WM Western Lines Engineering Report

[MichaelWinicki]

Gotcha Lee.

Sounds like your first thought was spot on, i.e. reduce the number of trains. 

But maybe you could make more of the trains run-throughs without the need to drop-off/pick-up.

How's the operator-space for two folks trying to work both ends of the yard?

[wm3798]

Should be no problem.  There's about 12' of aisle along the front of the yard.  If the clerk is seated at the desk, the switchers can run from the corners.  The only other duty the east end switcher would have is bartender.  The fridge is under the roundhouse!!

Lee

[M.C. Fujiwara]

Should be no problem.  There's about 12' of aisle along the front of the yard.  If the clerk is seated at the desk, the switchers can run from the corners.  The only other duty the east end switcher would have is bartender.  The fridge is under the roundhouse!!

Lee

Thus the phrases "A round of drinks on the house" and "Drink you under the (turn) table."

[conrail98]

Lee,

Have you ever thought of doing Joe Fugate's Layout Design Analysis on your layout to see if maybe you are running too many trains? The link to his method is

http://siskiyou-railfan.net/e107_plugins/content/content.php?content.32

Just a thought,

Phil

[wm3798]

Interesting stuff there, Phil, but damn that's a lot of reading.  I'm guessing that's targeted to the armchair crowd that suffers from paralysis by analysis.  I've always been in the "Build Something... Anything" faction of the hobby.  Sure I put some thought into it, but that's just making good use of the time I have to wait until I have enough money and/or material to tackle the next project.

Lee

[conrail98]

Interesting stuff there, Phil, but damn that's a lot of reading.  I'm guessing that's targeted to the armchair crowd that suffers from paralysis by analysis.  I've always been in the "Build Something... Anything" faction of the hobby.  Sure I put some thought into it, but that's just making good use of the time I have to wait until I have enough money and/or material to tackle the next project.

Lee

Not entirely Lee. I've know another modeler whose applied it post build but was setting up operations once trackwork was down. He wanted to make sure he actually had enough engines for trains on his layout, or what might be needed to move the cars from his industries. There was also issues with one siding and his desired train length, i.e., it was too short. He found he needed to lengthen that siding to dramatically improve on the number of trains to run and move more cars, otherwise about half the cars on the layout could be moved. What I've read from people applying this to their already built layouts is that they find they shouldn't be attempting to move all the cars on the layout (or move less) or they need to add more staging. In your setup, the latter might not be an option, but the former may hold the key to smoother running op sessions. Again, just another tool to look to to gauge if the operating plan is optimal for the layout,

Phil

[wm3798]

Okay, so I'm running down the list here, and I've hit a snag.  About half of my main line is double tracked, and half is single with long sidings.  The double track section has some interlockings built in, so it can also serve as single with long sidings but in general practice, it's double track.  The formula for calculating the number of passing sidings doesn't address this.  Should I figure anywhere I can stop a train and run around it as a siding?

For instance, there are three mains that run around the outside of the yard, with full interlockings at each end.  Does that account for three sidings?  Or should one always be considered the main, with two sidings?  And out on the double track main, if there are two interlocking plants at each end of an 8' section, does that mean there's one or two 8' sidings?

I just want to make sure I'm doing the math right, something my accountant will tell you is not my strong suit.

Lee

[wm3798]

Here we go...  I was working with a lot of guesstimates on the track measurements, but they should be within a reasonable margin of error.

Here's the summary for the layout:
Room Area (sq ft):        234
Layout Area (sq ft):      134 (57%)
Number Turnouts:         123
Total Track (ft):              593
Train Length (cars):       56/32/24
Maximum Cars:              921
Trains:                            68
Dispatching Threshold:  33 car trains

I'm sure these numbers are somewhat skewed, particular car capacity.  I've got less than half the cars that the formula came up with, and can't imagine running the layout with all of them on line at once.

The number of trains is also skewed, probably due to the size of Ridgeley and my staging yards, particularly the east yard, which can handle two long trains or three shorter ones on each of four tracks.  I also keep one "through" track open to provide for loopty loops when I just want to drink beer and watch a train run the circuit.

However, the train length is spot on, and if expanded to a 24 hour cycle, 45 to 60 train movements is not outside the realm of possibility.  So yes, this has been a useful exercise.

It's also interesting to see that my total mileage is a about 18 scale miles... (only about 4 miles is actual main line running, and about half of that is accounted for in double track, so really, three scale miles end to end on the visible layout.

Lee

[MichaelWinicki]

So after doing all that Lee, what thoughts do you have?

[wm3798]

Mmmm.  I'd say that my initial thought to reduce the number of trains is probably still a good place to start to make sure the yard can handle some volume.  Once established, I can see if that can be turned up a bit.

It would also appear that reducing the overall schedule to allow for 16 to 18 trains during a session (instead of the ambitious 23-25 now planned) will also provide the flexibility needed for dispatching in and out of staging.  I'm looking at a clock equivalent of 2-3 hours = 8, maybe 12 hour shift, that should keep everything paced out and allow for that potential 60 train per "day" the statistics indicated.

Lee

[MichaelWinicki]

Do you anticipate cutting down on the number of locals that are run during that 8-12 hour window?

[wm3798]

There aren't that many locals.

You've got two that run between Elkins and Ridgeley, one in each direction.
Then there's an extra that runs paper mill traffic from Ridgeley to Luke.
Finally there's the Union Bridge traveling switcher, which works the traffic east of Ridgeley, and terminates in east staging.

Other switching jobs are comprised mostly of the coal extras running up and down the Thomas Sub, which are pretty much isolated from the main line, and don't really clog up the yard, other than a few consolidations that take place to build coal trains bound for Baltimore or Allentown.

The through trains that get worked in the yard are the east and westbound fast freights, which carry blocks of cars bound for various destinations in addition to straight through.  As long as these trains are pre-blocked in staging, they run pretty smoothly.

Here's an example of a typical fast freight.
Alpha Jet AJ-1 is staged in East Staging, representing the Reading's Rutherford Yard near Harrisburg.  Power would be a mix of RDG and WM engines.
The train would consist of 25 to 30 cars, which would be blocked as follows:
Cars 1-10 would be through cars destined for the N&W interchange at Connellsville.  These cars would be destined for Bellevue Ohio, and ultimately Chicago and points west.
Cars 11-15 would be bound for the P&LE interchange at Connellsville.  These cars would be bound for Pittsburgh and Youngstown, and will be switched out to be added to train BT-1, which runs from Baltimore to Toledo, OH via the P&LE.
Cars 16-20 could be bound for Baltimore or Elkins.  These would be dropped at Ridgeley then added to trains headed to those destinations.
Cars 21-25 would be designated for locals on the layout.

Obviously, the actual car counts would fluctuate based on the car cards, but that's the general idea.

The train would arrive from east staging, and stay on the westbound main behind the yard.
The train crew would cut off the Reading power, and move it over to the engine terminal.  Meanwhile, the east end yard switcher would pull the cars to be worked at Ridgeley (all but the first 10), and move them into the A/D track in the yard.  If the yard crew has worked its magic, the cars to be added to the train will be blocked and ready on the other A/D track, or at least on one of the yard tracks.  The switcher can then pull that cut, and add it to the rear of the train.
The ET hostler will then build up the new power (in this case, there would be a mix of WM and NW power) and move it to the front of the train.  The caboose would also be pulled, and replaced with either a WM or NW caboose for the trip west.

Once all this is done, the train waits for clearance to head west to Connellsville.

Lather, Rinse Repeat.

In order to really streamline the schedule, it's these through freights that will need to be consolidated and pared down a bit.  I'll be working out the details of that as we go through a few sessions.

Lee

[MichaelWinicki]

Gotcha!

Thanks for the explanation Lee.

[conrail98]

Okay, so I'm running down the list here, and I've hit a snag.  About half of my main line is double tracked, and half is single with long sidings.  The double track section has some interlockings built in, so it can also serve as single with long sidings but in general practice, it's double track.  The formula for calculating the number of passing sidings doesn't address this.  Should I figure anywhere I can stop a train and run around it as a siding?

For instance, there are three mains that run around the outside of the yard, with full interlockings at each end.  Does that account for three sidings?  Or should one always be considered the main, with two sidings?  And out on the double track main, if there are two interlocking plants at each end of an 8' section, does that mean there's one or two 8' sidings?

One should always be considered the main. Also, on staging, one is always considered the main. I know you have looped staging so break them up into slots, i.e., 3 slots per track or something like that, that'll give you more. For the double track, consider one the main and one sidings and just calculate that way, otherwise it will skew calculations higher for cars/tracks. Also, remember, for arrival tracks and yard tracks, you want to make them connecting, not storage. I saw your calculations a little further and man, that's a lot of track,

Phil

[seusscaboose]

what about any unscheduled extra's?   Can you YM call for an extra to clear the yard (if needed) or clear local industries?  or is that still TBD?

philosophically, are you open to it?

EP