When we have the Timesaver set up at train shows like the ECLSTS, we use Dice to decide what cars will be chosen in our local and switched at “J Allen”. Cars only go to certain locations and like cars are exchanged for like cars. That is a box car for a box car and a coal hopper for a coal hopper, each at its own designated spot. I use an Aristo Craft Crossing Shanty as our Dice Cup. The Aristo Craft small buildings are used as Flag Stops through out the KVRwy. I carefully pried the top off the building and added a floor to make the cup. Hopefully with these pictures, I can explain how we “roll the bones”. First, we decided how many cars will be in our train. In this case it is 3.
The 3 dice go in the Flag Stop cup, give it a shake and produce your manifest.
Each type of car is assigned a number, 1 through 6. So our manifest is going to be a flat car, a reefer and a box car. With this we make up our train from the cars in the “Inglenook Yard”. We head for the “Timesaver” to deliver our cars, with each type of car having an assigned location. If you do not have a car of the proper type in the Inglenook yard. Say a flat car. You still bring a flat car back on your return trip. A legend is kept on the bottom of the building for easy reference.
1’s used to be box cars, but long ago I was reminded that 6’s are “box cars”, so that adjustment was made. That was suggest by a guy named Miller back on January 19, 2003 and is still called the “Miller Mod”. And the fun continues. PICTURES RESTORED - Ric 2/14/12 (if you ever notice my pictures missing, please let me know. Sometimes I have them.)
There are people we shouldn’t tell that we plan to be rolling some dice.
