glad to answer questions. This system is meant to be flexible, use cheap, readily available materials, and help those of us who are better visual learners figure out what out op system should be.
I also use green to designate through freights, where I usually don't even bother with adding waybills to the car cards except for the rare case when a through freight will drop a load.
While I have been putting the lead unit on the binder clip along, with trailing units on the back with a label with the unit #s, which often get knocked off and lost, I am starting to leave the trailing units off. The consist is always assigned to the lead unit in my scheme, so that's all you really need to know to get going. BTW "SG" here stands for steam generator. Here are some cards for passenger trains: You can just leave the card pack with the train as a marker for where you're at in your op sequence in between sessions. It's bright enough not to miss, without being too big to be intrusive. You do have to keep the binder clip off the track, though, a problem that could be cured by handle plastikote dip on the end of the binder clip. I'm just careful about where I sit them. Cards for the Yard switchers are simple. I sometimes make up a switch list, but when I'm by myself I can find the card boxes and wing it without paperwork. Finally, here's the lineup in staging. In the left back distance, you can see the row of card packs perched on the shelf behind the visible staging tracks (there are two more on the other side of the wall, under the layout.) Be glad to answer questions. This system is meant to be flexible, use cheap, readily available materials, and help those of us who are better visual learners figure out what out op system should be.
While I have been putting the lead unit on the binder clip along, with trailing units on the back with a label with the unit #s, which often get knocked off and lost, I am starting to leave the trailing units off. The consist is always assigned to the lead unit in my scheme, so that's all you really need to know to get going. BTW "SG" here stands for steam generator. Here are some cards for passenger trains: You can just leave the card pack with the train as a marker for where you're at in your op sequence in between sessions. It's bright enough not to miss, without being too big to be intrusive. You do have to keep the binder clip off the track, though, a problem that could be cured by handle plastikote dip on the end of the binder clip. I'm just careful about where I sit them.
While I have been putting the lead unit on the binder clip along, with trailing units on the back with a label with the unit #s, which often get knocked off and lost, I am starting to leave the trailing units off. The consist is always assigned to the lead unit in my scheme, so that's all you really need to know to get going. BTW "SG" here stands for steam generator.
Here are some cards for passenger trains:
You can just leave the card pack with the train as a marker for where you're at in your op sequence in between sessions. It's bright enough not to miss, without being too big to be intrusive. You do have to keep the binder clip off the track, though, a problem that could be cured by handle plastikote dip on the end of the binder clip. I'm just careful about where I sit them.
Cards for the Yard switchers are simple. I sometimes make up a switch list, but when I'm by myself I can find the card boxes and wing it without paperwork. Finally, here's the lineup in staging. In the left back distance, you can see the row of card packs perched on the shelf behind the visible staging tracks (there are two more on the other side of the wall, under the layout.) Be glad to answer questions. This system is meant to be flexible, use cheap, readily available materials, and help those of us who are better visual learners figure out what out op system should be.
Cards for the Yard switchers are simple. I sometimes make up a switch list, but when I'm by myself I can find the card boxes and wing it without paperwork.
Finally, here's the lineup in staging. In the left back distance, you can see the row of card packs perched on the shelf behind the visible staging tracks (there are two more on the other side of the wall, under the layout.)
Be glad to answer questions. This system is meant to be flexible, use cheap, readily available materials, and help those of us who are better visual learners figure out what out op system should be.