Interactive Clinic Week #12: Operations

[MichaelT]

Ok, after a brief discussion with Lee I thought I'd jump in here and ask the question in a manner which the rest of you could offer your thoughts, suggestions, tips and tricks on operations on yours and other model railroads.

Reason being, I wasn't raised a "railroad guy". None of my kinfolk ever worked for the railroad, I had a gleaning interest in trains growing up, but never acted on it. So now that I'm into the hobby, I want to learn more about operating my railroad by reading how others operate their railroad.

I think I get the basics, i.e. industries need certain materials to make certain products, etc. My interest lies I guess in more of how do you plan getting said materials to said industries to produce said products and then get said products to customers on the railroads line.

I've read some MR articles, I've d'loaded the Gateway NMRA articles on operations, but thought I'd ask here as well. For those who wish to discuss, please be patient if I ask questions that seem elementary to you, mainly because if I ask, they are more than that to me.

So, perhaps some basic operating techniques on your railroads, maybe an illustration or two of your car cards or waybill procedures, manifest, schedules, etc...

Also, does anyone use any computer systems to setup manifests, waybills or car cards, or do you manually write them out and use them? Someone hopefully can touch on what is available in that realm as well?

Michael

[wm3798]

Probably the best way to get a feel for how it works is to visit a layout that operates well...
There's a lot of organization and preparation to get it work smoothly (if you go balls to the walls with car cards, waybills, and all that). 
You can also start with a much more relaxed system where you block out a train, write down what you have on a simple switch list, then just go work your industries.

Rather than get neck deep in car cards, you can just jot down "three empty boxcars to Industry X, pick up 2 loads"  It's a pretty easy way to get the hang of it.  Then, as your comfort level increases, you can add more elements to add interest and complexity.

Lee

[cv_acr]

Car cards & waybills is a great system for operating. Sure, it takes some effort to get set up at the beginning, but so does any other option.

Car cards also takes some set up time in between sessions to restage - probably quite a bit more effort that computer systems, but car cards does have some great advantages while using it. If I'm using a computer system, I have to track that each train has arrived, so the system knows the cars are at that location so it can generate a switchlist. With car cards, you just leave the car cards behind when you drop cars, and there's no need to constantly update the computer system every time a train passes through. I've taken the yardmaster position several times in operating sessions at my club, and using car cards is great for operating the yard. As the YM, you look over the cards for a track that needs to be sorted, determine where they need to go and make your own decision as to how to sort them. Car cards is really a pretty flexible system. If a car gets taken too far, or set off at the wrong place, it can be picked up later by another train, as the car card still indicates it's destination.

Car cards is really good for dealing with "off-spot" cars. You might have an industry that only holds 3 cars, but in a session you get say 5 cars for it. With a computer system, you need to make sure you identify which cars did not get put into the industry, and update their location to where they actually got parked, so the computer knows where they are for the next session. With car cards, you just shove them in a storage track and put the cards into a box for the storage track or an special "off-spot" box for a town. (If you have this happening too often, then it's probably time to adjust the amount of waybills you're using for that industry per session. Of course, depending on how cars get sorted at yards and put onto connecting trains, you could always end up with some variability from session to session).

One big advantage is that you're not always printing new paperwork for every session, once the system is set up, you don't need to print out a whole ton of switchlists for every train.

Of course, some people prefer using switchlists, as you get your train, you get the switchlist for the train and it tells you every pick up and set-off you need to do with your train, on one sheet of paper, instead of shuffling a bunch of car cards and reading the waybills to determine what cars go where and what needs to be done at each location.

Ultimately it really comes down to personal preference. You should be able to handle just about any traffic patterns with either car cards or a really good computer system (there's several out there, and some are probably better than others).

My club has done a fair bit of work in tweaking our car card system into really being able to represent just about any kind of traffic we want - and it really works well in reproducing a very prototypical feeling traffic pattern. If anyone is interesting, I'b be glad to discuss the tricks and mechanics of our system. It's pretty detailed at some levels, but the concepts are pretty simple to apply once you're already familiar with how the basic car card system works.

[cv_acr]

Also, does anyone use any computer systems to setup manifests, waybills or car cards, or do you manually write them out and use them? Someone hopefully can touch on what is available in that realm as well?

Michael

On the club layout we use Ship-It! to create our car cards and waybills, and keep track of our rolling stock inventory.
One guy I know (who's also a member of the same club, and whose layout I'll actually be operating on tomorrow (actually today now, it's past midnight!)) also uses car cards that are a little simpler. He makes them himself out of standard 3x5 inch index cards, with a piece of clear plastic taped to one side to make a pocket for the waybill. A lot of them are typed or printed (probably just using a simple word processor) but some are handwritten. You can do whatever you want. The car cards we use at the club are 2x4" and make a pretty good size for handling them. You can use a binder clip to keep a set of cards for a train attached together, or at the club we use a cardboard sleeve that is the same width as the cards that wraps around and is held with an elastic. The sleeve has the train number and origin/destination written on it. At my friend's layout, he uses another index card with the train information printed on it that is placed on top of the stack of cards for the train.

There's certainly lots of ways to do it, and you can get as detailed or simple as you like. Technically the only information you really need on the waybill that get inserted in the car card is the car type and destination, but adding information like the origin and the car's contents certainly add to the "scenery" and the feel that your railroad is an actual transportation system moving goods from one place to another.

eg.
"Boxcar ABC 1234 to Acme Industries, Smallville"
vs.
"Boxcar ABC 1234 from Western Explosives, Metropolis to Acme Industries, Smallville Contents: TNT"

[wm3798]

Would that be the same Acme Industries that supplies Rocket Powered Roller Skates, Giant Magnets, and large quantities of bird seed?

Lee

[asciibaron]

here is a primer on car cards...

http://www.opsig.org/primer/guide/

and an FAQ

http://www.opsig.org/primer/carcards.shtml

i think i'll invest some time in doing a PowerPoint based on the article and FAQ

-Steve