WM Western Lines Engineering Report

[wm3798]

One advantage of all this sorting and waybilling is the opportunity to inspect and fix up some of the rolling stock.  Last night I also loaded a couple of auto racks, and body mounted their couplers.


I was having trouble with the truck mounts buckling going down the helix.  The Santa Fe car was done by Dave Foxx with the body mounts, and it's worked fine over the whole layout, so hopefully equipping all the racks this way will make some of the bumps go away.

Lee

[davefoxx]

Thanks for the props, Lee.  It's very easy to install body-mounts on both the MT auto racks and flat cars.  There is a plastic piece that the corner stirrups are molded into that snaps into place on the bottom ends of the car.  Pop that out and drill and tap a hole to accept the coupler box.  Install the coupler and snap the part back in place.  You do have to cut off and file the screw, so it does not project through the part, or it will not snap back into the car body.  This installation prevents having a visible screw penetrating the flat car or auto rack deck.

If I remember correctly, you must use an undermount coupler, but then it matches the height gauge perfectly.  Although my layouts don't allow me to run 100 car (i.e., really "heavy") trains, I have never had the part pop out under load.

DFF

P.S.  Oh yeah, in case anyone's wondering, I used to run that very ATSF auto rack on the Virginia Central, before I gave the car to Lee.  It ran well with body-mounted couplers even on the VC's minimum radius of sub-13" curves!  I once even tested it with an IM two-bay hopper (with body-mounts) as the next car.  Despite the extreme difference in the lengths of those cars, they ran reliably.

[davefoxx]

Last night I pulled the first coal train into the yard. 

Oh, no, you didn't.  I pulled a coal train down from Thomas a few weeks ago!  If anyone's the "Neil Armstrong" of a coal run on the WM Westerm Lines, it's me.   

Obviously, all that blocking could occupy the yard for an entire session, so I'll have to winnow it down a bit.  Also, if blocks of cars can be condensed to say 5-6 car units, then some of the movements could be tacked onto other trains, such as the Allentown cars can go with an Alpha Jet bound for Lurgan.  It will take some time to get it all straight.  One thought might be to set up an entire session based on only coal movements, but that might get dull...

Personally, I can see how it could be initially perceived as boring, but, since I have been fortunate to be involved in actual ops sessions on Lee's and Eric's layouts, I can add this perspective.  Once the ops begin, the trains become game pieces, and I become more concerned with moving those "pieces" along.  It doesn't matter what kind of cars I'm hauling esthetically, because my job is to get those cars down the line as efficiently as possible.  It even becomes less important whether that car is modeled with 100% fidelity.  For example, does it have molded on or freestanding grabs?  Does it have pizza cutters or low-pros?  Eh, who cares.  My point is that I enjoy the fun of moving trains with a purpose, and it doesn't matter if I am running a unit train or a mixed manifest.  Obviously, this differs from what I enjoy seeing when I'm railfanning, but that's not what ops sessions are about.  I have found that ops sessions really provide me with an entirely different view of model railroading, and I love it.

So, if we were only running hoppers at an ops session, that wouldn't be boring to me, because the ops possibilities are huge.  Don't forget, to do it right, those cars aren't just filled with coal.  There are various grades of coal and different weights of cars for shipment and delivery to customers.  You probably don't want to deliver a cut of loaded 100-ton hoppers to a customer's rickety decades-old wood trestle unloading ramp.  Oh, and we have to get those cars back to get 'em refilled to do it again.  Sounds like fun to me!

DFF

[wm3798]

And this is why you have the Elkins yard/Thomas Sub assignment!
Lee

[wm3798]

I've posted the entire schedule at the Bliggity Blog:  http://wmrywesternlines.blogspot.com/

Obviously, with staging for only 9 trains (or so) there will have to be some recycling of train sets.  The next thing to do will be to think through the sequence, so everything can be staged properly.

F'rinstance, There will likely be two trains set up as Alpha Jets, one from the east and one from the west.  If I remember the schedules, AJ-1 would arrive at Hagerstown in the early morning hours from the east, and depart by about 10 a.m.  Around 8 a.m. BT-1 would pull in from Baltimore.  AJ-2 would roll in around 11 and head out by 4, AJ-3 and the NW train from Roanoke would arrive around the same time, to get worked into AJ-12 later in the evening.  WM-6 would lope into town also in the early evening on it's way to Baltimore.

So, one trainset can be both BT-1 and WM-6
one can be AJ-1/AJ-12
one can be AJ-2/3
The NW Roanoke turn (NW11/12) would start in staging and get broken up at Ridgeley, and would probably be the last train off the layout, so it doesn't need staging space during the session.
Likewise, the Union Bridge Local would be in staging only at the beginning of the session and at the end.
So there's room in East staging for 4 extra trains.
Mmmm.
I'll have to graph this out.

Lee

[seusscaboose]

"Once the ops begin, the trains become game pieces, and I become more concerned with moving those "pieces" along.  It doesn't matter what kind of cars I'm hauling esthetically, because my job is to get those cars down the line as efficiently as possible.  It even becomes less important whether that car is modeled with 100% fidelity.  For example, does it have molded on or freestanding grabs?  Does it have pizza cutters or low-pros?  Eh, who cares."  ...     

"I have found that ops sessions really provide me with an entirely different view of model railroading, and I love it."

DFF

I agree with both statements. 

1) the thing i like about an op's session is everyone moving all the pieces around with some semblance of order.  (actually, truth be told, i like the chaos better, and watching the Operators work their way out of it.  In my case, i don't have to plan the chaos... it just "happens" lol).

2) I too have gained a better appreciation for the hobby.  I am looking forward to getting to the Eastern shore this fall for a session.

EP

[wm3798]

One or two more trains to classify, and we'll be all staged for Monday.  What I really need to work on is wiring the frogs in the east yard throat.  The switcher is getting very angry over there...
Lee

[wm3798]

Railwire exclusive - glam shot.
Train NW11 arrives at North Jct., digging in to crest the hill and hit the crossover to gain entry to Ridgeley Yard.

We found a nice shady spot under the Highway 11 overpass...

Lee

[MichaelWinicki]

Very nice shot Lee!

Hopefully the family is saving up for new jalopy.  ;D

[sizemore]

Hamburgers for dinner! YUM!

The S.

[wm3798]

After last night's ops session, I've got a few thoughts.

Apart from the obvious things, such as finishing wiring frogs and installing switch machines etc., the layout ran extraordinarily well.  The crew did as well.  The critical junctions at the top of the helix and at the end of double track were well manned, all the trains seemed to run in the right direction, and toward the end of the evening when we slipped into "Railfan" mode, we had two and at times three trains running orbits seamlessly.

Ops wise, I still have some work to do.  I'm using four cycle waybills, but frankly, I could easily demote many of them to two cycle.  The yard gets jammed up very quickly when a 25 car train arrives and 20 of them have to be switched.  I need to make sure the "thru" blocks are there to keep the trains fleshed out, and minimize the cars that get dumped off for local switching or transferred to other thru trains.  I'm going to try running some more of the schedule as is to see if the cards work themselves out, and I'll probably do some editing along the way.

I also need to whip up some train description cards to attach to the packets so crews have a clearer picture of what's going on, and what they need to do to keep things moving.  At the end of the evening, Phil and I spent some time running "clean up" trains to pick up cars that had been missed by their scheduled trains.

There are a couple of points where I desperately need to install signalling, especially at the approaches to the staging yards, and I need to add the local controls for siding at Shaw, either that or remove the decoders entirely and go to a simple control panel.  There's not enough traffic up there to warrant decoder control.

Still, overall, it was a good evening, we got through about a dozen or so of the 28 train sequence, which is about what I expected.  Thanks to the crew, and especially to Eric, who just flew in from California, and Boy are his arms tired!

Lee

[conrail98]

Lee, for your through trains, a guy I operate with up here in South Jersey uses the following for his thru trains/blocks (or has and will when his layout is rebuilt):

http://home.comcast.net/~prrndiv/operations.html

He describes his blocking in the section "Through Freights and Off Line Staging". Just a thought,

Phil

[eric220]

Thank you for having me!  I had a great time. I hope I wasn't responsible for too much of the cleanup.  :

[wm3798]

No worries, Eric!  Just having the Broadway Limited diverted over the Connellsville Sub was all it took to give you a free pass!  Besides, it gave us something to do while we finished up those beers...

[eric220]

Besides, it gave us something to do while we finished up those beers...

Heavens that the vitamin Y should go to waste!