How did you set up your operation sessions.

[SpaceMouse]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Brunton

Bob,

Can you post a picture or two of your pins, please? I'm following your descriptions, but having a hard time picturing these. Are they upside-down thumbtacks, with the paint on the underside of the head?

Also, where is Clarion? I'm in NJ and would like to drop by your club's open house, unless you're many hours away.....

The pin has been removed from the tack and the top is painted.

Clarion is on the I-80 north of Pittsburgh.

[cmrproducts]

Mark

Clarion is 80 miles north of Pittsburgh - 80 miles east of Youngstown OH and 80 miles south of Erie!

As for the tacks, I use the type with the colored plastic heads, which is the base color I use for the towns. (Red, Blue, Green, Yellow, White, Black). I cut off the pin in the center of the tack. Then I take some of the Gray poster putty and put a small amount inside the tack where the pin used to be.

They have a plastic colored cap over the metal head of the tack and this area underneath is able to hold the poster putty. This allows the tack to stick to the top of the car. The poster putty does not harm the paint on the cars (this was my first worry when I came up with the idea).

I make up a list of all possible combinations of car types that can go to an industry.

I then make up a color chart for the towns and then dot colors for the industries.

Once this is done I make up a list showing all possible color combinations for each car type Box, Flat, CVR Hopper. This list is then used to repin the cars.

Now I paint a small colored dot in the center of the tack head to represent the industry.

These lists eliminate the possibility of someone putting the wrong color pin on a car. (The only time I have found wrong pins on a car is Reffers and Boxcars. They sometimes don't observe the grill screens on the ends of the cars for the Reffers!)

BOB H – Clarion, PA