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Here Is A Quick Way To Design A Shed Even If Youe A Newbie Builder

In my patio, I had a metal shed. Now, with so much of snow falling this winter, the metal began to show its true color, that doesn't complement well with the garden nicely. Time has arrived for me to have a new shed man shed plans. So I decided to design a shed on my own from readily available shed designs and build it in my spare time. If you need a shed like me, it is likely you first take into consideration getting a simple DIY kit. Just put that aside quickly. DIY kits are very costly, not very stable, of dubious quality and often just not fitting for your backyardand believe me I've come across several bad examples from some buddies of mine. Thats when I considered to design a shed and install it myself. I have encountered numerous shed plans on the Internet to pick from, but the best one I found were the plans in MyShedPlans. Before you could start construction, you need to think about some factors specifically if youre a beginner builder. These factors are storage shed designs, materials and the preferred site to build your shed. Simply design a shed that is not too large so you can handle the work quickly. Make it possible for me to discuss to you how I undertake it quickly from how to design a shed until the construction process and here's the quick steps: Determining where you want to build your project is important as it can affect the outlook of your garden. Take into consideration the dimensions of your backyard with regards to the size of your storage shed. It wouldn't be a good decision to sacrifice your beautiful garden with a shed that is too large lean to shed plans free. Now you can start to design a shed. There are the 12. 000 designs that are available in the MyShedPlans guide that you can choose from which you think are suitable for you

Shed Building Produced Simple With Free Shed Plans

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Model Railroad Operations

Modelers enjoy visiting and running on model railroads that are realistic in appearance and operated in a realistic manner. This only happens when the model echoes the mission of a real railroad - cars move to transport freight and passengers. You'll never start operations if you spend all your time planning. Start now with a method that works for your layout and add details and enhancements over time. The best way to develop the optimum operations design for your railroad is through the combination of practice and refinement. Realistic Operation, Phase 1 The first step to realistic operations is to slow down. Run your trains at scale speeds. Place a yard stick next to a straight area of mainline and practice running at different scale speeds. The following table relates prototype speeds to the number of seconds it will take your train to move from one end of the yard stick to the other. Switching moves are usually performed around 5 mph. Movements within a yard are typically no more than 15 mph. Most mainline running is between 25 and 60 mph, depending upon era and type of train. Time to travel 3 feet at scale speed PrototypeSpeed N HO O 5 mph 65 sec 36 sec 19 sec 15 mph 22 sec 12 sec 6 sec 25 mph 13 sec 7 sec 3 sec 60 mph 5 sec 3 sec 1 sec 90 mph 3 sec 2 sec 1 sec Match scale speed running with prototypical starts and stops by accelerating and braking at scale rates. And never reverse an engine or train while it is moving. Layout Design Impacts Operation A primary goal in layout design is to create a railroad. The more it looks and works like a real railroad, the better for realistic operations. Small layouts typically have one main feature, a single station or industrial complex. Medium sized layouts may have two or three main features, but work best if they are closely related. Large layouts may have many, including unrelated, main features. The length of your passing sidings determines the length of the trains you can run. The number of passing sidings determines the number of simultaneous trains you can run on the mainline. The smaller the layout, the more important it is that operators can't see the whole layout at one time. For a simple oval layout, with a town on each side of the benchwork, the addition of a scenic divider down the middle results in two immediate benefits: a) each town scene will immediately seem larger and b) operators will suddenly have the "feel" the railroad is going somewhere, that there is "distance" between the two towns. The current Gateway Central project layout (a model railroad our Division designs, constructs, shows, and gives away at our train show each year) is only 5' x 6' in size, but has imposing Walthers structures (paper mills and sawmill) and operation capabilities. This is practical only because there is a 4-foot wide scenic divider in the middle of the layout. free storage shed plans Without the divider, the layout is a fancy loop of track, but with the divider it is a shortline connecting an industrial area centered on a paper mill complex with a rural area featuring a small sawmill. If you are interested, this layout is on display at the National Train Show. Operations require clear and easy access to the track along with good operator visibility of the trains. This means that tracks need to be within reaching distance from an aisle, usually 30" or less. Pop-up access doesn't work for operations, walk-in or walk-around layout designs tend to work best. Operator aisles should be at least 28" wide, with 30" or 36" preferable. Experience shows that the aisle needs to be slightly wider at the end of "blobs", where the tracks make a 180 turn from one aisle to the next. Walk-around control also works best for operations. Place the layout controls on the fascia near the portion of the layout they control. Avoid placing the throttles at a fixed location, even if it is "in the middle of everything". Radio and IR throttles are now available for operators who hate trying to find (and figure out) a plug-in point. Railroad height effects visibility and reaching distance. Low benchwork offers a "birds-eye" overall view and a deep reaching distance. It is easy to reach in 36" on benchwork only 36" tall. High benchwork provides a detailed look at the cars and rolling stock, and makes you feel more part of the local action. However, on benchwork 50" high, you may only be able to reach in 20-24". You may also have problems determining which way that switch on the back track is thrown. However, high benchwork is significantly easier to work under for maintenance. The current trend is towards "eye-level" modeling, with track height at 52" or more. Good operator visibility means you need to avoid long tunnels. It is most reassuring to operators if they can see some part of their train at all times. A rule of thumb is that as the caboose disappears into the portal, the engine of that train should be emerging from the other end of the tunnel. Double decking is an option for medium to moderately large layout spaces to increase the length of the main line run or to add a significant branchline. Make sure you have enough separation between the levels to build respectable scenery and see the trains. Usually at least 14" open space between the levels is required (with 16-18" preferred). Also, don't stick a helix in the operational portion of any route. Having a train disappear for multiple minutes inside a hidden spiral only irritates, confuses, and distracts crews from the operations. Helixes, if needed, should only be placed at the end of runs. Design in a way to keep a train running continuously without operator intervention for public displays or train shows. The public (or relatives) usually are interested in only two things when they visit a railroad: a) where there trains running and b) could I recognize some scene or industry on the layout Such a continuous loop is also useful for breaking-in and testing engines and rolling stock. Single track is much more interesting than double track. Unless there is an absolute need to model double track (because you have to keep a train running constantly, or because double track is a key feature of the prototype railroad you are modeling), design your railroad as single track. This is especially important on small layouts where the space can be better used for on-line industry spurs or station features. Even on large layouts, use multiple track only where it adds to operation capabilities. Medium and large size layouts allow the construction of a true point-to-point scheme. For many modelers, the first design concept for applying this scheme uses a significant yard at each end of the line. Unless your focus is yards or terminals, care needs to be taken that these features don't eat most of the layout room space and budget. If your primary interest is in terminals, it is usually best to model one large terminal, and let the rest of the layout act as "staging" for trains arriving and departing the terminal. Most modelers will find it best, in terms of cost and maintenance, to feed only one major yard or terminal on their layout. This is also an application of one of the John Armstrong layout design principles, "Don't do the same thing twice. " Four design and operating concepts may be applied to a one major terminal model railroad: Out and back: The train leaves the terminal and proceeds around a line which ends up back at the terminal. The one terminal may be operated as if it were two different terminals, one at each end of the line. The scheme works best of the four for small spaces. Division point: Trains proceed to staging in each direction out of the terminal. The terminal is a "division point yard" where all trains stop and crews are changed. This requires a reasonable mainline run on each side of the yard before going into staging. This scheme typically works best in large spaces, and is especially suited for railroads where mainline running is the operations goal. Main terminal: One end of the terminal immediately plunges into staging, the other end connects to the mainline run portion of the layout before going into its own staging. This scheme works especially well for combination mainline run/switching oriented operators. Branchline: The terminal is on a mainline "oval loop", the other part of the oval is hidden staging for mainline trains. A branchline connects to the main at the terminal, and meanders off into the countryside servicing local industries. Mainline trains drop off and pickup cars for the branchline, left at the interchange terminal. Obviously a switching-oriented design. Yards are supposed to be operated, not to act as storage. The goal of a real yardmaster is to get as many cars as possible out of the yard. Large yards make up trains heading for other yards. Small yards sort cars destined for local industries. The only real yards that store cars are passenger yards. Make the aisle a little wider near main yards, and design in a place for the yardmaster to sort his paperwork. And you'll never get your yard to work right if it hasn't got a separate lead that's as long as the longest yard track. Industrial switching areas may be located near yards or somewhere "down the line. " Real railroads try to make industrial trackage as simple as possible, so avoid the impulse to design a "switching puzzle" into your layout. Most railroads encouraged development of industrial sites in the immediate area surrounding small town stations. A passing siding at a town typically had a couple industrial spurs attached. As the size of the layout increases, so must the quality of the construction. Model operations require the entire layout to be more reliable than what is required to just run trains. The quality of the construction must be such that the size of the layout does not exceed the maintenance (time and cost) budget of the owner. The Concept Transform your model railroad into a real rail transportation system. Your design concept establishes where it is located, the era, which towns are served, connecting lines, and traffic patterns. The concept needs to match the model - the size of the layout and the access considerations will determine whether you can model an entire railroad, a division, a couple of mainline towns, or a minor station along a branchline. Geographic area, era, and transportation needs results in a concept of where, when and why the railroad exists. The geographic location (or setting), along with the era (or timeframe), selected for the layout will effect both the scenery and the traffic. Just as you won't find many high volume commuter lines in a snow-covered mountain range, it is equally unlikely to operate a gold mine in the middle of flat farmland. Realism of the layout is enhanced when all of the items (industries, rolling stock, structures, traffic patterns and volume, signs, vehicles, etc. ) in the scene are of the same era. If you select to model a specific prototype, recreating the location and traffic of that prototype at a specific point in history will ensure an appropriate match. If you freelance a railroad, it's best to pattern your location, scenery and traffic on your favorite prototype railroads in a specific era. If you are unsure of what era to model, its usually best to create the scenery to match the earlier era you prefer, as it may always be modernized later. Club layouts are usually based on local railroads, since the local roads and scenery are more likely of interest to current and prospective members, as well as visitors. For freelance railroads, developing a "history" can advance the railroad concept. Explain its location, traffic patterns, and method of operation. If station names are based on real towns in appropriate sequence, they not only add to the realism, but also place the railroad geographically. Since real cities are typically too large to model, those stations either become hidden staging, or are modeled as a station or yard on the edge of the city but using a specific recognizable local name. Chuck Hitchcock did this with his Argentine depot, since Kansas City Union Station would have been too large to appropriately model. The St. Louis Southern terminates at Gateway Yard near Broadway Station as there is no reasonable way to model the Mill Creek Valley yards and St. Louis Union Station (unless you really want to build two triple track interlaced wyes feeding 32 tracks under a five-span train shed, of course). At one time it was popular to name towns in alphabetical order, supposedly giving the operators a "clue" as to the sequence of the stations. In reality this doesn't assist novice operators (who may not figure out they are in alphabetical order anyway) or your experienced operators (since they will know the actual sequence and do not need this "help"). It is much better to select station names appropriate to what is being modeled, and then give each operator a list showing the station sequence. Realistic Operation, Phase 2 Name everything on the layout. Even if the oil refinery is only a can of Pennzoil sitting next to the siding, name the refinery and the town where it is located. The same goes for the flour mill (empty Saltines box) down the line. Now you are delivering low-sulphur coal from the Whitney mine to the Banholzer Steel mill, and not just moving cars from "here" to "there". This change has two immediate effects. First, your operators are now transporting freight between actual destinations, not just moving cars around. Secondly, it is an initial preparation step to later add a car forwarding system. Most industries are large enough to have multiple freight docks or doors. Each of these is either numbered or labeled on the real buildings, since deliveries not only have to be made to the right company, but also to the right dock door at the company. Your operators will need to deliver lumber to the shop's dock door and boxcars for the finished furniture to the shipping dock door. Name your railroad as well. If you are modeling a specific prototype, this is easy. If you like a prototype, but want to create your own route, follow the prototype but make your own division. The Ozarks Division of the Missouri Pacific won't be found in any timetable, except for the ones in Bob Amsler's basement. There you will be surrounded by standard MoPac engines, rolling stock and lineside structures, but in the rolling mountains of the Ozarks. Modeling a specific prototype railroad has become very popular in recent years. It also provides an instant guide to scenery, rolling stock, structures and operations. But it also limits you to the specific engines, cars, and traffic patterns of that prototype. Historically, freelance railroads were more popular, perhaps because of the limited number of prototype-specific models that were available, or because of the difficulty in obtaining prototype specific information. Still, there are some modelers who rather create their own alternate version of history. Creating a freelance railroad requires even more attention to railroad concept. You need a concept, and railroad name, which has a solid basis in the area you are modeling, as well as a prototype "sound". Allen McClelland's Virginian Ohio has an excellent prototype-like concept, modeled location, and name - but is a freelance railroad. Make sure your name matches the concept: the El Dorado El Reno sounds like a small connecting line, the St. Louis Southern sounds like a Cotton Belt or MoPac regional competitor, and you would expect to find the Utah Belt in the southwest. Multiple interchange connections to real railroads will improve the realism and operating possibilities of your freelance railroad. When creating a color scheme for a freelance railroad, keep in mind Paul Mallery's four guidelines: 1) easy to apply, 2) realistic, 3) distinctive, and 4) pleasing. And when you have custom decals made, make sure you are using an era-appropriate type style and don't over-size the lettering. Most locomotives, cabooses, and passenger cars (pre Amtrak, of course) would belong to the modeled railroad. Repainting this rolling stock to the home road is another significant step to increasing realism during operations. Oh, by the way, now that you've named everything, put those names on the model railroad! Towers, junctions and towns get name signs on the fascia at their location. Each building needs a sign with the company name. This way, your operators will know where they are, or be able to find their way to where they are supposed to be. Really helpful owners will place a track diagram of each town on the fascia by that town, with all of the sidings labeled. Regularly spaced direction signs (indicating which way is "east" and "west") also work to minimize confusion. Interchange An important traffic source for almost all railroads is interchange (transferring freight cars between railroads or lines of the same railroad). Even the Alaska Railroad receives foreign-road cars via a car float. Interchange traffic is especially useful when designing operations, as almost any type of car, in any quantity, may participate in interchange operations. Local interchange occurs when cars are set out to be picked up by another train of the same railroad. This means each car has a destination, usually on the modeled portion of the railroad, beyond the interchange point. A through freight drops off cars at a station for setout by the local drill. Such interchange may also be simulated, where the interchange is the actual destination on the model railroad. Operations here usually assume that the cars were picked up by the foreign road and then returned, now with a new destination. Foreign road interchange is typically modeled by one or more tracks leading to the (non-existing) other railroad. Larger interchanges look like small yards. A car float makes a very interesting kind of interchange point, significantly easier to model (in HO) with Walther's new waterfront kits. If you actually have the space to model more than one railroad, the interchange traffic between the two railroads will be an extremely important part of the operation design. Who Does What Real railroads are a perfect example of teamwork. Each operation is carried out by many individuals performing specific tasks in cooperation. Many jobs on prototype railroads aren't typically modeled. The jobs modeled are usually limited to those directly involved with moving cars and trains. In many cases multiple real jobs are combined for modeled jobs. For instance, one model operator will usually wear the "hats" of fireman, brakeman and conductor simultaneously while another operator is engineer. The train crew runs one train. On modern railroads, the train crew consists of an engineer (drives the locomotive), conductor (in charge of the train), and brakeman (assists the conductor). During the steam era, there was also a fireman in the cab and at least two brakemen. The head brakeman rode in the locomotive while the flagman, or rear brakeman, rode the caboose with the conductor. If you are modeling a short line, the train crew may be all there is to your modeled operations. If your railroad runs multiple trains, they usually come from somewhere, and that is usually a yard. If the yard is large enough to have its own switching locomotive, that locomotive will have a yard drill (an engineer, conductor and brakemen). The yardmaster directs the yard drills, and is responsible for making up and breaking up trains. Switchmen assist the yardmaster in larger yards. Small yards may have a freight agent instead of a yardmaster. Once you are running all those trains, you'll need a hostler to operate and prepare locomotives between the engine facility and yard. The power desk or roundhouse foreman makes sure appropriate motive power is assigned, available and ready. Dispatchers control the movement of trains on mainlines. During the steam era, dispatchers directed towermen at interlockings and block operators at stations without interlockings. Dispatchers communicate directly with train crews today. Trainmasters are locally responsible for the operation of the railroad, including supervision of dispatchers, yardmasters, and train crews. The rules examiner makes sure everyone knows the operating rules of the railroad. The superintendent is in charge of a railroad division. Large railroads had multiple superintendents managed by a general superintendent. So how to you model all this Model Layout Crews Most model railroads use either one- or two-man train crews. Two-man crews have an engineer who runs the locomotive and a conductor/brakeman who manages the waybills and throws switches. Small yards may be switched by visiting train crews. A mid-sized yard will have a yardmaster, who typically also operates the yard drill. Model layouts with very large yards, especially those with multiple yard drills, will have separate operators for each drill with a yardmaster in charge. If there are a large number of engine facility movements required, a model railroad may have the need for a hostler, especially if all of the movements for steam locomotives are modeled. Otherwise, the yardmaster will also as act as hostler. Older model railroads were designed with fixed engineer throttle locations, for large clubs these were usually located on an elevated platform in the hope of seeing the trains. Since it was difficult to switch and uncouple cars from 50 feet away, the conductor/brakeman would walk with the train, giving hand signals to the engineer, and throwing switches. These larger layouts also had towermen who would operate complex interlockings and report passing trains to the dispatcher. Most new model railroads are designed with walk-around throttles, so train crews follow their trains around the layout. The conductor/brakeman usually throws all switches along the route, except for those controlled by a dispatcher with CTC (Centralized Traffic Control), which may be thought of as an interlocking machine for a large section of railroad. Adding CTC to a model railroad is a significant (time and cost) project, and is only usual for Class 1 railroads. The dispatcher is best located where he cannot see the model railroad. The dispatcher tracks the movement of trains on a train sheet and issues orders to keep them rolling. The dispatcher receives information from the towers and station operators (which may be modeled as called in reports from train crews when they reach towers and stations) and issues train orders back to the crews. This is usually modeled with phones at station locations (steam era layouts) or radios (modern era). If you have CTC installed, the dispatcher directly controls mainline switches and signals with the CTC machine. The location of trains is displayed on a CTC machine by the indication of occupied track sections. The dispatcher controls trains by setting signals and throwing switches. With CTC, there is less communication between the trains crews and dispatcher as towers and crews don't have to report in with their locations. Model railroads also need a superintendent to prepare the rule book and timetables, qualify and orient operators, oversee the operating session, and investigate and resolve problems. Of special importance is ensuring that operators know how to uncouple and handle cars without damaging the coupler or car. Realistic Operation, Phase 3 Get the railroad to work! Nothing ruins an operating session faster that engines which won't run and cars that won't stay on the track. Locomotives need to run smoothly and reliably. The couplers on engines must also work every time and be the exact correct height. Power which doesn't meet these standards needs to leave the railroad until they can be repaired. The trackwork and rolling stock need to work together. Ignoring derailments caused by klutzy operators (hopefully they'll improve with practice), 2 derailments or less for every 100 car moves is your performance goal. Checking track gauge, tuning turnouts, testing wheelset gauge, adjusting coupler height, and weighting cars correctly will all add up to better operations. Cars with problems (constantly derail, coupler problems, weight problems) need to be banished to the RIP track until they can be repaired. An operating session will be much more fun with fewer cars and locomotives that all run properly, over a session with more rolling stock that won't roll. Your electrical and control system is the other side of the coin for getting good locomotive performance. If your control panels require a computer network administrator to understand them, they are distracting from the operations. Your goals here are a track power system that works reliably and is very simple for operators to understand. My recommendation is to go out and purchase a DCC system now. Which DCC system you purchase will depend on what you like in throttles, and perhaps which DCC system your operators have purchased for their home layouts. Although DCC decoders (the part you put in the engines) are compatible between brands, the throttles are not. Model Railroader published a nice overview of the available systems in their June 1999 issue. After you decide on the brand, one way to reduce the throttle cost is by purchasing their "advanced" throttles for the yardmaster hostler and "intermediate" throttles for road crews. DCC will allow you to get your railroad "up and running" quicker than the installation of conventional block control. It allows multiple trains to operate without needing to consider the location of power gaps, or the proximity of engines to each other. This immediately makes operations that are difficult with block control, such as helper districts, multiple switching crews in the same yard, and consisting multiple unit diesel lash-ups, simple and easy. Don't overlook the fact that DCC eliminates the need to perform the non-prototypical, and confusing to some operators, task of throwing control panel switches to assign power to track blocks. It can also simplify and automate reverse-loop wiring and operation. You can turn on and off engine headlights, ditch lights, gyralites, and strobes from the throttle. And you may reprogram the running speed characteristics to make different brand engines run well together. If you are serious about multi-train operations, the simplicity of use and freedom of engine movements more than outweigh any perceived additional cost of using DCC over conventional control systems. A personal warning: the purchase of a Soundtraxx DCC digital sound decoder for a steam engine quickly leads you on the road to addiction. You'll want a sound decoder in each of your steam engines. You'll start using whistle signals all the time. And you'll wish you had purchased a North Coast or Wangrow DCC system so you have a separate button on your throttle for each sound the engine can make. Timetables, Part 1 Employee timetables and rule books govern the operation of the railroad. Rule books establish the rights and obligations of trains and crews, especially for unsignaled areas (like most model railroads). All railroads operated by the Standard Code rules until the mid-eighties. After that time, each railroad modified the rules to fit their communications needs, but kept their Standard Code number and basic concepts. The schedule is the part of the employee timetable which list the class, direction, frequency, number, and times at specific locations (like stations and towers) of each regular (meaning scheduled) train. Modern railroading has eliminated class and schedule timings. Regular passenger trains were usually listed as 1st Class trains. Freight trains were typically 2nd (or lower) Class, although a very few special freight trains were also 1st Class. Trains not on the schedule are extras. Regular trains are identified by number (#17) and sometimes by name (the "Super Chief"). Generally, on east-west railroads, westbound trains have odd numbers while eastbound trains have the next higher even number. For north-south roads, odd numbers are southbound with northbound as even. Passenger trains typically have low numbers while freights are given higher numbers. Prototype schedules are in table format. Typically eastbound trains are listed in one table (usually read down the page for station sequence) while westbound trains are in another table (usually read up the page). If there are few trains on the schedule, it may be formatted as one table with the station names in the center, eastbound trains listed on the left side (read down), and westbound trains listed on the right side (read up). Special symbols, indicated on schedules as letter codes next to each station, explain other facilities available at that location. Common symbols include: A Arrive L Leave S Station Stop F Stop on Signal B or Q Telephone (or Radio) booth D or LS Operator on duty during daytime N or CS Operator on duty 24 hours C Coal O Fuel Oil W Water D Diesel Fuel The problem with the prototype schedule arrangement for model operations is that it is hard for model operators to quickly determine the locations of meets and with which trains. This might be the first time an operator is running that train. Real distance between stations is shorter, and traffic density is much higher than on real railroads - so the action happens much faster. The best solution is to make single-train schedules. These list the stops for that specific train, and indicate meets with other trains. An employee timetable will go into great detail concerning speed, track limitations, and equipment restrictions by train, route, service, weight, type of movement, specific locations, and equipment class. These vary from railroad to railroad, and division to division. For modelers, speed restrictions by train and route are most practical (and most likely to be followed for the operators). Simple restrictions like 45mph for freight, 65mph for passenger, 25mph within yard limits, 15mph on the Riceland branch, and "don't take engines out on the car float" will add operating interest and realism without being overly complex. Movements within yard limits may be made without timetable or train order authorization. Yard rules allow engineers to proceed when they see the track is clear, but not over 25mph, and not outside the yard limits. Movements within the yard are directed by the yardmaster. Right, Class and Direction Right, Class, and Direction are the three ways one train may be superior to another (on single track). Right is granted with a train order. Train order right always supersedes superiority by timetable. Class and Direction are listed on the schedule. A train is superior to trains of a lower class. Regular (scheduled) trains are superior to extras. For trains of the same class, direction will indicate which is superior. The superior direction will be listed in the timetable. The inferior train takes the siding at meets. If an inferior train is running late, it is responsible for making sure it is in the clear for superior trains. When a superior train is late, it "owns the road" up to the point where the schedule says it should be. In this way meeting points are adjusted when regular (scheduled) trains are late. Realistic Operation, Phase 4 Develop a sequence timetable from a train service plan. The plan begins with a vertical list of the sequence of towns along your route. Individual trains are added as adjoining columns, showing where they originate, terminate, turn, set out blocks of cars, or switch. Typically a line represents the run of a train, with symbols (such as a filled box for switching, or an empty box for block moves) on the train line indicating towns it works. The ends of the line indicate the start and end points of that train's run. This is similar to timetables, which are also based on a list of stations and towers. On timetables, trains are grouped by class across the top, and listed in order of their departure within each class grouping. A main difference is our initial train service plan isn't concerned with time-based scheduling, only what trains are running where. Appropriate passenger and fast freight service connects major cities. Blocks of cars are setout or picked up at mid-sized towns by through freights. Each town on the line needs to be served by one train that switches the local industries - either a way freight, turn or local. Applying these guidelines, create a basic train service plan for your railroad. The following suggested train categories and train number ranges may be used as a starting point for designing your initial train service plan. First Class Passenger Service, #1-20, combination of higher-speed "limited" service with few stops, and slower local service of every town. Second Class Fast Freight and Express, #21-48, these run nonstop except for crew changes. Steam era reefer express trains also had to periodically stop at icing platforms. Second Class Manifest or Through freights, #51-98, provide fast service between major yards. They drop off blocks of cars for locals to spot at industry sidings, and pickup blocks of cars headed in the direction of the through freight that locals have pulled from sidings. Sweeper trains may run daily each way on the line to ensure all blocks of freight are collected and moved in a timely manner. Customers usually want their cars delivered early in the morning and collected in the evening. Third Class Way freights (aka Peddlers), #101-148, perform local switching, usually between two local yards. It may also pickup and setout blocks of cars for locals, especially at towns with major railroad customers. A variation is the turn, which leaves a yard, runs to a specific town on its route, and then returns to its home yard. The turn switches the towns along its route in both directions. Other variations are a coal drag (which may be a slow version of a through train), or an interchange turn, which moves cuts of cars between a yard and a connection to another railroad. Third or Fourth Class Local freights, #151-198, perform local switching over smaller areas, usually concentrating on the needs of one or two major online customers. It also works blocks of cars left by other trains. Trains which move from one interchange to another is bridge traffic. The locomotive and caboose may be exchanged for home road equipment for this movement, or the foreign road equipment may stay on representing running under trackage rights or as pool service. This is a simple way to explain another railroad's equipment running on your layout. Now that you have a train service plan, write an instruction card for each train. This describes the "action", what that train does and where. This card lists each stop, and the type of work the train performs at each location. Then, pick which direction is superior on your railroad. Typically, it is selected so as to move priority traffic into a major commerce center the quickest. Finally, arrange the train instruction cards in the order in which the trains will be run. This arrangement is a sequence timetable. You are now ready to start an operating session. The first crew runs the first train. Each additional crew runs the next train instruction card in order. As a train completes its run, that crew then selects and runs the train on the next available instruction card. Meets are handled using the rules of class and direction. Inferior trains need to clear the way for superior trains. Your first operating sessions may be limited to only first and second class trains. As your operators gain experience, add the third and fourth class traffic. Your experiences will quickly show where the sequence of running the trains will need to be changed, or trains which simply "don't work" and have to be eliminated or modified. The whole idea of walk-around layout design and control is for the crew to stay with their train. Make sure your crews keep with their trains. Hidden Staging Staging provides a place for trains to originate or terminate off the modeled layout, it represents "the rest of the world". Staging may represent other divisions of the modeled railroad, or connecting railroads. You may have multiple staging yards. Staging provides a pool of complete trains, ready to run onto or across your layout. Generous staging should be designed into the layout from the start, as you'll always wish you had more or longer staging. You need at least one more staging track than the number of trains you plan to stage, and staging tracks should be longer than your longest train. Continuous staging is better than stub-end staging, since you don't have to turn trains (or the worst case, back them over the entire layout to their original staging location). Since staging tracks are frequently semi-hidden, or at least somewhat out-of-the-way, design them to operate as reliably as possible. This means use #6 or larger turnouts, avoid any reverse curves, and perhaps install a rerailer at the end of each track (I first saw this trick on the Virginian Ohio). Make sure you can easily see and reach staging tracks to rerail cars. Staging may be so busy it requires its own operator, usually called a staging dispatcher. Realistic Operation, Phase 5 Now that we have a sequence of trains running, let's give the local and way freights something to do. It's best to practice switching before trying to implement a full waybill or switchlist based car-forwarding system. You may even prefer one of these low-paperwork methods. Switching cars at industries simulates the movement of freight traffic. Train crews are kept busy if they are switching between 20-25 cars per hour. The two basic systems presented in this section do not have complex paperwork, and do not cause problems when cars are misrouted, switching isn't performed at a location, or paperwork misplaced. When operating, always ask about the railroad's policy before touching any cars or locomotives. This is especially true of engines and when derailments occur. And make sure you know the correct way to uncouple cars on that railroad. It usually works best to make the pickups before the setouts. And throw hand-throw switches gently. Some mainline and passing siding switches may be remote controlled by a tower or dispatcher. Check the route before throwing any switch to make sure you are throwing the correct one. And make sure all of the switches are set back to their correct position when you leave that town. Whit Tower's proposed the "thinking man's" car-forwarding system. This approach believes "it really doesn't matter where or how a particular car is spotted. " The train instruction card simply adds the quantity of cars to be switched at each town. The crew simply decides which cars they want to switch at what industry. The one rule with this method is to pick up one car for each one setout. The wheel report car-forwarding method uses one form. The first column of the form is the towns in sequence. There is an additional column for each car type on your railroad. You may use AAR car codes, or common descriptions like "boxcar", "hopper", "gondola", "tank car", and "flatcar". A final column is used to compute totals. The train number, and the version number (1, 2, 3, etc. ) of the wheel report form for that train, is written at the top of the form. Using the train instruction card you created for sequence scheduling, determine the towns this train switches. For each town, determine how many cars of which types you want to switch there. For instance, you may decide to switch two boxcars and one tank car at Camden. On the Camden line, you would place a "2" in the boxcar column, and a "1" in the tank car column. The last column, the totals column, would get a "3". When you have completed this for each town serviced by that train, compute the final total (add up the total column). This is the number of cars that will be placed in this train. The yardmaster uses the wheel report to put together a train. Any car in the yard may be used with the system, as long as it is the right type ("boxcar", "hopper", etc. ) as requested on the wheel report. Real railroads block trains to make switching easier. Blocking is simply grouping together cars with the same destination. The yardmaster groups together the cars for each town to be switched. The block of cars immediately behind the engine are for the first town, the second block is for the second town, and so on. Through cars may be added at the end if you want to lengthen the train. An engine and caboose are added, and the crew starts their run diy shed plans. The train instruction card describes their run. The wheel report tells them how many cars of what types are switched at each town. The actual switching performed at each town is at the pleasure of the train crew. Advanced operators will try difficult switching moves

Model Railroad Operations

Modelers enjoy visiting and running on model railroads that are realistic in appearance and operated in a realistic manner. This only happens when the model echoes the mission of a real railroad - cars move to transport freight and passengers. You'll never start operations if you spend all your time planning. Start now with a method that works for your layout and add details and enhancements over time. The best way to develop the optimum operations design for your railroad is through the combination of practice and refinement. Realistic Operation, Phase 1 The first step to realistic operations is to slow down. Run your trains at scale speeds. Place a yard stick next to a straight area of mainline and practice running at different scale speeds. The following table relates prototype speeds to the number of seconds it will take your train to move from one end of the yard stick to the other. Switching moves are usually performed around 5 mph. Movements within a yard are typically no more than 15 mph. Most mainline running is between 25 and 60 mph, depending upon era and type of train. Time to travel 3 feet at scale speed PrototypeSpeed N HO O 5 mph 65 sec 36 sec 19 sec 15 mph 22 sec 12 sec 6 sec 25 mph 13 sec 7 sec 3 sec 60 mph 5 sec 3 sec 1 sec 90 mph 3 sec 2 sec 1 sec Match scale speed running with prototypical starts and stops by accelerating and braking at scale rates. And never reverse an engine or train while it is moving. Layout Design Impacts Operation A primary goal in layout design is to create a railroad. The more it looks and works like a real railroad, the better for realistic operations. Small layouts typically have one main feature, a single station or industrial complex. Medium sized layouts may have two or three main features, but work best if they are closely related. Large layouts may have many, including unrelated, main features. The length of your passing sidings determines the length of the trains you can run. The number of passing sidings determines the number of simultaneous trains you can run on the mainline. The smaller the layout, the more important it is that operators can't see the whole layout at one time. For a simple oval layout, with a town on each side of the benchwork, the addition of a scenic divider down the middle results in two immediate benefits: a) each town scene will immediately seem larger and b) operators will suddenly have the "feel" the railroad is going somewhere, that there is "distance" between the two towns. The current Gateway Central project layout (a model railroad our Division designs, constructs, shows, and gives away at our train show each year) is only 5' x 6' in size, but has imposing Walthers structures (paper mills and sawmill) and operation capabilities. This is practical only because there is a 4-foot wide scenic divider in the middle of the layout. free storage shed plans Without the divider, the layout is a fancy loop of track, but with the divider it is a shortline connecting an industrial area centered on a paper mill complex with a rural area featuring a small sawmill. If you are interested, this layout is on display at the National Train Show. Operations require clear and easy access to the track along with good operator visibility of the trains. This means that tracks need to be within reaching distance from an aisle, usually 30" or less. Pop-up access doesn't work for operations, walk-in or walk-around layout designs tend to work best. Operator aisles should be at least 28" wide, with 30" or 36" preferable. Experience shows that the aisle needs to be slightly wider at the end of "blobs", where the tracks make a 180 turn from one aisle to the next. Walk-around control also works best for operations. Place the layout controls on the fascia near the portion of the layout they control. Avoid placing the throttles at a fixed location, even if it is "in the middle of everything". Radio and IR throttles are now available for operators who hate trying to find (and figure out) a plug-in point. Railroad height effects visibility and reaching distance. Low benchwork offers a "birds-eye" overall view and a deep reaching distance. It is easy to reach in 36" on benchwork only 36" tall. High benchwork provides a detailed look at the cars and rolling stock, and makes you feel more part of the local action. However, on benchwork 50" high, you may only be able to reach in 20-24". You may also have problems determining which way that switch on the back track is thrown. However, high benchwork is significantly easier to work under for maintenance. The current trend is towards "eye-level" modeling, with track height at 52" or more. Good operator visibility means you need to avoid long tunnels. It is most reassuring to operators if they can see some part of their train at all times. A rule of thumb is that as the caboose disappears into the portal, the engine of that train should be emerging from the other end of the tunnel. Double decking is an option for medium to moderately large layout spaces to increase the length of the main line run or to add a significant branchline. Make sure you have enough separation between the levels to build respectable scenery and see the trains. Usually at least 14" open space between the levels is required (with 16-18" preferred). Also, don't stick a helix in the operational portion of any route. Having a train disappear for multiple minutes inside a hidden spiral only irritates, confuses, and distracts crews from the operations. Helixes, if needed, should only be placed at the end of runs. Design in a way to keep a train running continuously without operator intervention for public displays or train shows. The public (or relatives) usually are interested in only two things when they visit a railroad: a) where there trains running and b) could I recognize some scene or industry on the layout Such a continuous loop is also useful for breaking-in and testing engines and rolling stock. Single track is much more interesting than double track. Unless there is an absolute need to model double track (because you have to keep a train running constantly, or because double track is a key feature of the prototype railroad you are modeling), design your railroad as single track. This is especially important on small layouts where the space can be better used for on-line industry spurs or station features. Even on large layouts, use multiple track only where it adds to operation capabilities. Medium and large size layouts allow the construction of a true point-to-point scheme. For many modelers, the first design concept for applying this scheme uses a significant yard at each end of the line. Unless your focus is yards or terminals, care needs to be taken that these features don't eat most of the layout room space and budget. If your primary interest is in terminals, it is usually best to model one large terminal, and let the rest of the layout act as "staging" for trains arriving and departing the terminal. Most modelers will find it best, in terms of cost and maintenance, to feed only one major yard or terminal on their layout. This is also an application of one of the John Armstrong layout design principles, "Don't do the same thing twice. " Four design and operating concepts may be applied to a one major terminal model railroad: Out and back: The train leaves the terminal and proceeds around a line which ends up back at the terminal. The one terminal may be operated as if it were two different terminals, one at each end of the line. The scheme works best of the four for small spaces. Division point: Trains proceed to staging in each direction out of the terminal. The terminal is a "division point yard" where all trains stop and crews are changed. This requires a reasonable mainline run on each side of the yard before going into staging. This scheme typically works best in large spaces, and is especially suited for railroads where mainline running is the operations goal. Main terminal: One end of the terminal immediately plunges into staging, the other end connects to the mainline run portion of the layout before going into its own staging. This scheme works especially well for combination mainline run/switching oriented operators. Branchline: The terminal is on a mainline "oval loop", the other part of the oval is hidden staging for mainline trains. A branchline connects to the main at the terminal, and meanders off into the countryside servicing local industries. Mainline trains drop off and pickup cars for the branchline, left at the interchange terminal. Obviously a switching-oriented design. Yards are supposed to be operated, not to act as storage. The goal of a real yardmaster is to get as many cars as possible out of the yard. Large yards make up trains heading for other yards. Small yards sort cars destined for local industries. The only real yards that store cars are passenger yards. Make the aisle a little wider near main yards, and design in a place for the yardmaster to sort his paperwork. And you'll never get your yard to work right if it hasn't got a separate lead that's as long as the longest yard track. Industrial switching areas may be located near yards or somewhere "down the line. " Real railroads try to make industrial trackage as simple as possible, so avoid the impulse to design a "switching puzzle" into your layout. Most railroads encouraged development of industrial sites in the immediate area surrounding small town stations. A passing siding at a town typically had a couple industrial spurs attached. As the size of the layout increases, so must the quality of the construction. Model operations require the entire layout to be more reliable than what is required to just run trains. The quality of the construction must be such that the size of the layout does not exceed the maintenance (time and cost) budget of the owner. The Concept Transform your model railroad into a real rail transportation system. Your design concept establishes where it is located, the era, which towns are served, connecting lines, and traffic patterns. The concept needs to match the model - the size of the layout and the access considerations will determine whether you can model an entire railroad, a division, a couple of mainline towns, or a minor station along a branchline. Geographic area, era, and transportation needs results in a concept of where, when and why the railroad exists. The geographic location (or setting), along with the era (or timeframe), selected for the layout will effect both the scenery and the traffic. Just as you won't find many high volume commuter lines in a snow-covered mountain range, it is equally unlikely to operate a gold mine in the middle of flat farmland. Realism of the layout is enhanced when all of the items (industries, rolling stock, structures, traffic patterns and volume, signs, vehicles, etc. ) in the scene are of the same era. If you select to model a specific prototype, recreating the location and traffic of that prototype at a specific point in history will ensure an appropriate match. If you freelance a railroad, it's best to pattern your location, scenery and traffic on your favorite prototype railroads in a specific era. If you are unsure of what era to model, its usually best to create the scenery to match the earlier era you prefer, as it may always be modernized later. Club layouts are usually based on local railroads, since the local roads and scenery are more likely of interest to current and prospective members, as well as visitors. For freelance railroads, developing a "history" can advance the railroad concept. Explain its location, traffic patterns, and method of operation. If station names are based on real towns in appropriate sequence, they not only add to the realism, but also place the railroad geographically. Since real cities are typically too large to model, those stations either become hidden staging, or are modeled as a station or yard on the edge of the city but using a specific recognizable local name. Chuck Hitchcock did this with his Argentine depot, since Kansas City Union Station would have been too large to appropriately model. The St. Louis Southern terminates at Gateway Yard near Broadway Station as there is no reasonable way to model the Mill Creek Valley yards and St. Louis Union Station (unless you really want to build two triple track interlaced wyes feeding 32 tracks under a five-span train shed, of course). At one time it was popular to name towns in alphabetical order, supposedly giving the operators a "clue" as to the sequence of the stations. In reality this doesn't assist novice operators (who may not figure out they are in alphabetical order anyway) or your experienced operators (since they will know the actual sequence and do not need this "help"). It is much better to select station names appropriate to what is being modeled, and then give each operator a list showing the station sequence. Realistic Operation, Phase 2 Name everything on the layout. Even if the oil refinery is only a can of Pennzoil sitting next to the siding, name the refinery and the town where it is located. The same goes for the flour mill (empty Saltines box) down the line. Now you are delivering low-sulphur coal from the Whitney mine to the Banholzer Steel mill, and not just moving cars from "here" to "there". This change has two immediate effects. First, your operators are now transporting freight between actual destinations, not just moving cars around. Secondly, it is an initial preparation step to later add a car forwarding system. Most industries are large enough to have multiple freight docks or doors. Each of these is either numbered or labeled on the real buildings, since deliveries not only have to be made to the right company, but also to the right dock door at the company. Your operators will need to deliver lumber to the shop's dock door and boxcars for the finished furniture to the shipping dock door. Name your railroad as well. If you are modeling a specific prototype, this is easy. If you like a prototype, but want to create your own route, follow the prototype but make your own division. The Ozarks Division of the Missouri Pacific won't be found in any timetable, except for the ones in Bob Amsler's basement. There you will be surrounded by standard MoPac engines, rolling stock and lineside structures, but in the rolling mountains of the Ozarks. Modeling a specific prototype railroad has become very popular in recent years. It also provides an instant guide to scenery, rolling stock, structures and operations. But it also limits you to the specific engines, cars, and traffic patterns of that prototype. Historically, freelance railroads were more popular, perhaps because of the limited number of prototype-specific models that were available, or because of the difficulty in obtaining prototype specific information. Still, there are some modelers who rather create their own alternate version of history. Creating a freelance railroad requires even more attention to railroad concept. You need a concept, and railroad name, which has a solid basis in the area you are modeling, as well as a prototype "sound". Allen McClelland's Virginian Ohio has an excellent prototype-like concept, modeled location, and name - but is a freelance railroad. Make sure your name matches the concept: the El Dorado El Reno sounds like a small connecting line, the St. Louis Southern sounds like a Cotton Belt or MoPac regional competitor, and you would expect to find the Utah Belt in the southwest. Multiple interchange connections to real railroads will improve the realism and operating possibilities of your freelance railroad. When creating a color scheme for a freelance railroad, keep in mind Paul Mallery's four guidelines: 1) easy to apply, 2) realistic, 3) distinctive, and 4) pleasing. And when you have custom decals made, make sure you are using an era-appropriate type style and don't over-size the lettering. Most locomotives, cabooses, and passenger cars (pre Amtrak, of course) would belong to the modeled railroad. Repainting this rolling stock to the home road is another significant step to increasing realism during operations. Oh, by the way, now that you've named everything, put those names on the model railroad! Towers, junctions and towns get name signs on the fascia at their location. Each building needs a sign with the company name. This way, your operators will know where they are, or be able to find their way to where they are supposed to be. Really helpful owners will place a track diagram of each town on the fascia by that town, with all of the sidings labeled. Regularly spaced direction signs (indicating which way is "east" and "west") also work to minimize confusion. Interchange An important traffic source for almost all railroads is interchange (transferring freight cars between railroads or lines of the same railroad). Even the Alaska Railroad receives foreign-road cars via a car float. Interchange traffic is especially useful when designing operations, as almost any type of car, in any quantity, may participate in interchange operations. Local interchange occurs when cars are set out to be picked up by another train of the same railroad. This means each car has a destination, usually on the modeled portion of the railroad, beyond the interchange point. A through freight drops off cars at a station for setout by the local drill. Such interchange may also be simulated, where the interchange is the actual destination on the model railroad. Operations here usually assume that the cars were picked up by the foreign road and then returned, now with a new destination. Foreign road interchange is typically modeled by one or more tracks leading to the (non-existing) other railroad. Larger interchanges look like small yards. A car float makes a very interesting kind of interchange point, significantly easier to model (in HO) with Walther's new waterfront kits. If you actually have the space to model more than one railroad, the interchange traffic between the two railroads will be an extremely important part of the operation design. Who Does What Real railroads are a perfect example of teamwork. Each operation is carried out by many individuals performing specific tasks in cooperation. Many jobs on prototype railroads aren't typically modeled. The jobs modeled are usually limited to those directly involved with moving cars and trains. In many cases multiple real jobs are combined for modeled jobs. For instance, one model operator will usually wear the "hats" of fireman, brakeman and conductor simultaneously while another operator is engineer. The train crew runs one train. On modern railroads, the train crew consists of an engineer (drives the locomotive), conductor (in charge of the train), and brakeman (assists the conductor). During the steam era, there was also a fireman in the cab and at least two brakemen. The head brakeman rode in the locomotive while the flagman, or rear brakeman, rode the caboose with the conductor. If you are modeling a short line, the train crew may be all there is to your modeled operations. If your railroad runs multiple trains, they usually come from somewhere, and that is usually a yard. If the yard is large enough to have its own switching locomotive, that locomotive will have a yard drill (an engineer, conductor and brakemen). The yardmaster directs the yard drills, and is responsible for making up and breaking up trains. Switchmen assist the yardmaster in larger yards. Small yards may have a freight agent instead of a yardmaster. Once you are running all those trains, you'll need a hostler to operate and prepare locomotives between the engine facility and yard. The power desk or roundhouse foreman makes sure appropriate motive power is assigned, available and ready. Dispatchers control the movement of trains on mainlines. During the steam era, dispatchers directed towermen at interlockings and block operators at stations without interlockings. Dispatchers communicate directly with train crews today. Trainmasters are locally responsible for the operation of the railroad, including supervision of dispatchers, yardmasters, and train crews. The rules examiner makes sure everyone knows the operating rules of the railroad. The superintendent is in charge of a railroad division. Large railroads had multiple superintendents managed by a general superintendent. So how to you model all this Model Layout Crews Most model railroads use either one- or two-man train crews. Two-man crews have an engineer who runs the locomotive and a conductor/brakeman who manages the waybills and throws switches. Small yards may be switched by visiting train crews. A mid-sized yard will have a yardmaster, who typically also operates the yard drill. Model layouts with very large yards, especially those with multiple yard drills, will have separate operators for each drill with a yardmaster in charge. If there are a large number of engine facility movements required, a model railroad may have the need for a hostler, especially if all of the movements for steam locomotives are modeled. Otherwise, the yardmaster will also as act as hostler. Older model railroads were designed with fixed engineer throttle locations, for large clubs these were usually located on an elevated platform in the hope of seeing the trains. Since it was difficult to switch and uncouple cars from 50 feet away, the conductor/brakeman would walk with the train, giving hand signals to the engineer, and throwing switches. These larger layouts also had towermen who would operate complex interlockings and report passing trains to the dispatcher. Most new model railroads are designed with walk-around throttles, so train crews follow their trains around the layout. The conductor/brakeman usually throws all switches along the route, except for those controlled by a dispatcher with CTC (Centralized Traffic Control), which may be thought of as an interlocking machine for a large section of railroad. Adding CTC to a model railroad is a significant (time and cost) project, and is only usual for Class 1 railroads. The dispatcher is best located where he cannot see the model railroad. The dispatcher tracks the movement of trains on a train sheet and issues orders to keep them rolling. The dispatcher receives information from the towers and station operators (which may be modeled as called in reports from train crews when they reach towers and stations) and issues train orders back to the crews. This is usually modeled with phones at station locations (steam era layouts) or radios (modern era). If you have CTC installed, the dispatcher directly controls mainline switches and signals with the CTC machine. The location of trains is displayed on a CTC machine by the indication of occupied track sections. The dispatcher controls trains by setting signals and throwing switches. With CTC, there is less communication between the trains crews and dispatcher as towers and crews don't have to report in with their locations. Model railroads also need a superintendent to prepare the rule book and timetables, qualify and orient operators, oversee the operating session, and investigate and resolve problems. Of special importance is ensuring that operators know how to uncouple and handle cars without damaging the coupler or car. Realistic Operation, Phase 3 Get the railroad to work! Nothing ruins an operating session faster that engines which won't run and cars that won't stay on the track. Locomotives need to run smoothly and reliably. The couplers on engines must also work every time and be the exact correct height. Power which doesn't meet these standards needs to leave the railroad until they can be repaired. The trackwork and rolling stock need to work together. Ignoring derailments caused by klutzy operators (hopefully they'll improve with practice), 2 derailments or less for every 100 car moves is your performance goal. Checking track gauge, tuning turnouts, testing wheelset gauge, adjusting coupler height, and weighting cars correctly will all add up to better operations. Cars with problems (constantly derail, coupler problems, weight problems) need to be banished to the RIP track until they can be repaired. An operating session will be much more fun with fewer cars and locomotives that all run properly, over a session with more rolling stock that won't roll. Your electrical and control system is the other side of the coin for getting good locomotive performance. If your control panels require a computer network administrator to understand them, they are distracting from the operations. Your goals here are a track power system that works reliably and is very simple for operators to understand. My recommendation is to go out and purchase a DCC system now. Which DCC system you purchase will depend on what you like in throttles, and perhaps which DCC system your operators have purchased for their home layouts. Although DCC decoders (the part you put in the engines) are compatible between brands, the throttles are not. Model Railroader published a nice overview of the available systems in their June 1999 issue. After you decide on the brand, one way to reduce the throttle cost is by purchasing their "advanced" throttles for the yardmaster hostler and "intermediate" throttles for road crews. DCC will allow you to get your railroad "up and running" quicker than the installation of conventional block control. It allows multiple trains to operate without needing to consider the location of power gaps, or the proximity of engines to each other. This immediately makes operations that are difficult with block control, such as helper districts, multiple switching crews in the same yard, and consisting multiple unit diesel lash-ups, simple and easy. Don't overlook the fact that DCC eliminates the need to perform the non-prototypical, and confusing to some operators, task of throwing control panel switches to assign power to track blocks. It can also simplify and automate reverse-loop wiring and operation. You can turn on and off engine headlights, ditch lights, gyralites, and strobes from the throttle. And you may reprogram the running speed characteristics to make different brand engines run well together. If you are serious about multi-train operations, the simplicity of use and freedom of engine movements more than outweigh any perceived additional cost of using DCC over conventional control systems. A personal warning: the purchase of a Soundtraxx DCC digital sound decoder for a steam engine quickly leads you on the road to addiction. You'll want a sound decoder in each of your steam engines. You'll start using whistle signals all the time. And you'll wish you had purchased a North Coast or Wangrow DCC system so you have a separate button on your throttle for each sound the engine can make. Timetables, Part 1 Employee timetables and rule books govern the operation of the railroad. Rule books establish the rights and obligations of trains and crews, especially for unsignaled areas (like most model railroads). All railroads operated by the Standard Code rules until the mid-eighties. After that time, each railroad modified the rules to fit their communications needs, but kept their Standard Code number and basic concepts. The schedule is the part of the employee timetable which list the class, direction, frequency, number, and times at specific locations (like stations and towers) of each regular (meaning scheduled) train. Modern railroading has eliminated class and schedule timings. Regular passenger trains were usually listed as 1st Class trains. Freight trains were typically 2nd (or lower) Class, although a very few special freight trains were also 1st Class. Trains not on the schedule are extras. Regular trains are identified by number (#17) and sometimes by name (the "Super Chief"). Generally, on east-west railroads, westbound trains have odd numbers while eastbound trains have the next higher even number. For north-south roads, odd numbers are southbound with northbound as even. Passenger trains typically have low numbers while freights are given higher numbers. Prototype schedules are in table format. Typically eastbound trains are listed in one table (usually read down the page for station sequence) while westbound trains are in another table (usually read up the page). If there are few trains on the schedule, it may be formatted as one table with the station names in the center, eastbound trains listed on the left side (read down), and westbound trains listed on the right side (read up). Special symbols, indicated on schedules as letter codes next to each station, explain other facilities available at that location. Common symbols include: A Arrive L Leave S Station Stop F Stop on Signal B or Q Telephone (or Radio) booth D or LS Operator on duty during daytime N or CS Operator on duty 24 hours C Coal O Fuel Oil W Water D Diesel Fuel The problem with the prototype schedule arrangement for model operations is that it is hard for model operators to quickly determine the locations of meets and with which trains. This might be the first time an operator is running that train. Real distance between stations is shorter, and traffic density is much higher than on real railroads - so the action happens much faster. The best solution is to make single-train schedules. These list the stops for that specific train, and indicate meets with other trains. An employee timetable will go into great detail concerning speed, track limitations, and equipment restrictions by train, route, service, weight, type of movement, specific locations, and equipment class. These vary from railroad to railroad, and division to division. For modelers, speed restrictions by train and route are most practical (and most likely to be followed for the operators). Simple restrictions like 45mph for freight, 65mph for passenger, 25mph within yard limits, 15mph on the Riceland branch, and "don't take engines out on the car float" will add operating interest and realism without being overly complex. Movements within yard limits may be made without timetable or train order authorization. Yard rules allow engineers to proceed when they see the track is clear, but not over 25mph, and not outside the yard limits. Movements within the yard are directed by the yardmaster. Right, Class and Direction Right, Class, and Direction are the three ways one train may be superior to another (on single track). Right is granted with a train order. Train order right always supersedes superiority by timetable. Class and Direction are listed on the schedule. A train is superior to trains of a lower class. Regular (scheduled) trains are superior to extras. For trains of the same class, direction will indicate which is superior. The superior direction will be listed in the timetable. The inferior train takes the siding at meets. If an inferior train is running late, it is responsible for making sure it is in the clear for superior trains. When a superior train is late, it "owns the road" up to the point where the schedule says it should be. In this way meeting points are adjusted when regular (scheduled) trains are late. Realistic Operation, Phase 4 Develop a sequence timetable from a train service plan. The plan begins with a vertical list of the sequence of towns along your route. Individual trains are added as adjoining columns, showing where they originate, terminate, turn, set out blocks of cars, or switch. Typically a line represents the run of a train, with symbols (such as a filled box for switching, or an empty box for block moves) on the train line indicating towns it works. The ends of the line indicate the start and end points of that train's run. This is similar to timetables, which are also based on a list of stations and towers. On timetables, trains are grouped by class across the top, and listed in order of their departure within each class grouping. A main difference is our initial train service plan isn't concerned with time-based scheduling, only what trains are running where. Appropriate passenger and fast freight service connects major cities. Blocks of cars are setout or picked up at mid-sized towns by through freights. Each town on the line needs to be served by one train that switches the local industries - either a way freight, turn or local. Applying these guidelines, create a basic train service plan for your railroad. The following suggested train categories and train number ranges may be used as a starting point for designing your initial train service plan. First Class Passenger Service, #1-20, combination of higher-speed "limited" service with few stops, and slower local service of every town. Second Class Fast Freight and Express, #21-48, these run nonstop except for crew changes. Steam era reefer express trains also had to periodically stop at icing platforms. Second Class Manifest or Through freights, #51-98, provide fast service between major yards. They drop off blocks of cars for locals to spot at industry sidings, and pickup blocks of cars headed in the direction of the through freight that locals have pulled from sidings. Sweeper trains may run daily each way on the line to ensure all blocks of freight are collected and moved in a timely manner. Customers usually want their cars delivered early in the morning and collected in the evening. Third Class Way freights (aka Peddlers), #101-148, perform local switching, usually between two local yards. It may also pickup and setout blocks of cars for locals, especially at towns with major railroad customers. A variation is the turn, which leaves a yard, runs to a specific town on its route, and then returns to its home yard. The turn switches the towns along its route in both directions. Other variations are a coal drag (which may be a slow version of a through train), or an interchange turn, which moves cuts of cars between a yard and a connection to another railroad. Third or Fourth Class Local freights, #151-198, perform local switching over smaller areas, usually concentrating on the needs of one or two major online customers. It also works blocks of cars left by other trains. Trains which move from one interchange to another is bridge traffic. The locomotive and caboose may be exchanged for home road equipment for this movement, or the foreign road equipment may stay on representing running under trackage rights or as pool service. This is a simple way to explain another railroad's equipment running on your layout. Now that you have a train service plan, write an instruction card for each train. This describes the "action", what that train does and where. This card lists each stop, and the type of work the train performs at each location. Then, pick which direction is superior on your railroad. Typically, it is selected so as to move priority traffic into a major commerce center the quickest. Finally, arrange the train instruction cards in the order in which the trains will be run. This arrangement is a sequence timetable. You are now ready to start an operating session. The first crew runs the first train. Each additional crew runs the next train instruction card in order. As a train completes its run, that crew then selects and runs the train on the next available instruction card. Meets are handled using the rules of class and direction. Inferior trains need to clear the way for superior trains. Your first operating sessions may be limited to only first and second class trains. As your operators gain experience, add the third and fourth class traffic. Your experiences will quickly show where the sequence of running the trains will need to be changed, or trains which simply "don't work" and have to be eliminated or modified. The whole idea of walk-around layout design and control is for the crew to stay with their train. Make sure your crews keep with their trains. Hidden Staging Staging provides a place for trains to originate or terminate off the modeled layout, it represents "the rest of the world". Staging may represent other divisions of the modeled railroad, or connecting railroads. You may have multiple staging yards. Staging provides a pool of complete trains, ready to run onto or across your layout. Generous staging should be designed into the layout from the start, as you'll always wish you had more or longer staging. You need at least one more staging track than the number of trains you plan to stage, and staging tracks should be longer than your longest train. Continuous staging is better than stub-end staging, since you don't have to turn trains (or the worst case, back them over the entire layout to their original staging location). Since staging tracks are frequently semi-hidden, or at least somewhat out-of-the-way, design them to operate as reliably as possible. This means use #6 or larger turnouts, avoid any reverse curves, and perhaps install a rerailer at the end of each track (I first saw this trick on the Virginian Ohio). Make sure you can easily see and reach staging tracks to rerail cars. Staging may be so busy it requires its own operator, usually called a staging dispatcher. Realistic Operation, Phase 5 Now that we have a sequence of trains running, let's give the local and way freights something to do. It's best to practice switching before trying to implement a full waybill or switchlist based car-forwarding system. You may even prefer one of these low-paperwork methods. Switching cars at industries simulates the movement of freight traffic. Train crews are kept busy if they are switching between 20-25 cars per hour. The two basic systems presented in this section do not have complex paperwork, and do not cause problems when cars are misrouted, switching isn't performed at a location, or paperwork misplaced. When operating, always ask about the railroad's policy before touching any cars or locomotives. This is especially true of engines and when derailments occur. And make sure you know the correct way to uncouple cars on that railroad. It usually works best to make the pickups before the setouts. And throw hand-throw switches gently. Some mainline and passing siding switches may be remote controlled by a tower or dispatcher. Check the route before throwing any switch to make sure you are throwing the correct one. And make sure all of the switches are set back to their correct position when you leave that town. Whit Tower's proposed the "thinking man's" car-forwarding system. This approach believes "it really doesn't matter where or how a particular car is spotted. " The train instruction card simply adds the quantity of cars to be switched at each town. The crew simply decides which cars they want to switch at what industry. The one rule with this method is to pick up one car for each one setout. The wheel report car-forwarding method uses one form. The first column of the form is the towns in sequence. There is an additional column for each car type on your railroad. You may use AAR car codes, or common descriptions like "boxcar", "hopper", "gondola", "tank car", and "flatcar". A final column is used to compute totals. The train number, and the version number (1, 2, 3, etc. ) of the wheel report form for that train, is written at the top of the form. Using the train instruction card you created for sequence scheduling, determine the towns this train switches. For each town, determine how many cars of which types you want to switch there. For instance, you may decide to switch two boxcars and one tank car at Camden. On the Camden line, you would place a "2" in the boxcar column, and a "1" in the tank car column. The last column, the totals column, would get a "3". When you have completed this for each town serviced by that train, compute the final total (add up the total column). This is the number of cars that will be placed in this train. The yardmaster uses the wheel report to put together a train. Any car in the yard may be used with the system, as long as it is the right type ("boxcar", "hopper", etc. ) as requested on the wheel report. Real railroads block trains to make switching easier. Blocking is simply grouping together cars with the same destination. The yardmaster groups together the cars for each town to be switched. The block of cars immediately behind the engine are for the first town, the second block is for the second town, and so on. Through cars may be added at the end if you want to lengthen the train. An engine and caboose are added, and the crew starts their run diy shed plans. The train instruction card describes their run. The wheel report tells them how many cars of what types are switched at each town. The actual switching performed at each town is at the pleasure of the train crew. Advanced operators will try difficult switching moves

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