As construction continues on the WV&K Cassville Yard facilities continue, the prospect of operation and a valid and satisfying operating system looms. This weekend should see construction begin on the third 4x8 section which will support Engine service facilities (coal,water, sand) and a depot for mainline and branchline trains. Beggining operations I suspect will begin with the servicing of a single mixed train into the yard. (A mixed train is a combination freight and passenger job and as such will always have a passenger car in the consist).
Maximum train length is going to be determined by the staging yard capacity, which at 12 feet is about 5 freightcars plus the combine. Cars in the mixed train will be of three types:(1) Local Delivery (2) Destined for Branchline (3) “Deadheads” (cars that have no destination on the layout, they come from and return to staging)
Now for the decision making process. How do we determine the number and type of cars coming onto the layout?
I’m thinking a die roll…but how to distribute the randomness? I submit that the following items must be addressed with some deree of randomness.
(1) Train length- while there is a decided maximum I do beleive there should be a randomly selected minimum, lets face it a lcomotive adn passenger car only rolling into the yard IS a legitimate possibility, and turning a locomotive alone is operating goal, but its frankly a bit boring.
(2) Type of car- Self explanatory I think…
(3) Car destination- How do we decide where each car is going? Is it a local, Branch or deadhead car? And just which local or branchline destination is it consigned to? Just cause there isn’t an on the layout destination for a reefer doesn’t mean that one couldn’t have been picked up by one along the mixed train’s run. This would allow one to have cars in the inventory that really don’t do anything but get in the way for switching purposes.
(4) Outbound-there is the whole question of how do we select the outbound cars? Do we just assume that anycar thats already at a destination needs to go somewhere else? And how do we decide what cars were already ‘on station’ prior to the beginning of the operation?
I think these four topics are the essential things that need to be answered by an operating system, train crews really don’t care whats in a car, just where its going. Since most operators will already establish a timetable with certain trains called for a certain time this simple fleshing out of the consist is really all one needs for simple yet satisfying operations. Perhaps you want to have a full coal drag Ok…thats a string of hopper…have a radomizer to come up withhow many…how bout more than one mixed/freight consist? Well then you go through the motions of randomizing that consist too. For that matter have your dispatcher roll a die to see if any extra trains need to be called for the day. Once we determine a fast and easy method of doing this for both small and large layouts, I think we’ll have hit the jackpot!