“We did cheat just a smidge and remove the rocks from the EOT at Franklin Falls just to gain an inch of clearence.” This was Jon Radder’s statement in the report of “Train Ops 2012”.

I know when I operate on the IPP&WRR, I don’t always do things the way the Canadians do. A different track for the caboose track and stuff like that. People do the same on the KVRwy trackage. Is this wrong? Maybe, but what you design and how it is used , are different things. Practical use works out the bugs and gives you a chance to really see something from othere people’s eyes.

Just thoughts.

OK - I’ll bite.

The number one reason for these get-together operating sessions is to have fun with friends. If you get too bogged down in rules, then the fun goes away and it becomes a chore. We are making a game out of what some people do as work. Believe me, if the real crews could add a few feet of track, or take a shortcut to save miles of running, they would.

Regular club operations are probably a bit more serious; but still the point is to have fun. I’ve not experienced any of the big small scale operations, but I tend to think they probably have more rules and try and enforce them.

Part of the fun of having people over is to see how far OFF from how you envision something working, they get. Its the same running a tabletop game campaign. WWI German Field Marshal von Moltke said “No campaign plan survives first contact with the enemy”, and that holds true with a switching puzzle, or yard design. I’m sure I don’t switch out Big Rock over at Stan Ames’ place the way he intends (actually, I don’t think I’ve switched it the same way twice, its a nightmare of an area), but I get the job done.

I agree–seeing how others would solve various problems is much of the fun of an operating session. I tend to take the “no harm no foul” approach to switching cars, and have even been known to let gravity work for me from time to time. (Hey, the real guys do!) I have yet to host an operating session on my own railroad, largely because it doesn’t lend itself to multiple operators. But I’ll still throw a new wrinkle into the equation from time to time, or start from a different starting point or operating premise just to shake things up a bit. I’m currently working on a scheme that would allow two trains on the line at the same time, but I’ve not yet been successful.

Later,

K

On the CCRy there are just a couple of rules, 1) ‘White Dot’ on the turn out ground throws, and why is that you ask, if you don’t do that you will get yelled out! Also you will cause a derailment! 2) If there are 2 (or more) refers at ‘Big Foot’ you need to return them all to the ice house “Ice Station Zebra”. 3) Don’t park your train on the main line a walk off with the controler!

Paul

and P.S. No cherry picking way bills. If the are not run in order the cars get all out of Balance.

E. Paul Austin said:
No cherry picking way bills. If the are not run in order the cars get all out of Balance.

Hum.. More than once I've seen some operators hang out in the shed waiting for their favorite waybill to show up... :P

You are allowed to take the next waybill if you’ve done the one up already that session. Happens more often than you would imagine.
What’s that saying on White Dots?
Dammit, Austin, WHITE DOT…to which you can see him turning his hearing aid down.
I wonder why we have a rule about leaving the transmitter with your train when you park it and wander off?

Hold at the tree…under the light…obtain clearance from the MH operator to proceed.

Uphills have the right of way.

Kevin Strong is allowed to pick up one end of the car for uncoupling (and coupling) since all he seems to know is Kadees. We make allowances.

TOC

E. Paul Austin said:
On the CCRy there are just a couple of rules, 1) 'White Dot' on the turn out ground throws, and why is that you ask, if you don't do that you will get yelled out! Also you will cause a derailment! 2) If there are 2 (or more) refers at 'Big Foot' you need to return them all to the ice house "Ice Station Zebra". 3) Don't park your train on the main line a walk off with the controler!

Paul

and P.S. No cherry picking way bills. If the are not run in order the cars get all out of Balance.

I haven’t switched out Balance yet, on TOC’s RR. Where is that?

Some people are better at solving switching puzzles in their heads than others, and can visualize 4 or 5 moves ahead. I operated with a chap a month or so ago that pulled everything and added it to his train. He then dropped all the right cars back in the proper spurs and rolled away with all the proper cars in his train. This guy has been operating in the Lilliputian scales for years.

That’s not me. I can drop and pick-up up from the same spur, but anything more than that and I forget which cars belong in my train and where the rest are supposed to be. It takes me a longer, but I’m retired and this is a hobby to be enjoyed, what’s the hurry?

This morning I had a train that ran the full length of the railway and switched most locations. Our programmers have added facing point moves at most locations, so each one was a bit of challenge. My last assignment was at Bell: 5 sets outs and 5 pick-ups. No two cars were grouped, and most were buried in strings on separate tracks. Just to add a little stress, everyone else had finished and was looking forward to grilled hotdogs. But on the IPP&W, nobody eats until ALL the cars are put away.

I had a lot of hungry visitors encouraging me to just quit right there. But we have had two rainouts in the last month, and we were lucky the rain stopped in time this morning to get this one in. Besides this is October and the mornings will soon be too frosty to comfortably operate. So I turned a deaf ear and went about enjoying what might be the last standard gauge operation of the year. Lunch went ahead without me, but there were still two dogs when I was done.

Our club members look forward to our weekly railway operations. On some of the holiday weekends the crowd is a little thinner, but when a “run-what-you-brung-day” is suggested it is quickly dismissed by everyone present. Better to run one man crews with no dispatcher and yardmasters, than run in circles.

Lifting on end of a car to switch? Guilty as charged! I have my throttle set for a reverse delay of 2.5 seconds. While I usually set out with an uncoupling tool, it gets forgotten somewhere along with my bottle of water. If it wasn’t for gondolas and hoppers, I probably wouldn’t finish with my radio either. Dang ol’timers!

http://www.tomrush.com./video_remember.html

Good for you, Paul. You can eat anytime and then complain about your weight or that you ate too much. In the Fall air, enjoying the moment of Operations is something to savior. Its how I feel at every Invasion, there is only so much time.

Each time I have a visitor, the op session results in a new trick to make things simpler… This can be an operating method or a new and better way of explaining things, or godonlyknowswhatelse might come from the interaction.

For the brass hat, that guy who’s winking at you, it’s usually some kind of wake up call. The happy result: improvement of some kind, all 'round!