Happy with my operating scheme

[Anonymous]

I have a 22' x14' HO layout with a twice around double mainline. I have six staging tracks, two small yards, numerous industrial sidings, two double ended sidings with stations for my Amtrak train to service,and a two track stub ended siding to accomodate a vintage excursion train and a museum steamer in operating condition. I have installed DCC which has opened up all kinds of possibilities.

After struggling for some time, I have come up with a scheme using Old Line Graphics car cards and waybills to dictate car movement. I have created fourteen different train orders which are pritnted on index cards and numbered. Three Westbound and three eastbound freights leave staging in a set sequence, travel through the layout, switching cars at one of the yards and one of the industries, and return to staging . Interspersed are an Amtrak run, an excursion passenger train, a run with the museum steamer, and three local freights which assemble trains from cars dropped at the yard by through freights and deliver them to designated industries. After a job has been run, the index card goes to the back of the pile and the next time I head down to the basement, I will run the job at the top of the pile. Sounds complicated, but it isn't and has given my trains far more to do than run in circles.

Comments and questions are welcome.

[johncolley]

Hey, good job, it would work for me. Now to throw a wrench into the system take a wheel of fortune or a pair of dice and whatever number comes up that car has to go to the RIP Track for one session before it can come back on line. this provides some extra switcher action besides which you need to switch the diesel fuel and/or sand track occasionally, eh? V A R I E T Y !!!