Hi Folks: Im hopefully getting to the point where most or all of the track bugs are out of my layout, so I can actually run trains on the lower mainline (upper yet to be built) so I have been a busy beaver writing my car card and waybill database. I enjoy writing databases, and did this one in access, so it does things the way I want it to, it uses the operations sig industry list, and a bunch of my own forms and queries and such, so that I can generate car cards and way bills and such. Now comes the problem... I have been trying to figure this out for the 6 months since I started model railroading. and Im finally breaking down and just saying HELP. I have car cards for each car, I have waybills directing loads to different locations on and off the layout. im just not sure how to make it all work together, to flow and make operating fun and doable without getting buried in a mountain of paper. I have a list of trains that run each day, some of them are interchange turns, but how do I know what cars to put on that interchange turn. Once a car gets onto the layout with a waybill taking a load to a business on my layout, I can do that pretty easily, likewise, I can figure out, I think how to get a loaded car to its proper interchange, but I'm pretty spotty on the rest of it. When is start the first session, Im gonna have an empty layout with a couple of businesses (a coal mine, a frack sand quarry, a factory and a station at least). I can figure that I need to bring in an empty string of coal porters to the marshalling yard, and them move them as capacity demands to the mine and back to make up the next outbound coal train headed for the power plant. The frack pit is fairly small and lower production, so there will be a few covered hoppers at a time delivered to it. how do I know what cars to put in for the factory, how do I bring in a car for the various REA stops along the line etc? I know someone is going to tell me "go do more research" but I;ve done 6 months of research and reading and I still cant figure it out, and its threatening to derail my project a bit -- could really use some help here Thanks TIM San Luis and Rio Grande
Hi Tim, I kind of have a simple system to determine what goes on the layout. I have 2 railroads that bring traffic into the Port I model. BNSF that comes into the east side of the port and SKOL that comes into the west side. I model the Tulsa Port of Catoosa. It is the farthest inland point on the McCelland/Kerr Navigation system. Here barges will be transloaded with cargoes to go down to the gulf and beyond. There are also a number of companies that do trucking of materials out of the port area. I have 9 industries on my layout. They utilize flats, Gons, Lumber, covered hoppers, tanks and box cars. I did a bit of observation on what each road was mainly bringing into the port. Once I decided just how many cars we could switch in a reasonable session, I needed a way to randomly select what traffic would be handled during an operations session. I decided to use home-made dice. Instead of having numbers, the sides were noted as to car type. I have 2 sets of these, weighted as to the types of traffic each line generates. BNSF brings in coil cars, tanks, box cars and gondolas for the most part. SKOL brings in grain hoppers, tanks, box, lumber and such. I am working with around 9 to 10 cars per road per session, occasionally more depending on what traffic I want. I do some blocks of cars directed strictly at a transloading dock on the barge channel. So that number could swell to 25 per session. I will roll the dice to determine what is coming on the layout. The way I started operations was to roll the dice and pre-loaded the industries with cars. Then I rolled again to determine what was to be switched in and out during the session. If I end up with cars that cannot be spotted during a session, they go to a predetermined area to hold to the next session, they have priority over newly arrived cars. As I model an industrial area, all cars are switched out of the layout during a session, regardless if they are replaced or not. Port customers do not want to pay demurrage on idle cars. They are returned to the wide world. I got lucky on the SKOL traffic because Watco published a rates list from different towns it serves in Kansas and other locations, that gives me inbound grain starting and returning points. We start our sessions as though the BNSF has already done their turn into the port and switch them first, the mid-session, SKOL comes in and does it’s turn. I try to shoot for a 2 and a half to 3 hour session. I hope this helps you some with your operations. I am now working on keeping 2 engineers busy with duties during a session. Also, a friend noted that I could always as the owner, add or subtract traffic as needed to make a session work. If you are interested further, PM me and I can send you an overview I developed for the layout. We are in a 11.5 wide by 12.5 foot deep room. Good luck! Dale
If you can handle taking the chance and receiving the advice take a guess and have a session with multiple operators. You may end up with friends of friends showing up that have some knowledge they can share. You know how we love to offer advice. Trash in trash out if you don't like my suggestion.
Well, we can't tell you. Ask yourself, 'Where does this industry ship to?' Suppose you have two factories. Give them a story. This factory, for example, makes subassemblies for the company's other factory. All their product goes to one place. It might travel on one road all the way, or it might get interchanged. But all the cars it sends out will go the same direction. That factory, meanwhile, makes finished products for retail. There are customers for them nationwide. That factory will send cars in every direction. Making things more difficu--er, I mean fun, the factory that makes subassemblies could get raw materials in the same boxcars. They could get raw materials via the road they're on, and ship the subassemblies out via interchange. There comes a time when knowledge has made its contribution and only imagination can do the rest. So relax! Make it fun.
Thanks, thats good advice. I have an extensive Excel Workbook made up for what each industry ships and receives, so I know what comes in and goes out. I guess my question was more about making up the trains coming in from the interchnge. Lets say for example I have a BNSF interchange coming from Gallup. I could choose any of a couple dozen cars to put on that particular train, each with places on the layout to be going (or passing through as bridge traffic), so I guess my question is how do I know WHICH cars to put in that particular train Thanks TIM
The ones with specific destinations must be of a specific type. You won't spot coal hoppers at a warehouse. As for interchange traffic, to some degree you can reason that out. Cars going southeast from Gallup? There will be empty potash covered hoppers. Cars coming from California? There will be reefers and containers full of imports. Beyond that, I suggest borrowing dalebaker's dice.
Cool, thanks for the info, I am indeed planning to find some dice, they will also be used to introduce some randomness into a pile of events that can take place across the system. TIM
Dale, I like your dice method of setting up rail traffic, it is simple enough for me to understand and gives the layout a lot of variables to make it fun. My laptop has a Excel spreadsheet with some information about the industries on my layout and have put together a list of known rail traffic. The dice method would enhance the quality and quantity of traffic. Thank you for letting us know about your experience. Joe
