General Discussion (Model Railroader)

 My layout has two towns, on opposite sides of a backdrop. One side is an industrial area and engine terminal, and the other is a yard. My question is, would it be prototypical to:

1) To have a train start in the industrial district, pick up the empties, head to the yard, drop off the empties, pick up the loads, then head back round and drop them off at the industries?

 Or:

2) Have the train start at the yard with loads. Head to other side, pick up the empties, drop off the loads, and head back to the yard. 

I know it's a bit confusing, , but what do you think?

 typically trains start in yards since that's the normal place to store the engines overnight , refuel etc.

of course there are probably prototype examples of the opposite , so you can most likely do whatever you want

Usually a railroad wants to be as efficiant (I said Usually) in expenditures of fuel and labor. A local starting at the yard would meet those requirements. That said however if you have a industrial switcher at the area you can have a road train drop off the loads and pick up the empties set out by the industrial switcher. Gives you 3 jobs and more fun. I would recommend a small switcher (a 4 axle or maybe even the roundhouse EMD model 40) for the industrial job, A 4 axle road unit for the road job and if you desire another switcher for the yard job. But remember it is YOUR layout after all and as long as you enjoy it that is all that really matters. Enjoy

  It really would make no difference which way you did it.  I think I would put the crew 'on duty' at the engine terminal and pull the pickups for the day, then make a run to the nearby yard to drop them and gather the setouts to be delivered.  Arriving back at the industrial area, make your setouts and your crew is close to the engine terminal and ready for 'Miller Time'!

Jim

2) Have the train start at the yard with loads. Head to other side, pick up the empties, drop off the loads, and head back to the yard. 

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That's the prototype way..Its easy and one trip does all and the crew should complete their work in 8-10 hours.

Keep in mind, too, that usually the crew wouldn't pick up every car in the industrial area at every shift. For variety, imagine that some cars have not yet been loaded or unloaded at the industries. Those will need to be "put back" if you must move them to reach other cars that are ready to go.

Also, you can add interest at the yard by designating one or more tracks as "interchange" tracks, either to another railroad or to the main line of your own railroad. Or designate one yard track as "eastbound" and one "westbound" and the crew will need to do some additional switching on the yard side. Similarly, designating one yard track as the "interchange" connection and one as the "home road" connection would require some additional (fun) switching moves.

You can use car cards and waybills or a simple switchlist to add this switching variety. Or to start very simply, you could even use odd and even car numbers or something like that.

I wrote about small layout operating ideas on my website, including seasonality, shifts, and more.

Byron
Model RR Blog

Additional movements to keep things interesting:

1. Locomotive servicing terminal: 

Fueling, sanding, running repairs, parking on the ready track, etc). Depending upon the size of your terminal, the prototypical style of servicing several locomotives takes time as well.

2. M.O.W related operations.

One modeler I knew years ago always rolled out a short mow train anytime he had to take care of a pesky problem (turnout blades, dead-spots, etc) on the track during a session.. Since he ran his trains on a schedule, he wanted to add some realism with the unexpected delays, .  

CSX_YN3:

  My layout has two towns, on opposite sides of a backdrop.

Just a question, why isn't the engine terminal near the yard?  Since all the trains originate and terminate at the yard,  Most engine erminals are near the yards.  But back to the topic.

One side is an industrial area and engine terminal, and the other is a yard. My question is, would it be prototypical to: 

Helpful hint.  Think in terms of spots and pulls or inbounds and outbounds rather than loads and empties.  Industries are allowed to ship things too, not just recieve them.

Here what would probably happen.  the crew would get the engine at the engine facilities, run to the yard.  Switch up their train, digging out the spotters.  they would run to the industrial area, pull the outbounds, spot the inbounds, then run back to theyard.  Switch up the yard to build the outbound cars (that will be picked up by the through freight), then run the engine light back tothe engine facility and tie up.

Having said that you can do it any way you want and there will be a prototype for it. Normally you wouldn't pull the outbounds, go to the yard and then come back with the inbounds because crews hate double switching industries and customers hate having to leave their tracks 'open" for a long time.  Lets say there is a track with printing company next to the switch and cold storage warehouse next to the end of the track.  The printer is unloading a car of paper.  The reefer at the cold storage is empty.  To get the reefer the printer will have to stop unloading the car, remove the bridge plates, close the car door and then have the dock crew sit around until the load is respotted, then open the car back up, put the bridge plates back in.  If the switcher pulls the outbounds, goes back to the yard, switches out the spot cars and comes back, the loading dock crew has to wait all that time or even if the car is respotted while the switcher is in the yard, has to stop work twice.  By spotting and pulling at the same time the interruption to the customer is minimized.

The engine terminal is not near the yard because there was no space for it. The cars are not always empty, I just couldn't think of inbounds/outbounds, my mind went blank.

I guess option 2 is more prototypical, but I think I may need to occasionally use my modeler's license, for option 1 allows more cars to be delivered.

Thanks everybody!

How does option 1 allow for more cars to be delivered?

TrainManTy:

How does option 1 allow for more cars to be delivered?

Good question.  If he has spots for 10 cars, then all he can spot is 10 cars, whether he makes one trip or ten trips, he can still only spot 10 cars.

 I'll tell you why. The local, in order to pull the outbounds on option 2, must leave some cars on the main. If the train is too long, the end of the train blocks a grade crossing. This does not happen in option 1.

There are 7 spots, but option 2 can only have 5 cars in the train before the crossing is blocked. 

I'll tell you why. The local, in order to pull the outbounds on option 2, must leave some cars on the main. If the train is too long, the end of the train blocks a grade crossing. This does not happen in option 1.

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Such is a hard cold  fact of railroading its inescapable..Its not unusual for a local to block a main track or crossing happens here 5 days a week.

One trick we would use is to leave the cars we don't need sitting below the crossing or in some cases we simply cut the crossing.

In real railroading you don't want to do any unnecessary work like doubling back to the yard.It can take up to 12 hours to switch  out a busy industrial park because each switch takes time and is different.Maybe you need to move a car before you can spot the inbound car..Of course you must respot the car you move.You may have to wait while they run down or wake the driver of a 18 wheeler so he can move his truck.

Remember that train crews are just people (usually). They do things the easiest way possible. When a switching crew reports for duty they are given a list of cars that need to be spotted and pulled. They are going to do it the way they believe is fastest.

That's how I operate mine anway. I really don't care which order things are done. Just like a truck driver. You give him a load and a destination, he decides which roads to take.

 You could have option 3...  If you have a large industry that gets a lot of cars, you could have a through train that simply drops off cars on the industry side, then have a local switcher that takes care of the car bumping.

That's how switching works at my paper mill.  The mill receives and generates a variety of traffic, and can switch about 20-30 cars during an ops session.  There's a turn that runs out of the yard to deliver inbound cars, and pick up the outbounds switched the day before.

Here's how it looks when the stage is set for the switching to begin...  The two main lines circle the mill on either side, with a siding on both mains to hold the inbound and outbound cars.

This allows me to run a train around the main while I'm switching the industry.  It creates a fun re-curring obstacle for the switch crew, as well!

Note:  This is a lot easier to accomplish with DCC...

Lee