Shop and/or RIP track moves

[NJ Devils Fan]

Some of you may know that I like to model "situations" that sometimes go "beyond the scope" of what is seen or heard of on the model railroad. I call this "Situational Model Railroading". I have come up with some real life situations that can be re-created on the model railroad. These can be used when on any size layout in any scale. These can be great if you have a "op session" or just by yourself.

Here's an easy 1 for you to try out. It's used by all railroads, mostly in and around yards. I'll give you the "yard version" here for easy reference, but either way, all you need are a few "basic" items:

RIP (or shop) track: any piece of track on your layout that a "defective" car(s) can be switched to/from for repairs.
"defective" cars: any car(s) your "car department" finds that needs "repairs" (pick a few at random from your yard or train)

Railroads must constantly inspect railcars, usually during a brake test or upon arrival at a yard. Car Dept. people look for obvious signs of repairs on ALL railcars (brake shoes, hand brakes, flat spots...etc). When defects are found, they need to be repaired BEFORE the car can depart. Simple repairs (brake shoes..etc) usually can be done where the car sits. But, often, the car may require more extensive repairs that will take hours to complete. When this happens,the car department will need to have the car placed where it can be safely repaired (shop or shop track), and out of the way of other movements (RIP track). This requires a "special move" by the local. This car needs to be switched out of the yard or train, and placed to either a shop or RIP track for repairs. This "creates" a switching move for your model railroad because it's part of the operations. You see, switching is not only about moving loads and empties to and from destinations. It's also about other "behind the scenes" moves the railroads need to do to function on a daily basis. Things that most people never see and are rarely ever modeled.

It's a "simple" switch for your crew that can be made more complex depending on the amount of cars to be switched or the order in which they need to be placed into the shop track. You can control the complexity, depending on your mood. (maybe you have a "hotshot" know-it-all operator in your group that needs a surprise ) I've seen "shop moves" on the NYS&W take 4 hours to complete. With that NYS&W move, that crew switched just about everything in their shop including pass. equip., loco's and even Budd coaches...all in the same session. So there too, is a lesson to show that the moves don't need to be with just freight cars. Pick a couple of cars (or locomotive), at random, from your yard, or better yet, from your next departing train, and instruct the crew that these cars need to go to some track for repairs. Surprise!

Now, when these cars have been "repaired", they need to be routed to their destinations ASAP. Get your yard crew back to the shop to get these cars out. You just created 2 simple moves for your yard crew that could take much of the op session to complete without even leaving the yard.

For those of you with your "layout under construction" (all of us ), you can still have "operations" even though you don't have any customer sidings yet. You don't need customer sidings for a local to service when they can be busy in the shop track for awhile.

These moves are done every day on real railroads, why not try it on yours.

[MasonJar]

From time to time, our modular club (hotrak.ca) has a "hotbox detector" module that requires any operator passing through to draw a card. The cards are simply random numbers indicating which axle is giving the problem. You start counting at the front of the first loco and make your way back. If it's a car with a problem, you must drop it at the next siding for pick up by another train (it's assumed repaired in place in the meantime). If it's an axle on a loco, you must park the train in the nearest passing siding and wait for another loco to arrive to continue the job.

Lots of fun, especially when running under dispatching.

The jobs involved in setting up or tearing down passenger trains are not done often, partly because we usually lack the modelled passenger yard and facilities to do it justice.


Andrew

[NJ Devils Fan]

Hey Andrew:

That's a great (and unexpected) realistic problem that would be EASY to model on any pike. I've used a simple Atlas wayside signal relay box as my "hot box/dragger" detector. Placed nearby a siding, you can "simulate" a hotbox or dragger alarm for your crew to set off (or pick up) cars.

Railroads always make "unusal" moves from time to time. The trick is to pay attention to WHAT their doing, not just what equipment you need to photograph. Train crews are always "shuffling" cars back and forth for one reason or another. That's why I love yard operations. There is so much you can do, without going anywhere!

The best part of this is that there is no right or wrong way to do a switching move, only the most efficient way. What I mean by this is that, you can give 10 different operators (conductors in real life), the same work to be done and you will get 10 different answers on how to get it done. If you don't believe me, try it at your next "op session". Make up some sort of move and then ask a few "operators" what moves they would make to get it done. You will be surprised at the different answers you get.

Railroad conductor's play out this ritual daily. The quickest (and safest) moves get you home faster. It's how you beat the rain, or make your terminal, get home in time to catch the game, or clear the main ahead of the approaching TV train coming at you. The last thing you need is the dispatcher asking you if "your going to be much longer - TV-99 is 10 minutes away." Or worse yet, having the engineer ask you "how much longer is this gonna take". The engineer hates going back and forth all day long too. He (or she) wants to get home as well.

There are many ways to "operate" a model railroad without servicing a customer. Am I taking this option too seriously? Perhaps, but what fun is it to just watch a train go around a loop of track? Sorry guys, that may have came out the wrong way. I hope you can see where I am coming from with that.

[MasonJar]

Absolutely - there are are many ways to have fun.

The jobs that you are talking about are some of the "non-revenue" work that's required to get the revenue...! Technically, switching the yard doesn't even pay, except that it sets up a paying job. A lot of people like to model the revenue operations with the interesting and creative industries and switching jobs while the rest is just "fiddle yard" stuff. There are those however who enjoy the "behind the scenes" just as much...


Andrew

[Gary S]

Great stuff, NJDF. I have a spur off of my Middle Yard for a rip track. Haven't thought alot about how the scenarios will go, but at least I do have that option available.

[Brakie]

Absolutely - there are are many ways to have fun.

The jobs that you are talking about are some of the "non-revenue" work that's required to get the revenue...! Technically, switching the yard doesn't even pay, except that it sets up a paying job. A lot of people like to model the revenue operations with the interesting and creative industries and switching jobs while the rest is just "fiddle yard" stuff. There are those however who enjoy the "behind the scenes" just as much...


Andrew

Not to mention adding a shop switcher.The yard crew sits out a B/O car and the shop crew picks it up and takes it to the rip holding track where it may sit 2 or 3 days before being switch to the RIP track-try explaining that to a shipper or the receiver. If the repair is simple it can be done on a yard track once blue flags is placed on both ends of the yard track.This is done so a yard crew won't make a unprotected shoved down the yard track-you can do this in a yard.

[Gary S]

Anyone have some photos of rip track facilities?

[Tom]

Yeah, I grew up around one on the Western Pacific/Union Pacific. It was a fairly large one. I'kll dig out and post photos tomorrow of it.

[Steamtrains]

I have a RIP track on the layout, but it's not meant to be a part of the operations, per se...It's a for-real RIP track where any car that needs attention (wheels, trucks, couplers, whatever...) gets placed so it can be attended to....

There's nothing so frustrating than a car that screws up operations because of a minor detail that needs fixing....

[Ralph]

I have a RIP track on the layout, but it's not meant to be a part of the operations, per se...It's a for-real RIP track where any car that needs attention (wheels, trucks, couplers, whatever...) gets placed so it can be attended to....

There's nothing so frustrating than a car that screws up operations because of a minor detail that needs fixing....

That's a good idea! I put them in a box on the work bench and promptly forget about them!

[steinjr]

Anyone have some photos of rip track facilities?

Here is one, from the Wisconsin Southern yard in Horicon, WI (NE side of the wye, if you look it up on e.g. http://maps.google.com):



The RIP track is the track with the dark ballast - probably been a few spills of oils and various other things there over time. Basically just a track with a hard surface along the track, so you can get some equipment up to the cars or engines to be worked on. Looks like a mobile crane (yellow) parked in the upper left hand corner of the image. Some container or sheds for storing welding equipment and such things further down, and some wheel sets on tracks on the ground to the left of the track track.

Smile,
Stein

[Brakie]

I have a RIP track on the layout, but it's not meant to be a part of the operations, per se...It's a for-real RIP track where any car that needs attention (wheels, trucks, couplers, whatever...) gets placed so it can be attended to....

There's nothing so frustrating than a car that screws up operations because of a minor detail that needs fixing....

Cool! I like that idea.

IMHO there is nothing as embarrassing as having a mechanical failure or derailment when visitors or worst follow modelers are present.

Of course for me its all about having zero derailments or locomotive problems during a open house since I find running faulty equipment during a open house inexcusable since one had ample time to clean and inspect his equipment before a open house..

[Gary S]

Stein, thanks for the image and the idea. I'll search on google earth and find some more representative areas to model my rip track after.

[steinjr]

Stein, thanks for the image and the idea. I'll search on google earth and find some more representative areas to model my rip track after.

Makes sense. Had a quick look at a map of Fort Worth, TX. There is an old MoPac yard in the SW corner of town - look for Mopac Avenue. Middle/upper right end of yard has a track which most likely is the RIP track - you can fairly easily see the wheel tracks next to the RR track on the overhead pictures.

Looking for wheel tracks at the UP Englewood yard in Houston, TX, they are fairly easy to spot there too. Might be hard to get ground level pics of them - seems like there are yard track between public roads and the RIP track on both sides (north and south).

Smile,
Stein

[NJ Devils Fan]

Another way to add to your realistic yard operations is to add a "Team Track" somewhere in, or around, your yard. A Team Track is similar in construction to a RIP track with one exception: a Team Track is used by customers who want to ship or receive product by rail, but their business is not located on the railroad. The customer has to truck their product to/from the railroad. This sounds a bit odd, but it's a done daily.

I'm not sure where the term "Team Track" comes from. My thought was that it may have once been a place that one can use his "team" of horses or mules to transport goods to/from the railroad. :?

A Team Track can be simply constructed with a few simple (spare) items - which you may have laying around. All you need is:

1) a switch (right or left)
2) a piece of flex track (sectional if you prefer). Flex is best to give the "seldom used", "twisted" look to your siding.
3) a bumper (optional, but it's more realistic)
4) some sort of loading platform to show that boxcars and flat cars can be handled.

Check out Gary S' thread under HO modeling about "BNSF Team Track". Great ideas there as well.

All of us has had that urge to add "just 1 more track", right? The problem was that we didn't have the room to add another building or, we didn't have another building to add. This gives you the chance to "add that one more track".

Ballast is optional here because "Team Tracks" are often "at the bottom of the maintenence list". I''ve seen them buried in mud or covered in weeds. For a more realistic look, "damage" some ties. Usually every 5th or 6th tie is the "good one" anyway.

Team Tracks can be used to for just about any type of product to be loaded/off loaded. You can use:

1) flatcars to load/unload lumber, steel or machinery (don't need a dock for some of these materials)
2) boxcars for just about anything
3) tankcars for liquid fertilizer, certain gases, any other liquid products
4) gondolas for pipe, poles or even ties for MOW use
5) covered hoppers for grain or plastic

That's just a few ideas to get you going. All railroads have Team Tracks somewhere, usually located in or near a yard. But, they can be easily added ANYWHERE on your layout. By placing 1 in your yard, you have easly constructed a realistic yard operation for your local switcher. You can research your favorite railroad to model a team track or you can just "wing it". Anything goes. You don't need to be prototypical to be functional.

So, now your yard switcher can be productive after all, by actually "earning money" by switching cars. The best part here is that you don't need a "physical building" to have a trackside industry. All you need is a spare "Team Track" and a little imagination.

Have Fun!