12-05-2010, 10:02 PM
Little evening update here...
This afternoon and this evening, I operated what I'll call two "formal" operating sessions on the current layout theme. I made up switch lists for each session - the first one with 5 inbound and 5 outbound cars and every industry/track was worked and the second one with just 2 cars inbound and 3 outbound and only two of the industries were switched. Had a ball!!!
The first session took 90 minutes to complete and the second session 20 minutes. And this was without doing anything other than operating at prototypical speeds and waiting at most about 5 seconds between moves (my brakeman and conductor are both young and can work fast!). So operation wise, the plan is working out just fine.
Being able to actually operate the plan is clearly showing me where refinements/changes need to be made if I go with this plan. I would want to put the staging on a narrower shelf as in Version 2 of this plan so that the train could actually come off the "Main Line" and on to the spur. The positions of the Temple-Inland and Coca-Cola plant switches may need to be swapped, or maybe the locations of the Coke plant and the team track should be swapped, etc.
I've also wondered about the possibility of combining both of those industries in to some larger industry with two tracks? Right off hand, I can't think of an industry that would receive a lot of box cars (an absolute must), tank cars of HFCS and possibly covered hoppers too. Just wouldn't want to have to dead line a bunch of my cars and purchase a fleet of new cars, because I don't have the right cars! Maybe someone on here knows of or has thoughts about what sort of facility might do that.
Operating this is also showing me that you don't really need a large layout to have enjoyable operating sessions that take a reasonable amount of time to complete. Even a layout as small as the one Lance Mindheim builds in his newest book (http://www.lancemindheim.com/upcoming_books.htm) would be fun to operate. That layout is only the length of a standard hollow core door (80 inches) with a short staging track off to one side and yet it would probably take you at least 30 to 45 minutes to operate. Heck, maybe I should look at the possibility of an even smaller layout footprint myself and free up some space down here. Decisions, decisions!
More input and ideas are welcome guys
This afternoon and this evening, I operated what I'll call two "formal" operating sessions on the current layout theme. I made up switch lists for each session - the first one with 5 inbound and 5 outbound cars and every industry/track was worked and the second one with just 2 cars inbound and 3 outbound and only two of the industries were switched. Had a ball!!!
The first session took 90 minutes to complete and the second session 20 minutes. And this was without doing anything other than operating at prototypical speeds and waiting at most about 5 seconds between moves (my brakeman and conductor are both young and can work fast!). So operation wise, the plan is working out just fine.
Being able to actually operate the plan is clearly showing me where refinements/changes need to be made if I go with this plan. I would want to put the staging on a narrower shelf as in Version 2 of this plan so that the train could actually come off the "Main Line" and on to the spur. The positions of the Temple-Inland and Coca-Cola plant switches may need to be swapped, or maybe the locations of the Coke plant and the team track should be swapped, etc.
I've also wondered about the possibility of combining both of those industries in to some larger industry with two tracks? Right off hand, I can't think of an industry that would receive a lot of box cars (an absolute must), tank cars of HFCS and possibly covered hoppers too. Just wouldn't want to have to dead line a bunch of my cars and purchase a fleet of new cars, because I don't have the right cars! Maybe someone on here knows of or has thoughts about what sort of facility might do that.
Operating this is also showing me that you don't really need a large layout to have enjoyable operating sessions that take a reasonable amount of time to complete. Even a layout as small as the one Lance Mindheim builds in his newest book (http://www.lancemindheim.com/upcoming_books.htm) would be fun to operate. That layout is only the length of a standard hollow core door (80 inches) with a short staging track off to one side and yet it would probably take you at least 30 to 45 minutes to operate. Heck, maybe I should look at the possibility of an even smaller layout footprint myself and free up some space down here. Decisions, decisions!
More input and ideas are welcome guys
Ed
"Friends don't let friends build Timesavers"
"Friends don't let friends build Timesavers"