Rough operations plan for small switching layout - Printable Version +- (https://bigbluetrains.com) +-- Forum: Branchline (https://bigbluetrains.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=45) +--- Forum: Strictly Rail Operations (https://bigbluetrains.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=54) +--- Thread: Rough operations plan for small switching layout (/showthread.php?tid=2047) |
Rough operations plan for small switching layout - steinjr - 11-29-2009 Hi Guys -- Just thought this one might make a starting point for some more discussions on operating a small switching layout (the one below is just 8 feet long in N scale, without separate staging). Plan and start of discussion is something I wrote up for a fellow model railroader as a one-on-one private communication. Anyone have comments or suggestions for other things my friend might want to do to get some interesting ops sessions for one person on his layout ? Quote: Here is a sketch that is worked up a little more - still based on Jonathan Jones "Mid-Atlantic and Western". Re: Rough operations plan for small switching layout - foulrift - 11-29-2009 Stein-very nice layout. I do have a couple of questions-In order to switch industry A in the top left wouldn't the upper most right track have to be empty? Also wouldn't the number of cars that the lower interchange track be affected due to the location of the switcher pocket? Other than that I see that this could be a fun layout to operate. Bob Re: Rough operations plan for small switching layout - Gary S - 11-29-2009 Stein: Thank you for taking the time to post this. The more insight into operations I get, the better. Re: Rough operations plan for small switching layout - LynnB - 11-29-2009 It would make a real nice addition to a module layout . Re: Rough operations plan for small switching layout - steinjr - 11-29-2009 foulrift Wrote:Stein-very nice layout. I do have a couple of questions- Yes, it would. If we say left is west and right is east, westbound trains on the main/running track at the start of the session are modeled as "having just arrived" at the rightmost end of the uppermost track, facing left, and sessions end with an eastbound trains "just about to depart" with an engine on the left end on the lowermost of the two main/running tracks. After dropping off cars on the uppermost track, the transfer engine changes over to the eastbound (lowermost) track and "head back to the yard" (ie drives in behind industry B and stops there). Do you see any better way of handling arriving/departing transfer runs ? Quote: Also wouldn't the number of cars that the lower interchange track be affected due to the location of the switcher pocket? Absolutely. I discussed with my friend whether it made sense to have an engine track there, but sacrificing a few car spots on the interchange track allows a place to park a switcher engine. It is of course also possible to have the switcher duck into the spur that heads for Industry B and the team track, instead of using that switcher pocket. Quote:Other than that I see that this could be a fun layout to operate. Hope so - he has started building it already :-) Smile, Stein Re: Rough operations plan for small switching layout - Brakie - 11-30-2009 Stein,Nice scenario. Re: Rough operations plan for small switching layout - Russ Bellinis - 11-30-2009 Stein, the railroad you described is very much like the Los Angeles Junction Railway. The LAJ is a wholly owned subsidiary of the BNSF, formally owned by the SF. They service industries in the cities of Vernon and City Of Commerce, and historically received cars from the UP, SP, and SF. Now of course they receive cars only from the BNSF or UP. I would just mention that they do not use an interchange track. The class one railroads all had yards nearby, and the UP and BNSF currently have yards located on either side of Washington Blvd in Vernon or L.A., I'm not sure exactly where the border is. The LAJ will bring a cut of cars to go out on the BNSF to Hobart Yard or a cut of cars to go out on the UP to the Washington Blvd Yard, and pick up cuts left for them by the class one railroad. They will take the fresh cars back to one of their yards to sort them and work them. They drop the cuts off at the class one yards without sorting them allowing the class ones to classify them as needed. Such an operating scheme could free up another track for more industries or make more room at an already existing industry. Re: Rough operations plan for small switching layout - steinjr - 11-30-2009 Russ Bellinis Wrote:I would just mention that they do not use an interchange track. The class one railroads all had yards nearby, and the UP and BNSF currently have yards located on either side of Washington Blvd in Vernon or L.A., I'm not sure exactly where the border is. The LAJ will bring a cut of cars to go out on the BNSF to Hobart Yard or a cut of cars to go out on the UP to the Washington Blvd Yard, and pick up cuts left for them by the class one railroad. They will take the fresh cars back to one of their yards to sort them and work them. They drop the cuts off at the class one yards without sorting them allowing the class ones to classify them as needed. Such an operating scheme could free up another track for more industries or make more room at an already existing industry. Mmmm - I don't quite see how freeing up the interchange track at the bottom of the yard would make more room at an already existing industry - how would that work ? It certainly would be easy enough to use that track for extra yard storage, if you need or want that. A yard track is a yard track - you can spot anything at any track in the yard, if it works for you. Likewise, it is perfectly possible to mentally just decide that for the current operating session the lowermost yard track really is serving an industry "in the aisle". Calling it an interchange track was to remind my friend that one possible move would be to have an engine come into the visible part of the layout (from the hidden area behind industry B) to pick up some outbound cars, towards the end of the operating scenario. If you make industry B a little longer, you could probably sneak an engine and a couple of cars behind industry B. Or something. Smile, Stein Re: Rough operations plan for small switching layout - Russ Bellinis - 11-30-2009 Your right, I hadn't looked closely enough at the layout to see that the "interchange track" was actually part of the yard. Re: Rough operations plan for small switching layout - Brakie - 12-01-2009 Stein,Looking over your track plan there is one thing I would add to make my crew happy-a short run around.I would add a crossover just beyond the export elevator switch.. Re: Rough operations plan for small switching layout - steinjr - 12-01-2009 Brakie Wrote:Stein,Looking over your track plan there is one thing I would add to make my crew hahppy-a short run around.I would add a crossover just beyond the export elevator switch.. Umm - there is already a crossover just beyond (ie - to the left of) the export elevator turnout. Do you mean putting yet another crossover to the *right* of the elevator turnout ? Stein Re: Rough operations plan for small switching layout - Brakie - 12-02-2009 steinjr Wrote:Brakie Wrote:Stein,Looking over your track plan there is one thing I would add to make my crew hahppy-a short run around.I would add a crossover just beyond the export elevator switch.. Yes,that would be your short run around.It saves time and the need to interfere with the industry(the flat building) loading/unloading their cars. Re: Rough operations plan for small switching layout - steinjr - 12-02-2009 Brakie Wrote:steinjr Wrote:Do you mean putting yet another crossover to the *right* of the elevator turnout ? Now I see what you are saying. Those flats at the rear right are not railserved industries - they are just background buildings - part of the urban scenery. That Uppermost track in the rear right is available for switching moves - e.g to get stuff in and out of Industry A (center rear). Both of those tracks back there supposedly continues off the layout towards the right - could be two parallel lies (easbound and westbound), or one of the tracks could be part of a double ended siding that extends both to the right and to the left of the modeled scene. But certainly - one could put a second crossover in the middle of the existing runaround, to create a shorter runaround for when you don't need to run around quite that many cars. More of a look and feel issue than a matter of efficiency on such a small layout - it matters little if a runaround move takes 30 seconds or a minute when you only do a few such moves in a session, and you actually want your session to last a while (as opposed to on a real railroad, when you want to finish work quickly, so you can get home to your bed and catch some sleep) Smile, Stein Re: Rough operations plan for small switching layout - Brakie - 12-04-2009 Stein wrote:More of a look and feel issue than a matter of efficiency on such a small layout - it matters little if a runaround move takes 30 seconds or a minute when you only do a few such moves in a session, and you actually want your session to last a while (as opposed to on a real railroad, when you want to finish work quickly, so you can get home to your bed and catch some sleep). ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Indeed and I agree.. I always suspected one of the curses one pays for working on the railroad is seeing everything from a railroaders view.. |