Large Scale Central

Operations on the Candlewood Valley Scenic Railway

The C.V.S.Ry. is a point-to-point railroad. It is unusual in that there are no run-around facilities anywhere on the railroad. There are facilities to turn an entire train at both the Eastern and Western terminus. This configuration makes for interesting operations since the train must be turned to access facing point industries.

There are two “divisions” – Indoor and Outdoor. Indoor Division operations can be run independently, however, Outdoor Division operations always include the Indoor Division as both the Origination and Termination points.

Here is a current schematic of the Indoor Division. Built in and around a balloon track, Railroad East is to the left. Railroad West follows the top of the balloon track past HONY, NOOK, WILO and MEAD in that order. Because it is a circular track, RR WEST becomes RR East at TYRE.

The center tack at WILO is Arrivals and Departures for the Willow Hill Freight Station which is serviced one car at a time through and R1 switch by a dedicated switch engine; CVSRy Porter #3. All switches within the Kistler and Tyrone yards are also R1 which limits the equipment that can be placed on any track other than the lead. Mainline switches on the Indoor Division are “Wide” radius.

The Outdoor Division schematic features a prominent Wye track with one industry at the end of one tail and two others of off Indian Hill Junction. Car capacity was recently increased with the addition of the House Lead and House Tracks One and Two.

To accommodate switching at Northville, the C.V.S.Ry. Rules allow up to two cars behind the caboose while shoving to Northville from Deep Cut.

Train Orders are created using the Operations module of JMRI Panel Pro software. Since cars are never left outdoors, the first order of business for an operating session is to run the Set-Out job. This train is purely a utilitarian operation so, in the interest of speed, cars are shoved up the hill into all three facing point spurs. In order to determine what cars need to go where, a Car Roster sorted by Location is printed from JMRI:

The locations of Interest are Indian Hill Junction and Northville. Cars that belong in these locations are gathered from indoor staging and blocked by industry. The set-out job then shoves these cars up the grade to their correct locations. The grade limits the number of cars that can be handled to about 6, so today’s set out job will require two trains.

Set-Out job 1 will take the cars for the Engine House lead and house tracks. Shay #5 proved to be a good engine choice as it has the power to shove 6 cars up the 6% grade without breaking a sweat!

Here is Set-Out Job 1 shoving across Meadow Gap Bridge just after pulling a cut of cars from Willow Hill on the right…

Sven keeps a watchful eye out as the cut moves past Tyrone Yard and across East Es-cap’e Bridge to the Outdoor Division…

Honey Grove is in the background as #5 shoves the cut past Tyrone Yard…

The cut arrives on the Engine House lead. #5 will spot the cars as dictated by the JMRI Car Roster report…

Meanwhile, M-11 pulls another cut of cars from staging at Willow Hill…

Sven is a busy employee, having hiked back to Wall station to watch the front as M-11 shoves through Coal Dump Curve…

M-11 spotting cars at Walk Landing Trans Load as #5 waits for the main in the background…

Sven calls the spot at the Trans-Load docks. The rest of the cut will be spotted on the lead clear of the diamond…

Shay #5 drops it’s last car then takes the main to return home as M-11 shoves the Last Car to Northville…

Having spotted Boxcar 38830 at Northville foods, M-11 heads for home…

That completes the Set-Out jobs. We now go back to JMRI and build the train EBX – Eastbound Extra that runs from Tyrone to Kistler via Deep Cut and services all locations on the railroad.

Here is a sneak peek at the manifest. I’ll continue with a step-by-step description of how I work the manifest in the next installment.

Stay tuned. There is lots more action and pictures to come!

Sven is one bizzy fellow!
It looks like he has the strength of a strong man, to set those orange handle hold backs!:slight_smile:
Looks great Jon!
Sean

Looks good, Jon…

Thanks. I have 30 more pictures to post detailing just the operation of EBX. Once that is all posted I’ll run and photograph a WBX run. It doesn’t look like much, but between set-outs, running a manifest train and then sweep I can spend 3 or 4 hours. Stop to take pictures at every step and it turns into 5!

Nice Jon. Layout looks great.

Sven also looks like he had to dodge lizards from the land of the lost

Let’s run a train!

I’ve printed the Train Manifest from JMRI for the east Bound Extra. The top of page One is below…

(http://lsc.cvsry.com/post4/CVSRy_Manifest_EBX_Pg_1A.JPG)

I have JMRI set up to ignore Locomotives and Cabeese allowing the operator to chose from any in-service units. For train EBX I chose Shay #5 and Long Caboose #10. Step one is to make up the train in the Tyrone Yard. #5 can just barely get a 2-bay hopper out of Tyrone Track 4 due to an R1 switch, but it did it. Here’s train EBX ready to depart…

(http://lsc.cvsry.com/post4/Operations_July14-11.JPG)

The first notation on the manifest for any work is an order that "All mixed trains STOP at WALL Passenger Shelter. Since any train on the CVSRy with a caboose is potentially a mixed train with paying passengers, we are compelled to stop, but only the station mascot is on the platform…

(http://lsc.cvsry.com/post4/Operations_July14-12.JPG)

As ordered, EBX passes Indian Hill Junction without stopping…

(http://lsc.cvsry.com/post4/Operations_July14-13.JPG)

And passes Pine Summit and enters Deep Cut…

(http://lsc.cvsry.com/post4/Operations_July14-14.JPG)

At the end of Deep Cut is an abandon and partially collapsed tunnel. The first 100 feet or so can be operated to allow up to 8 cars to get past the Wye Switch at Pine Summit…

(http://lsc.cvsry.com/post4/Operations_July14-15.JPG)

Here our train reverses and shoves North up the East Leg of the Wye…

(http://lsc.cvsry.com/post4/Operations_July14-16.JPG)

Our train passes through through Walk Landing Trans-Load Facility on a diamond as it approaches Walk Crossing…

(http://lsc.cvsry.com/post4/Operations_July14-17.JPG)

Our orders state we must STOP and PROTECT the crossing at WALK. Our friend Sven is already on the job and waves us through…

(http://lsc.cvsry.com/post4/Operations_July14-18.JPG)

We finally reach Northville and have orders to pick up boxcar 38830 from Northville Foods. Our operating rules allow up to two cars behind the caboose when working Northville. This eliminates the need to backtrack to Pine Summit to pick up our caboose. Without this rule we would need to traverse the East Leg three times in order to make this pick-up. Fortunately railroad management values time more than crew, so we can finish here quickly!

(http://lsc.cvsry.com/post4/Operations_July14-19.JPG)

A quick brake test and we’re off taking the Northville Spur back to Indian Hill Junction…

Once the entire train is on the main clear of the switch we can reverse and do our work at Indian Hill Junction. An operational note: All three of the Wye switches are spring switches set for this route. They generally don’t need to be touched. EBX back on the main…

Now it’s time to get to work. Here’s a look at the Manifest again, this time the bottom of page one…

(http://lsc.cvsry.com/post4/CVSRy_Manifest_EBX_Pg_1B.JPG)

First, we shove our boxcar from Northville Foods into the Engine House Lead, then drop our caboose on the main while we do our work. Yes, CVSRy rules also allow fouling the main since we rarely run more than one train at a time. With those moves done, we shove the entire train up the Engine House Lead to go grab our pick-ups…

(http://lsc.cvsry.com/post4/Operations_July14-22.JPG)

First we grab hopper #892, already on the lead, then shove up the 6% and pull hopper #889 from Track Two…

(http://lsc.cvsry.com/post4/Operations_July14-23.JPG)

Our pick-ups done, we drag the whole train back to the main…

(http://lsc.cvsry.com/post4/Operations_July14-24.JPG)

This shot shows the difference between the main at 2-3% and the industrial spur at 6%…

(http://lsc.cvsry.com/post4/Operations_July14-25.JPG)

Next we shove our entire train East, clear of the switch, cut away our set-out hopper #226 and head up the lead with it…

(http://lsc.cvsry.com/post4/Operations_July14-26.JPG)

Loaded hopper 226 is spotted on track two as ordered…

(http://lsc.cvsry.com/post4/Operations_July14-27.JPG)

With our work done at the Engine House our next order is to set-out flat car #18 at the Walk Landing Trans Load facility. Flat 18 is cut away from the train as we drift down-grade to the next switch…

(http://lsc.cvsry.com/post4/Operations_July14-28.JPG)

And finally #5 shoves flat 18 into the standing cut already at the facility finishing our work on the Outdoor Division…

(http://lsc.cvsry.com/post4/Operations_July14-29.JPG)

Note the use of Harbor Freight picks as brakes. These are needed to hold cars most everywhere as the entire outdoor railroad is on a grade…

(http://lsc.cvsry.com/post4/Operations_July14-30.JPG)

Back on the main #5 connects to the train and the crew performs a brake test preparing to head down the long grade to the Indoor Division…

(http://lsc.cvsry.com/post4/Operations_July14-31.JPG)

At this point I’m going to break this post into two parts so I don’t loose all the editing done so far! Stay tuned.

David Russell said:

Sven also looks like he had to dodge lizards from the land of the lost

Yes, this is his retirement job!

In our last installment we had just finished our work on the Outdoor Division,. Well, not quite. Where’s that manifest again?

(http://lsc.cvsry.com/post4/CVSRy_Manifest_EBX_Pg_1B.JPG)

There it is. Yup, one more order STOP at WALL again. Here’s a nice shot of #5 rounding Coal Dump Curve approaching the WALL Passenger Shelter…(http://lsc.cvsry.com/post4/Operations_July14-32.JPG)

Still nobody on the platform other than our mascot. Time to head home…

(http://lsc.cvsry.com/post4/Operations_July14-33.JPG)

This last section of the CVSRy Outdoor Div. is not very “Scenic”. This might be a trestle someday…

(http://lsc.cvsry.com/post4/Operations_July14-34.JPG)

We stop as ordered at West Es-cap’e before crossing the East Es-cap’e lift bridge. This gives operators a chance to move inside, check that the bridge is down and all the balloon track switches are properly aligned. Once the all clear is given, our train proceeds to it’s next stop; the Honey Grove Passenger Station…

(http://lsc.cvsry.com/post4/Operations_July14-35.JPG)

There’s a lot more activity here then at Wall Township, but some of these guys look a little stiff! Our train continues West around the balloon track. If we had work at the Nook Trans-Load facility it would be done now, but we don’t, so we continue West until we get back to the East Es-cap’e bridge. West becomes East again at TYRE, so when we reverse we are now shoving West around the loop again so we can work Willow Hiill…

(http://lsc.cvsry.com/post4/Operations_July14-36.JPG)

Time to look at Page Two of our manifest…

(http://lsc.cvsry.com/post4/CVSRy_Manifest_EBX_Pg_2A.JPG)

It looks like we have work to do in Willow Hill. There was no flag at the passenger station so we drop most of our train on the WILO Arrival/Departure track and then deliver boxcar 8281 to Golding Square Box…

(http://lsc.cvsry.com/post4/Operations_July14-37.JPG)

We connect back to our train on andd head East (forward again) to Kistler…

(http://lsc.cvsry.com/post4/Operations_July14-38.JPG)

Train EBX has arrived at it’s terminus point, Kistler Yard where we drop our remaining cars. The caboose was previously spotted on another track…

(http://lsc.cvsry.com/post4/Operations_July14-39.JPG)

And finally, we put away Shay #5 and head for the speak easy in the back of Dave’s Big Indian cigar store…

(http://lsc.cvsry.com/post4/Operations_July14-40.JPG)

That’s just one train!! Next weekend I’ll run a Westbound. If it generates some good action I’ll take more photos and add to this thread.

Thanks for looking in.

Looks like your getting the hang of that JMRI stuff and generating enough action to keep you busy.

On my Desktop I have it labeled as “TrainOpsII”…:wink:

I’ve also changed the font size to a smaller type in order to try and get it to print everything on one page and still have it readable. The set outs and pick ups are printed in different colors to make them more distinguishable, too. Pick ups in Red and set outs in Blue. For me it’s less confusing that way.

It’s getting there Ken. It would be better (more action) if I could run longer trains. Right now my mainline grade and the capacity of the wye tails are limiting train length. When looking at build reports, cars that sit still usually do so because the train is already at capacity. I should try running a second section of the same train before terminating the first and see what that moves!

I also need to look if I can determine capacity by train. The Shay is shorter (no trail car) and more powerful than the 45 Ton diesel, so it could handle up to the wye capacity.

I have enough trouble reading the default size fonts! to save paper I flip old manifests over and print new ones on the other side. My color printers have all gone to printer heaven.

Try labeling your first train EB01 and the second EBX. See what that gives ya. Try that with the West Bound train, too.

My grades limit the train length, too. It can handle 6 cars at a time, but that gives me plenty of work to do. And what industries it misses the first time it will get to on the next train, either EB or WB.

Jon,

This is fantastic! Great pics, great story line! Its fun to reflect how far your railroad has come since the speculation of the tree surviving the creation of “Big Cut”. Was that 2003? Look forward to seeing it some day. Maybe this August, if the stars can be aligned?

Thanks Ric

This picture was 2004…

(http://photo.cvsry.com/deep1-640.jpg)

I don’t remember if that was the first or second summer for the cut.

At that point the outdoor railroad only consisted of the main. No sidings, no wye, no tunnel. We just ran trains out to the end of the cut then reversed home.

I’ll see what I can do about aligning those stars! We are about 2:45 from the campground near Bob’s. About :20 North of I-84 at Danbury, CT. On your way home, more or less!

We plan to try to always make it more, than less. This has been a great week with Friends.

Talked to Grant last night after getting back from Shawn’s. There was a trip to Steam Town and I think he ran John out of Steam. :wink:

Ken made it home and has a SEA STORY TO TELL.

My souvenir from Doug’s was really beginning to act up by the time I left Shawn’s. Never got the Shay out of its box. Some times there just isn’t enough time in the day.

I know Shawn took pictures and some one was taking them at Finger Lakes on Monday. One of these days we are going to have to slow down. Maybe just a little.

Great looking layout Jon! Thanks for the ride.

What is the software that you use for ops?

Terry

http://jmri.sourceforge.net/

If you’re interested in the software you might want to take a look at this thread. It was set up for conversion from TrainOps to JMRI, but contains some useful tips if you’re just getting started.

Thanks Terry.

It is the Operations module of JMRI Panel Pro which is a full featured DCC program and is free.

I did end up running that Westbound a few days later, but didn’t take any pictures. I’ll see what I can do this weekend!

The weather was so beautiful this evening I just had to run a train! I didn’t get started until 7PM so pictures are not the best, but I’ll post what I can of the Westbound Extra.

As usual, the first step is to print a Car Roster by Location for the Set-Out train…

(http://lsc.cvsry.com/post4/CVSRy_Car_Locations7-25.jpg)

Again, we are interested only in the outdoor locations of Indian Hill Junction and Northville. I used two locomotives for the 9 car set-out train in push-pull configuration. Unfortunately I didn’t think to get any pictures of the set-out train.

Once set-out is complete it’s time to build the train. Let’s take a look at the top of the manifest for Westbound Extra 1…

(http://lsc.cvsry.com/post4/CVSRy_Manifest_WBX_Pg_1A.JPG)

The staff photographer screwed up the pictures of work at Kistler and Nook. Notable here is the Eastbound shoving move to access the siding at Nook. So let’s move on to the bottom of the manifest where there is yet another stop at West Escap’e to reverse and shove toward our next location…

(http://lsc.cvsry.com/post4/CVSRy_Manifest_WBX_Pg_1B.JPG)

The conductor was a bit confused at WILO. At first he tried to tuck his caboose and cars for stops further down the line into the WILO Arrival./Departure track. Unfortunately he failed to pay attention to the siding capacity and wasted a bit of time here. After pulling the entire train back to the main, we picked up a couple of boxcars and dropped off a flatcar at Golding Square Box…

(http://lsc.cvsry.com/post4/Operations_July25-01.JPG)

After leaving Willow Hill there is a mandatory passenger stop at Honey Grove…

(http://lsc.cvsry.com/post4/Operations_July25-02.JPG)

The Westbound Extra makes two stops at Tyrone. Once outbound and once inbound as the termination point. On the way out we drop a boxcar and pick up a hopper at Tyrone. The crew then decides to do a little blocking before heading up the hill…

(http://lsc.cvsry.com/post4/Operations_July25-03.JPG)

On the way up the hill, there is another mandatory passenger stop at Wall Township. Still no passengers at WALL even though a town has sprung up since the last train went by…

(http://lsc.cvsry.com/post4/Operations_July25-04.JPG)

Let’s take a look at page two of the manifest…

(http://lsc.cvsry.com/post4/CVSRy_Manifest_WBX_Pg_2A.JPG)

This time we have both a pick-up and a set-out at Northville, so we will have to make two shoving moves down the wye leg. First we drop the caboose on the main, then shove North for our pick-up. After bringing the pick-up car back to Deep Cut, we’ll drop it on the main in front of the caboose. Next our set-out car is cut onto the wye leg and we go back for the pick-up car and caboose. At this point we take advantage of the rules allowing shoving a car behind the caboose to save one more trip up and down the wye leg…

(http://lsc.cvsry.com/post4/Operations_July25-05.JPG)

And finally, we spot our car at Northville Foods. The light was getting dim so I’m a little shaky with the long exposure…

(http://lsc.cvsry.com/post4/Operations_July25-06.JPG)

Unfortunately, due to the fading light, pictures of the work at Indian Hill Junction didn’t turn out well at all. Interesting to note is that unlike most of my other sidings that require use of the main to drill cars, The House Lead and tracks are long enough that most switching can be done off the main. Once work was complete I did manage a flash photo of the assembled train ready to head West…

(http://lsc.cvsry.com/post4/Operations_July25-07.JPG)

Time to look at the final section of the manifest…

(http://lsc.cvsry.com/post4/CVSRy_Manifest_WBX_Pg_2B.JPG)

So once again we stop at WALL and once again there are no passengers on the platform. Maybe we should petition to reduce WALL to a flag stop…

(http://lsc.cvsry.com/post4/Operations_July25-08.JPG)

Back inside we work Nook Transload once agian, dropping a box car, then proceed to Kistler where we drop our remaining cars and terminate our train…

(http://lsc.cvsry.com/post4/Operations_July25-09.JPG)

It was completely dark by the time I ran the sweep train which was the longest one yet at 10 cars!