richhotrain ATLANTIC CENTRAL Running trains in circles? Well, my new layout will have a double track mainline run of 400' with thru staging. So if a train leaves staging, apears on the layout, leaves the scenic view, and then stops in staging, or terminates in the one visable yard to be "worked", I would not call that running in circles. But parked in staging it is instanly ready for the next run. Just reading about your new layout, Sheldon, gets me excited. That description of a single session of "running trains" sounds so cool to me. I just cannot get excited over a formal ops session which does sound boring to me. At Paul's club, each car used in operations has a car card with a waybill telling the user where the car goes. These car cards/waybill combos are kept in an easy-to-access car card pocket mounted on the side of the layout. All they have to do is pick up the cards, read them, and put the car where the waybill tells them to put it. Rich
ATLANTIC CENTRAL Running trains in circles? Well, my new layout will have a double track mainline run of 400' with thru staging. So if a train leaves staging, apears on the layout, leaves the scenic view, and then stops in staging, or terminates in the one visable yard to be "worked", I would not call that running in circles. But parked in staging it is instanly ready for the next run.
Running trains in circles? Well, my new layout will have a double track mainline run of 400' with thru staging. So if a train leaves staging, apears on the layout, leaves the scenic view, and then stops in staging, or terminates in the one visable yard to be "worked", I would not call that running in circles. But parked in staging it is instanly ready for the next run.
Just reading about your new layout, Sheldon, gets me excited. That description of a single session of "running trains" sounds so cool to me. I just cannot get excited over a formal ops session which does sound boring to me.
At Paul's club, each car used in operations has a car card with a waybill telling the user where the car goes. These car cards/waybill combos are kept in an easy-to-access car card pocket mounted on the side of the layout. All they have to do is pick up the cards, read them, and put the car where the waybill tells them to put it.
Rich
Just my opinion, but car cards are boring and too much work. All the guys I know doing opps sessions use simple switch lists like Brakie described. It is more like the prototype. The yard master gives the local a list of drop offs and pick ups.
On my new layout, just like my old layout, switching industries and running mainline trains are two completely separate functions just like the prototype.
Only a very short list of industries require the "local" to travel on the mainline. Most industries will be on the industrial belt line, and switched directly from the yard.
The mainline is just that, to simulate the action of mainline trains, some stopping at the yard, some just getting power changes, some not stopping, some setting out and picking up blocks of cars, and of course for passenger trains.
Rich, in many ways your layout is similar to mine, but with more of a passenger focus. My main passenger station is just a four thru track affair with a very small coach yard and post office/express operation. Then there are three "suburban" stations that have commuter service with only occasional thru train stops, again very similar to real life.
Yes, my view, many "opps" guys can be a bit too "rigid"............
Sheldon
When I started in model trains it was the fun of watching Lionel trains going in circles etc. Now I enjoy watching them run through realistic scenery. The operations part is not the only aspect of mrr for me.
Alton Junction
richhotrain rrinker So the main topic of Tony's article is about running trains on an otherwise operating layout, just for enjoyment. I have long wondered why anyone would build a nice layout, and then never do a thing except maintenance and maybe continual improvement of the scenery except once a month when operating sessions are held. That's certainly not why I am filling my basement with a layout. My layout will allow formal operation, but I will ALSO be down there just running trains for the fun of it - no regrets later in life like one of the modelers mentione in Tony's article. Paul3 Running trains without operation sessions is boring. It is so incredibly dull. There's no challenge, there's no reason, there's nothing to do but stare at the moving train. It's no different from sitting on your front porch to watch the cars go by...only it's the same car, over and over and over again. What's the fun in that? You might as well play Monopoly solo. Well now, hasn't this turned out to be an interesing thread? Randy raises an interesting point about building a large layout and then doing nothing with it except conducting an operating session once a month. Paul then insults a large segment of the model railroading population by calling running trains without operations boring. What the MR snobs fail to appreciate is the segment of the MR population known as "lone wolfs" who get a lot of enjoyment and satisfaction out of building a large layout to runs trains without conducting operating sessions. Speaking for myself, I have never joined a model railroad club, and I don't invite fellow modelers over to run trains in my basement. Why not? Well, most importantly, because I do not know any fellow modelers in my area, and I have never had any interest in finding them. I have a fairly large layout in my basement on which I run trains, sort of conduct limited, informal operations, and I thoroughly enjoy the experience. My current layout focuses on a fairly faithful replication of a large downtown passenger station and an extensive system of freight houses. My scenery includes a system of bridges over a lengthy section of river. The layout includes a significant coach yard and freight yard as well as a large engine servicing facility that features a coaling tower, 130' turntable and 9-stall roundhouse. The trackage includes 165' of double mainline, plenty of sidings and a four track double slip complex, complete with four reversing sections. So, as a lone wolf operator, I am never without challenges, and I never get bored by running trains in circles since I don't merely run trains in circles. I just don't get what is wrong with that. Are lone wolf operators, who do not conduct formal operating sessions with others, pariahs in the model railroad hobby? Rich
rrinker So the main topic of Tony's article is about running trains on an otherwise operating layout, just for enjoyment. I have long wondered why anyone would build a nice layout, and then never do a thing except maintenance and maybe continual improvement of the scenery except once a month when operating sessions are held. That's certainly not why I am filling my basement with a layout. My layout will allow formal operation, but I will ALSO be down there just running trains for the fun of it - no regrets later in life like one of the modelers mentione in Tony's article.
So the main topic of Tony's article is about running trains on an otherwise operating layout, just for enjoyment. I have long wondered why anyone would build a nice layout, and then never do a thing except maintenance and maybe continual improvement of the scenery except once a month when operating sessions are held. That's certainly not why I am filling my basement with a layout. My layout will allow formal operation, but I will ALSO be down there just running trains for the fun of it - no regrets later in life like one of the modelers mentione in Tony's article.
Paul3 Running trains without operation sessions is boring. It is so incredibly dull. There's no challenge, there's no reason, there's nothing to do but stare at the moving train. It's no different from sitting on your front porch to watch the cars go by...only it's the same car, over and over and over again. What's the fun in that? You might as well play Monopoly solo.
Running trains without operation sessions is boring. It is so incredibly dull. There's no challenge, there's no reason, there's nothing to do but stare at the moving train. It's no different from sitting on your front porch to watch the cars go by...only it's the same car, over and over and over again. What's the fun in that? You might as well play Monopoly solo.
Well now, hasn't this turned out to be an interesing thread?
Randy raises an interesting point about building a large layout and then doing nothing with it except conducting an operating session once a month.
Paul then insults a large segment of the model railroading population by calling running trains without operations boring.
What the MR snobs fail to appreciate is the segment of the MR population known as "lone wolfs" who get a lot of enjoyment and satisfaction out of building a large layout to runs trains without conducting operating sessions.
Speaking for myself, I have never joined a model railroad club, and I don't invite fellow modelers over to run trains in my basement. Why not? Well, most importantly, because I do not know any fellow modelers in my area, and I have never had any interest in finding them.
I have a fairly large layout in my basement on which I run trains, sort of conduct limited, informal operations, and I thoroughly enjoy the experience. My current layout focuses on a fairly faithful replication of a large downtown passenger station and an extensive system of freight houses. My scenery includes a system of bridges over a lengthy section of river. The layout includes a significant coach yard and freight yard as well as a large engine servicing facility that features a coaling tower, 130' turntable and 9-stall roundhouse. The trackage includes 165' of double mainline, plenty of sidings and a four track double slip complex, complete with four reversing sections.
So, as a lone wolf operator, I am never without challenges, and I never get bored by running trains in circles since I don't merely run trains in circles. I just don't get what is wrong with that. Are lone wolf operators, who do not conduct formal operating sessions with others, pariahs in the model railroad hobby?
Well said Rich,
My model railroad is first and foremost for ME to play with. And I never get bored.
But then again I am an intovert who does not suffer from ADD or ADHD.
And who's self esteem is not driven by the opinions of people I don't know or only know casually.
Do I like to share my layout and my interest in the hobby with others? Yes. It that it's primary function? No. Do I require that aspect to enjoy the hobby? No.
So I think that makes me a mildly social lone wolf.
Paul, I have belonged to clubs and round robins. The first club I belonged to does not a have large layout, but they are well published and have been around for about 55 years and are still going strong without me.
A well noted round robin group I was once active in is nearly that age.
Paul, if you are alone, and you "run" a train, "operation" can be all in your head. You don't need paperwork or rigid rules to imagine that you are carrying out the "work" of railroading. Maybe you just need a more self suffcient imagination......
Running trains in circles? Well, my new layout will have a continious double track mainline run of 400' with thru staging. So if a train leaves staging, apears on the layout, leaves the scenic view, and then stops in staging, or terminates in the one visable yard to be "worked", I would not call that running in circles. But parked in staging it is instantly ready for the next run.
It just means I did not spend 20 minutes getting ready for 20 minutes of "operation".
You may find display running boring, and on a small layout I might agree.
But on a layout like I am building, it is easy to set the five trains in motion, ocassioinaly stop one in staging and replace it with another, while I sit and relax to my favorite music (my new layout space will also be my primary listening room for my 1700 vinyl records) with no anoying tinny sound coming out of the trains which are visually hundreds or thousands of scale feet away.
I like scale model "rail fanning".
I like operation.
I like building models.
I do not like the "politics" of clubs. After dealing with people all day at work, I like my private time.
Notice I have not been on here in over a week. And even when I am one here more often, it is in a limited number of threads. I'm too busy with life, family and with my hobbies for a model railroad club - that's why I left the last round robin group.
But I bet when when the new layout is running they will be over in a heart beat for an opps session..........
Rich - you took the words right out of my mouth!
If it weren´t for those boring people who like to have their boring trains running in circles over their boring layouts, this boring hobby wouldn´t bore anyone any longer. Wouldn´t that be boring?
There is nothing wrong being into operations, or just watching your trains run past. Or both!
Any way - what is operations? It strictly depends of the type and era of your layout. If I were to model my hometown station, I´d have to run anything from commuter trains running every 30 minutes, to hourly ICE trains whisking by, through unit freight trains, consisting of either container cars, auto carriers, or bulk chemical carriers. the total amount of train movements exceeds 500 each day, both directions combined. Operations in this case means being the dispatcher and let the computer run the trains. Now, if I were to model a rural branchline during the steam era, that´d be a completely different cup of tea.
Happy times!
Ulrich (aka The Tin Man)
"You´re never too old for a happy childhood!"
richhotrain Are lone wolf operators, who do not conduct formal operating sessions with others, pariahs in the model railroad hobby?
Only if they want to be!!
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
Sheldon,To each their own, of course, but clubs can do great things. We must be doing something right as we've been around for 82 years. We're currently in the process of filling a 6300+ sq. ft. layout room in our 10,000 sq. ft. building, and not too many model railroaders can say they've done something that size.
Random_Idea_Poster_6263,Yeah, "Trains of Thought" has been a monthly column by Tony Koester since at least the 1980's.Brakie,To me, it doesn't matter the type of operation as long as there is structure and rules. It could be car cards and waybills, computerized or hand written switch lists, color thumbtacks, bits of Plastruc I-beam painted or numbered, or rolling dice to spot a car...I don't care much about the method, so long as it's something that identifies a specific car and tells the operator to move it to a specific place. What I object to doing is a local freight operated by the engineer's whim. Without structure of some kind, it's boring.You know the fastest way to operate a way freight is to just grab the car off the train, pick it up off the rails, and put it down at the industry like we're a giant crane. But we don't do that because that violates the rules (the rules being reality). Without rules and without trying to follow those rules, it's boring.Kevin,Seriously? You're going to banter over Monopoly? How about sticking to model railroad operations?
BATMANKinda like when a stock trader plays Monopoly, it doesn't scale down
Ummm... I think you meant to say Stock Trader, Acquire, Stocks and Bonds, Mercurius, Black Friday, Stockpile, or Speculation.
Maybe you meant Pit, one of the most fun trading games of all time. One of those rare games that improves with massive amounts of beer.
There is no stock trading in Monopoly.
However, there is that one Commuinty Chest Card that says "From Sale Of Stock You Get" either $45.00 or $50.00 depending on the edition of the game you are using.
That is the only way the stock market gets into Monopoly.
Paul3You might as well play Monopoly solo.
Solo-Opoly is a blast. There are several different rules sets for it, and it is very challenging. You miss out on really hammering it to a live opponent, but if you win, there is some satisfaction.
Paul3Just running around dropping off, picking up, switching the yard, etc. without a plan is like playing Monopoly without dice. There's no challenge to it.
Playing Monopoly without the dice does not remove the challenge, it just levels out some of the erratic randomness that the cubes provide, so you can play more strategically. Using normal playing cards, or the Settlers Of Catan Event Cards are two ways to do this.
Paul3You might as well just place your Monopoly game piece on Boardwalk to start a game.
What does that do for your game? You get to buy a nearly worthless property for $400.00, then get an extra $200.00 for passing GO on your first roll. Basically a net loss of $200.00.
Anytime you want to do this nonsense at my house, feel free, then we will clean your clock.
Suggestion: Leave the board game banter to the real gamers.
Random_Idea_Poster_6263is from the August 2020 issue of model railroader right? I havent read the magazine in a while,
I have not read the column, but at least twice before Tony Koester has written about how he does not run trains just for fun between operating sessions.
You should subscribe to Model Railroder immediately.
Personally, I love watching trains run. It is relaxing and enjoyable.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
I have had my home layout operational for 16 years, not complete, operational. During that time I have tried to hold weekly ops sessions, not always possible.
Our club layout also has a scheduled ops session once a week.
Both use car card operating systems. The club encourages member to forward cars between sessions, moving the car cards with the car. Some spots will get overloaded with cars, but it solves itself. Problems only arise if the cards are not put in the right box for where the car ends up. That has to be manually cleaned up every now and then.
As de facto ops guru I have to keep telling people that if they can't find the car or card they are looking for, I won't find as I switch in a different yard.
Paul3Just running around dropping off, picking up, switching the yard, etc. without a plan is like playing Monopoly without dice.
Paul, Actually many serious operators started with that method including yours truly.
It was Doug Smith's waybill article in MR back in '61 that piqued my interest in using car cards and waybills.
Today I use nothing more then a list with car numbers and destination.
Pattons: S/O 34761,2113 Pull 17856.
TriState Polymers: Pull GATX 32445.
I use that system because it emulates what I did as a brakeman and a small ISL need not be overly complicated to switch.
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
I have to ask Randy, just to clarify this is from the August 2020 issue of model railroader right? I havent read the magazine in a while, so forgive me as I didn't realize the "Train Of Thouht, was a regular feature in the magazine. I will give the article a read once I find it. Thanks for making the discussion as its quite informative, as I too wish to just run trains, and maybe operations later on.
As either a host or a guest, I much prefer the benevolent dictatorship of a private group or a round robin over the democracy of a club..........
Randy,Just running around dropping off, picking up, switching the yard, etc. without a plan is like playing Monopoly without dice. There's no challenge to it. When you start off your train with a string of cars, do you just start setting out cars and picking up others just because you want to? There's no planning, no thinking, just "I'll put the blue boxcar here, and the red one over there...no, that's too hard, I'll put the red one at this other siding that's easier to get to." You might as well just place your Monopoly game piece on Boardwalk to start a game. I have to use paperwork of any kind, made up in advance, based on realistic traffic patterns so that I have to think about what I'm going to do. If I don't have to think and puzzle out how to switch something, it's boring.At my club, each car used in operations has a car card with a waybill telling the user where the car goes. These car cards/waybill combos are kept in an easy-to-access car card pocket mounted on the side of the layout. All they have to do is pick up the cards, read them, and put the car where the waybill tells them to put it. Each area has a clipboard with a well-labled map attached to it, and most (if not all) industries have signs on them. Still, some of these guys won't do it. They'll spend hours picking up cars and transporting them around the layout, then spotting them willy-nilly all over the layout. However, they won't spend 10 seconds putting them back. It's a little annoying because then I'm the one that has to reset the layout. BTW, our club easily has over 100 cars at industry sidings. We have eight local freights, and each one is 10 to 20 cars long.
Paul3 I don't even mind if they switch cars around in the yard
Paul, At one club where we operated twice a week I would go in the day before or maybe early and switch the yard just so the yardmaster would have to actually sort cars to make up his trains.
In short there was no prestaging trains from the last operating session.
Prestaging trains in the working yards was against the opertion rules. The two staging yards was to hold unit trains,stacks and pigs since those trains ran between Detriot and St. Louis. The St. Louisian and The Detriotian. The There was a long double return track between Detriot Electric and Robin Mine. This track could hold three empty and loaded trains of 25 cars each. This was for loads in/empty out operation.
Industries could not be switched between operation sessions.
Who says you just have to run trains around in circles? Running solo does not mean you can't stop and make pickups/setouts, or switch the yard, or some other task.
Although I hope the day never comes where I can't just watch the train roll by periodically as a background thing while I work on something else. Actively running a train around a simple loop? Yeah, that gets boring pretty fast.
As fore the club - after a few hours of running trains around, how can anyone even remember precisely where all the stuff was? My goal is an operating scheme that doesn't care or else can easily be reset.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
Randy,Running trains without operation sessions is boring. It is so incredibly dull. There's no challenge, there's no reason, there's nothing to do but stare at the moving train. It's no different from sitting on your front porch to watch the cars go by...only it's the same car, over and over and over again. What's the fun in that? You might as well play Monopoly solo.I can't continuously run in circles. I just can't. At my club, we have a large layout (currently 50' x 65' or so). It takes at least 15 minutes to completely run around our layout mainline at 60mph and as soon as I do one loop around, I'm ready for something else to do...anything else. Give me a challenge, a switch list, a meet, a timetable, an engine change, a pick up or a drop off -- anything to break up the absolute monotony of watching paint dry...sorry, I mean watching the same train travel over the same track at the same speed through the same scene again and again. If I go to my club to run trains with the guys, I do one loop, maybe two, and then I come back in the yard and change trains.But then, this is why I'm the Operations Chairman of my club.Dave,At my club, I've had problems with certain members who just have to mess things up between operation sessions. Some guys are nice and bring their own trains, run them, then take them home. But a few others have this need to run around the layout with the cars used in the operation, then proceed to make pick ups and set outs all over the layout. In one infamous case, a member had left one of his trains that had around 40 boxcars on the layout that he ran during an Open House. When he came in the next week to take it home, he couldn't find his train. He found the engines but the cars had all vanished. After a frantic search, he found one of his cars at a factory siding. Looking around, he found all his boxcars had been spotted individually at all the different sidings all over the layout. The guy that did it said he was just having fun.I don't mind if folks want to run trains between operation sessions. I don't even mind if they switch cars around in the yard, or make moves in and out of factory sidings. All I ask is that they put them back. And for some reason, they just won't.gregc,That's usually the case with me. When I had my layout and a full house, I would routinely not run trains. After all, I had invited my friends over to run my trains; it'd be rude of me to leave them with nothing to do while I ran. Instead, I'd be someone's brakeman, or fixing problems as they came up.At my club, I'm normally the dispatcher. So I'm involved, but I'm up in the tower with a computer, a pair of binoculars, and a radio. I don't normally run trains during operation sessions. I'd like to, but so few people will be dispatcher that I find I have to.Sheldon,I used to host a 3-man operation session at my old layout for a couple years. It can be done but I have to say even I got tired of it eventually (and I used car cards and waybills). Instead, we switched to monthly sessions with a 5- or 6-man crew. It was much easier to deal with, and left me more time to work on the layout.
ATLANTIC CENTRAL Someone above suggesting having more frequent operating sessions. I don't know that I like people enough to host an operating session every week, once a month is plenty.
Someone above suggesting having more frequent operating sessions.
I don't know that I like people enough to host an operating session every week, once a month is plenty.
gregc isn't the irony that the owner usually doesn't run trains during an op session? maybe it's more enjoyable to have a few beers with friends than drinking alone
isn't the irony that the owner usually doesn't run trains during an op session?
maybe it's more enjoyable to have a few beers with friends than drinking alone
Most of the time I prefer to be the yardmaster or dispatcher, at my house or elsewhere.
I guess that is another reason my layout is designed so five trains can run continiously without bumping into anything.
Someone above suggesting having more frequent operating sessions. That's great if you have the time and crews, but I still want to run my layout alone or for non railroaders without the "limitations" of an opps session.
greg - Philadelphia & Reading / Reading
On last layout I ussually kept a train running while working on scenery.
As I have said many times, I like operation, and I like good display running.
I would never have a layout that cannot do both. This is why I have never liked point to point layouts.
The new ATLANTIC CENTRAL will stage close to 30 trains. Most freight trains will be 35 to 50 cars long.
It will support continuous operation of five trains in display mode, and while those five trains run on dedicated routes, the yard and two primary industrial areas can function as an independent ISL completely off the main supporting two operators.
While there will be individual car forwarding, operations will also include picking up and setting out whole blocks of cars, and even some run thru bridge traffic as well as passenger operations.
I like running trains for non railroaders, I like running trains just to watch them myself.
I also imbrace the idea of modeling a relatively short section of a railroad and "watching" the trains come and go, even from the operating side of things.
I model one city, one yard, one engine facility, one major passenger station, and the rail activities that happen there, rather than trying to model a beginning and destination.
The rest of the world is "off stage", one of the reasons for so much staging.
And yes, douple track is the order of the day for lots of action, during display running or operating sessions.
Well, when I am dead tired, sitting with a glass of wine watching 1 to 3 trains plying the layout is better than sitting in front of the idiot box any day.
Like Mel, I will have a train running, usually a 4-4-0 with five cars, chugging around the layout while I work on it. You just have to remember that a train comes by every six minutes.
I am not really interested in ops, the adrenaline flow I got at times working logistics in my real life for 36 years does not transfer to model railroading. Kinda like when a stock trader plays Monopoly, it doesn't scale down. Or should I say up?
We have our layouts for many different reasons, all of them good.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
Although I don't have a lot of experience with operations, I do enjoy watching it, as it is a part of what the prototype did. They also didn't stop at every little depot and flag stop in route so "through-trains" (aka running trains) is prototypical, as well.
Why then not have both types of operations on one's layout? And you can enjoy them simultaneously; concentrating on assembling a string of cars in one's yard while a through-train operates out on the mainline. The best of both worlds for me.
Tom
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.
So have operating sessions more than once a month.One modeler I know has them once a week. And thus, his crews become familiar enough with operations that he doesn't have to spend all his time troubleshooting the sessions and can actually participate himself.
Disclaimer: This post may contain humor, sarcasm, and/or flatulence.
Michael Mornard
Bringing the North Woods to South Dakota!
I really like running my trains!!! I also like working on my layout as much as my arthritis will allow. Fortunately my arthritis doesn’t interfere with running my trains. When my arthritis gets so bad I can’t work on my layout I work at my hobby workbench building or maintaining my trains.When I’m working on scenery I normally have a train running (Slowly) on my twice-around layout listing to the wheels doing their thing on the rails.A day never goes by without me working on either my layout or at my workbench.I started out early with a Christmas gift from my father in 1945, a three car 2-6-2 Lionel 027 train. My dad built me a 4’ x 8’ main with an around the basement shelf to a 4’ x 4’ turnaround, not a loop but east and west parallel tracks. The train portion of the basement was about 30’ x 30’, heaven for an 8 year old kid.After a major move and not enough room for O gauge I built my first HO layout in a room behind our garage. At 14 I began my HO career and it’s still going strong.I love creating but I also love running my trains.Mel My Model Railroad http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/ Bakersfield, California I'm beginning to realize that aging is not for wimps.
I am a member of a round robing group of narrow gauge model railroaders. Each year, we have a charity drive and set up our quite large modular layout in a gymnasium of a local high school. The layout has a mainline run of 10 miles, 8 stations, and a number of local industries.We run according to a timetable (passenger trains) and ttrain orders (freight trains). We use a fast clock, which simulates a 8 hr. day in 2 hours. After those two hours, it starts not to be fun anymore, but hard work!
We are all happy when we can throw in some time of just enjoying running a train without a schedule and no clock chasing us.
BRAKIEOne builds a beautiful layout that fills a basement and runs it once a month with his buddies.
Russell
I have not yet seen the issue or of course Koester's essay, but he has written before that one of the nice aspects about having to restage a layout before an operating session is that you get to just privately run a train for its own sake. Layouts designed so that trains are automatically restaged do not have that feature of course.
If you have a disciplined car forwarding system on a layout then sometimes "just running a train" screws everything up about where cars are and should be. I operated on a layout where our computerized switch lists assumed, not unreasonably, that everything was left exactly where it was at the end of the last operating session. So that owner never moved anything between sessions (and I think he had, with different crews, five or six sessions every month, one of the most heavily operated layouts I have ever heard of. His soda and pretzel budget alone was considerable).
Some layout owners keep a "show train" ready to go so that they have something to run for visitors or family members who want to see a train run yet it won't make things difficult for the genuine operators.
I would also point out that as I said above, some layouts are operated much more frequently than monthly and the layout owner gets his fill of running trains. Particularly since almost every operating session creates a to do list of coupler heights, broken off details, dirty wheels or track, and other maintenance issues.
Dave Nelson
Randy, I never could understand two things in out hobby. One builds a beautiful layout that fills a basement and runs it once a month with his buddies.. Two is why even bother building a layout if you tear it down and start over with a new layout without using it?
My last 1' x 12' Slate Creek ISL was built and then happily operated daily for 4 years..The only reason it came down is because I spent 14 months in a rest home. The new Slate Creek will be 2' x 16' basement monster( at least to me) and health permitting it will be operated or I will add scenery daily until the scenery is finished.