switchlist and "situational modeling"

[NJ Devils Fan]

Greetings to all:

I am a new member looking for some input and advise from all of you. I am a former locomotive engineer (18 Years) and a lifelong (40 years) HO scale modeler. Over the past year, I have been trying to implement my experiences on the real railroad into the model railroad......here's why:

I have always been amazed at how detailed model train layouts have become. Modern technology has really changed what we can do with our layouts. To that end, operations can really be enhanced, realistically. I have been to many shows and club meets to watch the members "run" the trains. Many of which are done with a "car card" or "waybilling" technique. I wanted to try something else. So I took my experiences from the railroad and put some of these to paper to see if it could be done in the "model world". Trust me, I'm not trying to set the model railroad world upside down with these ideas. I'm just trying to put a new twist on already proven methods. So, I came up with some ideas that I would like to run by members of this forum. They are;

The Switch List:
Describes a prototypical day in the life of a shortline train crew (can be used for mainline too). It shows how, and what, work has to be done by the crew. It gives a simple description of how a switch list is generated and used by the "crew". The "switch list" will list all sidings, industries and tracks along the route as well as all cars on them. It can be created in a short amount of time and generated quickly for each op session. A switchlist can be made with a piece of paper or a computer. The computer, however, can save all your information for future use. All you need to do is "update" your information for each session (pulls, spots, respots, interchange etc..) just like the real railroads.

Situational Modeling:
These tips are actual real life situations that arise on the railroads daily. They can be implemented quickly into a operating session to put a real life twist on your day. They make you "operate" your trains, not just run them "around the loop". I showed this to a friend of mine who had a club layout and his response was "I have a member who thinks he's the pro. I'll give him a chance to prove it". The "pro" lost. He got too frustrated because he could'nt just "run the train".

I would love to pass these by you but I'm hot sure how to "attach" a file . Any help would be great. Or, I know how to do this off my e-mail so if you want to drop me a line I can do it that way too. I can be reached at <!-- e --><a href="mailtozabko@roadrunner.com">szabko@roadrunner.com</a><!-- e -->.

thanks again:

steve

[steinjr]

Hi Steve --

Sounds interesting. What kind of file is it that you want to attach?

Smile,
Stein

[NJ Devils Fan]

I put this file on a formatted disc. I can "add attachment" when I send it via e-mail but I'm not sure how to do it here. I'm still trying to figure out how to navigate around this forum. But, from what I've seen, there is a bunch of great info thus far. Glad I was referred here. Do you have spell check here...I'm all thumbs.

[nachoman]

I put this file on a formatted disc. I can "add attachment" when I send it via e-mail but I'm not sure how to do it here. I'm still trying to figure out how to navigate around this forum. But, from what I've seen, there is a bunch of great info thus far. Glad I was referred here. Do you have spell check here...I'm all thumbs.

My Mozilla brand browser has a built in spell check...

[steinjr]

I put this file on a formatted disc. I can "add attachment" when I send it via e-mail but I'm not sure how to do it here.

What I meant was : "what type of file is it that you want to share ?".

Is it a program written in some kind of language ?
A spreadsheet ?
A word document ?
Something else ?

Cause textual information can just be copied from whatever program you have it in and pasted directly into a post (minus formatting).

If you actually need to upload a file for share the information, click on the tab "upload attachment" below the preview/submit buttons when editing a post. Not sure if it takes all kinds of files, or if there is some filter.

Smile,
Stein

[Gary S]

Steve, I hope you can attach that file. I'm definitely interested.

[NJ Devils Fan]

I think I have this figured out. I'll try to attach those files now. If all goes well, I welcome your thoughts about them. Please let me know what needs to explaines or detailed better. Sorry, no illustrations yet...I was saving them for my book.

Anyway, comments (negative or positive) are welcome. Remember, these are from my days on the railroad.

it seems I can only attach 1 file at a time. the first will be "Situational Modeling" I'll post another file for the switch list

[NJ Devils Fan]

Here's the one for the switch list

[railroader9731]

Very interesting indeed ill have to print the switch list out and apply it to my railroad as it has been turned into a switching road. Thanks Steve

[NJ Devils Fan]

hey harry...it's me, steve from Marcy

[Gary S]

Steve, are you wanting thoughts on both the railroad aspects and literary aspects of your piece? Or just the railroad ideas?

[FCIN]

Steve;

Being a former railroad employee, both in train service (on short lines) and having worked as a Freight Agent/Clerk on a Class I road (a job I hated, but I digress....); I've always used switch lists with my model railroad layouts. As you say, it is more prototypical and provides more information than a hand full of waybills. I had not however, considered the addition of adding situations to the operation - and situations are a normal way of life on the railroad, so I find that an interesting concept.

Switch lists that I used or made, were exactly as you describe. List the location, the cars on the track and what the crew needs to do with each car. It's the ONLY way to operate as far as I'm concerned.

One thing that I always did when making out switch lists for my crews, and something that was required, was to have a track check - listing what cars were in every track in the yard - all listed from one end of the track. When I made up my switch lists, the crew always knew that the cars on the list were in the correct order in the track. Of course couldn't always check every industry in town so in most cases, the conductor would advise me of the order that cars were in on the customers track when they completed working the customer.

I've been looking for some sort of computer program that would generate prototypical looking switch lists based on customer car requests, loading/unloading time, etc. but not having much success; at least in so far as getting them to work in a prototype fashion. The program ShipIt! http://www.albionsoftware.com/ is as close as I've found, but can't ever get it to work just right, especially where interchange of cars is concerned. Perhaps I just haven't mastered that program yet, but darned if I can get it to work right! Even with a pool of 100 cars in the ShipIt! database, the same cars tend to keep coming back over and over and others just get left sitting offline.

Actually, it isn't that much of a problem to just print out some blank switch list forms and fill in the information you need on that list. I suppose a person could make up a simple word document and fill in the blanks and print it out, just haven't looked into it very much.

[NJ Devils Fan]

I just thought it would be easy to play "trainmaster" for a few minutes before a operating session. Once you "log in" all your information to a switchlist such as: sidings, industries, runarounds, team tracks etc.., it would be a matter of a "delete a load" here or "add a empty" here to consistantly update your switchlist - again - like the prototype. how much in detail you want to get is up to you.

You don't need to enter all your cars to the switchlist at one time. Basically, treat it like a real railroad inbound interchange. Just add certain cars that are being interchanged to your road. Keep them on your current switchlist to show their progress around the railroad. Show when and where they are spotted, when they get emptied to be pulled and delete them once they are interchanged off your road.

You won't need to look at car cards anymore. You just have to carry your switchlist with you as you "play" along. Just like real train crews. It may sound a bit overwhelming at first, as with car cards, but once you have the master sheet, all you need to do is add and remove cars.

Don't forget to recycle when you throw away the switchlist.

[railroader9731]

Just a thought here but a way to help butt out computer work. How about laminating a switch list with the essental needs on a sheet of paper then use a dry erase pen and fill in what cars and what not, then when done erase and start over???

[steinjr]

I just thought it would be easy to play "trainmaster" for a few minutes before a operating session. Once you "log in" all your information to a switchlist such as: sidings, industries, runarounds, team tracks etc.., it would be a matter of a "delete a load" here or "add a empty" here to consistantly update your switchlist - again - like the prototype. how much in detail you want to get is up to you.

You don't need to enter all your cars to the switchlist at one time. Basically, treat it like a real railroad inbound interchange. Just add certain cars that are being interchanged to your road. Keep them on your current switchlist to show their progress around the railroad. Show when and where they are spotted, when they get emptied to be pulled and delete them once they are interchanged off your road.

You won't need to look at car cards anymore. You just have to carry your switchlist with you as you "play" along. Just like real train crews. It may sound a bit overwhelming at first, as with car cards, but once you have the master sheet, all you need to do is add and remove cars.

I understand how a switch list works, but from your text above, I am a little unclear on whether you intend to build up and maintain an up-to-date master list of where *all* cars on your layout are at any time ?

Also, I am not totally clear on how you decide which cars to spot and pull, and where to spot them.

For some reason, I am sort of tempted to generate the switch list in some pseudo-random way, instead of me picking where and what to move and then moving it. But that might be just me.

Stein