07-19-2010, 01:26 PM
This is one of a million things I need to learn. One thing to keep in mind is I probably cause confusion in the way I try to describe what I am trying to do. Doc - what I envision is that after I draw a number of cards which will collectively tell me what and where the train doing and going that day, I then assign the appropriate car from the yard to do the job. Or pull the appropriate car from the mainline and it's sidings, and then write out the switchlist. Let me try to write out what I envision:
1) I decide how many moves I want to make during a particular operating session.....let's say 10
2) I then draw 10 cards from the shuffled deck.
3) If I draw a "WILDCARD",then I draw a card from the "situation" deck. The situations were taken from FedEx13's recent thread. It will be specific like "enroute to Industry B, you encounter ____________". That will tell me where in operation I have to deal with the problem.
4) I look at all the cards drawn and what rolling stock is available in the yard or out in the field to pull or spot. I decide what the best order of things will be.
5) Then I take a blank switchlist and fill in the orders from first to last, making sure I note where my problem is going to be, if I drew one.
6) I assemble the block in the yard, and off I go.....
Whatever cards I drew for this session are left out of the deck for the next session. No shuffle until I run out of cards. Or I start from zero every session and put all the cars back in the yard, shuffle the deck and start over. What I don't know at this point is if I should separate yard moves in a separate deck, such as moving cars to RIP or car shop, etc. Or should I leave them in the same deck as the mainline movements???? My planned double ended yard and maintenance facility is a going to be rather large and a focal point of the layout, so I imagine I could have a completely separate operating session just for the yard.
Hope this is making more sense, trying not to repeat myself, but I really want to hear everybody's ideas....
1) I decide how many moves I want to make during a particular operating session.....let's say 10
2) I then draw 10 cards from the shuffled deck.
3) If I draw a "WILDCARD",then I draw a card from the "situation" deck. The situations were taken from FedEx13's recent thread. It will be specific like "enroute to Industry B, you encounter ____________". That will tell me where in operation I have to deal with the problem.
4) I look at all the cards drawn and what rolling stock is available in the yard or out in the field to pull or spot. I decide what the best order of things will be.
5) Then I take a blank switchlist and fill in the orders from first to last, making sure I note where my problem is going to be, if I drew one.
6) I assemble the block in the yard, and off I go.....
Whatever cards I drew for this session are left out of the deck for the next session. No shuffle until I run out of cards. Or I start from zero every session and put all the cars back in the yard, shuffle the deck and start over. What I don't know at this point is if I should separate yard moves in a separate deck, such as moving cars to RIP or car shop, etc. Or should I leave them in the same deck as the mainline movements???? My planned double ended yard and maintenance facility is a going to be rather large and a focal point of the layout, so I imagine I could have a completely separate operating session just for the yard.
Hope this is making more sense, trying not to repeat myself, but I really want to hear everybody's ideas....