Thank you,
For the replies to my previous post about HO scale size to real world size.
Now I can begin to figure how many times my mainline runner needs to go around a track made up of 6 18" curves x 2 (both ends of oval) + 6 9" straights x 2 (both sides) to cover a distance of Pittsburgh to D.C. giving my yard loco time to break up an inbound train and build another outbound train for the next run.
Anybody have any ideas on a lap counter?
Thanks,
cplmckenzie
807 laps
I have the right to remain silent. By posting here I have given up that right and accept that anything I say can and will be used as evidence to critique me.
Just let it lap until you finish with the switching?
For a single person running alone, on a smaller layout, sequence operation is probably better than anything more fancy. You won't have to frantically jump between jobs. Instead just plan tasks and then execute them in order. Such as:
1) make up train in yard
2) run to next station (same set of sidings, after a few laps - or while mainline train is lapping, rearrange cars in preparation for the next step)
3) set out 2 cars for city b, pick up 1
Repeat a couple of times, train has now left the originating town and stopped at 2-3 intermediate towns before reaching the final destination. Next time you can run the same tasks but in the opposite order, so you are starting at town E and moving back to town A. If you actually take cars off and put others on the sidings while the train is looping, if you keep track of which ones as you set out and pick up, on the 'way back' you can pick up the ones you set out on the previous trip. Swap car types frequently and a couple of sidings can represent any number of industries in each 'town'
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
Yes, that is very similiar to what I want to do. Actually operate a train yard. Although just letting the mainline run until yard operations are done, well just would seem realistic to me. I mean, trains run from somewhere to somewhere .... on a schedule.
carl425 807 laps
Years ago I set up a lap counter for a show our club did. I wanted to know how far our trains ran during the show. I used a telephone exchange electromechanical counter and a Twin T detector on a short section of track. Each time the loco passed over the section of track the counter would step up one. counters could count to 9999 and the one I had was not resetable. So I wrote down the count at the end of each day and did the maths to work out how many laps. I knew it was a scale half mile around the layout so calculated the total distance from that. These days you could use a PC to count laps using any form of detector you already have.
Alan Jones in Sunny Queensland (Oz)
Lap counter - slot cars - yes, model RR - no. I can not see the use of a lap counter. Most people with small loop layouts take an arbitrary numer of loops around to represent travel between stops, like 6 to 10 times. More than this cold get old quickly.
George In Midcoast Maine, 'bout halfway up the Rockland branch
Although my main line is a continuous oval my trains do not run laps. They depart the modeled scene (through a tunnel portal) and come to a stop in hidden staging until I have need for that particular train again.
Believe it or not, model locos can wear out. The owner of a display layout where locos ran up a lot of mileage showed me the modifications he made to stock Athearn BB locos - roller bearings, high-precision gears in a lubricant bath, wick reservoir motor bearing oilers and more. According to him, an unmodified loco would only last for about a week of 12 hour a day operation. It's much better for a loco to run all those intervening miles standing still behind a view block or otherwise out of sight.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - with up to 25 trains waiting in hidden staging)
maxman carl425 807 laps I think it's more like 1082 laps. Per internet the approximate driving distance from Pittsburgh to DC is 245 miles. Dividing that by 87.1 equals 2.81 miles. 2.81 miles X 5280 ft/mile equals 14,837 feet. 14,837 ft X 12 inches/foot equals 178,042 inches. He basically has an 18 inch diameter circle. Circumfrence around that (pi D) is 3.14 X 18 or 56.5 inches. Added to that are the six 9-inch straight sections on each side. 12 X 9 equals 108 inches. Adding that to the circle is 56.5 plus 108 or 164.5 inches. Dividing 178,042 by 164.5 yields 1082 laps.
Longer than that. The railroad makes a lot more zigzags over a less direct route than the roads.
Washington Union Station to Pittsburgh Penn Station is 299 miles.
maxmanHe basically has an 18 inch diameter circle. Circumfrence around that (pi D) is 3.14 X 18 or 56.5 inches.
He has an 18" radius circle which is 36" in diameter, so the per lap length is 221. 178,042/221 = 805 (I must have rounded something differently)
ndbprr700 or 1000 laps is inconsequential as I would be mind numbed by that time......
ndbprr....Imagine a 700 or 1000 lap nascar race.
LAP COUNTER???
On railroad of real (and also on railroad of LION) This is found on the Train Register. Each station agent keeps a train register of the times that trains arrive and depart his station. He includes train number and locomotive number.
On Railroad of LION this log is kept in the 242nd Street Tower and can be downloaded for your examination.
ON railroad of NYCT the log is kept in the terminals and at several waypoints along the line.
On Railroad of BNSF the station master would be outside inspecting the train as it passed. Well, now is all automatic, station masters are mostly all gone. But the journal is indeed kept in the form of digital data on a hard drive.
So what you really want is a train detector. What you hook it up to is your affair. On railroad of LION the detectors operate the block signals, and regulate train departures.
ROAR
The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.
Here there be cats. LIONS with CAMERAS
carl425 maxman He basically has an 18 inch diameter circle. Circumfrence around that (pi D) is 3.14 X 18 or 56.5 inches. He has an 18" radius circle which is 36" in diameter, so the per lap length is 221. 178,042/221 = 805 (I must have rounded something differently)
maxman
He basically has an 18 inch diameter circle. Circumfrence around that (pi D) is 3.14 X 18 or 56.5 inches.
18" radius curves = 113 "
straights = 108"
Total distance 1 lap = 221"
221" = 18.41 ft
18.41 ft = 1602 HO ft
1602 ft = .30 miles
My "Handy Railroad Atlas" says it is 296 rail miles between Pittsburgh, PA and Washington, DC.
296 mi/.30 mi/lap = 986 2/3 laps.
Dave H. Painted side goes up. My website : wnbranch.com
Hello again,
A while back I posted to the forum at MRR concerning basic railroad operations.
Since that time, I have gotten my layout roughly 90 percent complete, selected the railroad (NS, Southern, Pennsylvania RR, Penn Central, Conrail, CSX), painted and decaled locos and rolling stock, studied block wiring (gotten layout blocked with sidings and passings controlled by on/off switches). Got a few rough joints as my layout include grades, unders and overs track to connect my two(2) 8x4 boards (one being a modeled train run the other being a train yard with spurs). Setup and wired two(2) reverse loops at each end of the entire layout.
Currently, I am reading up on installing a signal system (as there are many meeting points in the layout) and setting up "logical" sections in the layout to place these signals so running trains will know how and if to proceed.
I have also began studing Train and Yard operations in my subscription to MRR magazine and archive. I downloaded and am studying you Train Register you provided the link to.
I am wondering. Is there a source where I can get example documents of the following to begin looking over to see how these could be applied to my project.
1. Switch Lists2. Car Cards3. Time Tables4. Train Orders5. Track Warrants
And any others that may be helpful.
I want to thank you for any guidance you can give me in this.
You got a pretty exact answer on the original question. I was just going to say that if the switch crew doesn't finish before that long distance train gets in, you'd better send someone to check on them...
Here's more than you'll probably ever need to know about operations. Check out the Resources link for most of your questions.
http://www.opsig.org/
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
cplmckenzieCurrently, I am reading up on installing a signal system (as there are many meeting points in the layout) and setting up "logical" sections in the layout to place these signals so running trains will know how and if to proceed.
You might want to pick up a copy of the latest (December) issue of RailroadModelCraftsman. They are starting a series on understanding railroad signaling by Bruce Chubb that looks promising.