03-30-2011, 10:43 AM
You're welcome!
Larry has given you a really good operating scenario for your layout. Excellent example of what might take place on any real industrial spur on any given day of the week. Just because you have 8 industries, doesn't mean that every one of them is switched daily. Some might ship or receive only a car once a week or month; others might require a switch every day. Just depends on the industry.
Also, just because a certain industry has spots/doors for say 4 cars, doesn't mean you'd see cars placed at all the spots, all the time (there would of course be exceptions). On my current layout plan, the food processing facility has 4 spots, but usually there are only a couple of cars spotted at any one time. Another industry has 5 car spots and rarely are there more than 3 cars on spot.
You could of course have the industrial spur switched more than once a day too. First shift crew might work just one or two industries during their shift and then later, the third shift crew might work some of the other industries. Just another idea if you wanted longer operating sessions.
I just finished switching the food processing plant on my layout, exactly as I described for you in my previous post and it took 30 minutes for the crew to come from the staging track - switch the cars as described and return to staging. If I'd staged the train with cars to switch for 1 or 2 more industries, I'd still be at it! That should give you a good idea of how long it would take you to operate a "typical" session on your layout.
Larry has given you a really good operating scenario for your layout. Excellent example of what might take place on any real industrial spur on any given day of the week. Just because you have 8 industries, doesn't mean that every one of them is switched daily. Some might ship or receive only a car once a week or month; others might require a switch every day. Just depends on the industry.
Also, just because a certain industry has spots/doors for say 4 cars, doesn't mean you'd see cars placed at all the spots, all the time (there would of course be exceptions). On my current layout plan, the food processing facility has 4 spots, but usually there are only a couple of cars spotted at any one time. Another industry has 5 car spots and rarely are there more than 3 cars on spot.
You could of course have the industrial spur switched more than once a day too. First shift crew might work just one or two industries during their shift and then later, the third shift crew might work some of the other industries. Just another idea if you wanted longer operating sessions.
I just finished switching the food processing plant on my layout, exactly as I described for you in my previous post and it took 30 minutes for the crew to come from the staging track - switch the cars as described and return to staging. If I'd staged the train with cars to switch for 1 or 2 more industries, I'd still be at it! That should give you a good idea of how long it would take you to operate a "typical" session on your layout.
Ed
"Friends don't let friends build Timesavers"
"Friends don't let friends build Timesavers"