Why do you who operate you railroad like a transportation system enjoy it so much? Why do you prefer it to watching your locomotive chase its’ caboose? Why do you invite folks over to tiptoe through your tulips to run boxcars back and forth? What is the fascination?
What is your considered opinion?
About a decade ago our club almost folded because people got tired of running their trains around in circles, week after week, month after month, year after year. People drifted away and Fred got so discouraged he threatened to tear up the railway.
Our first operation was a disaster because the chap who ran it used car cars and fast clocks like they do in the Lilliputian scales. A number of us had never operated before. We were unfamiliar with switching, confused by car cars, and frustrated with the fast clocks. That was not fun.
Later we tried again with photocopied maps of the railway. The points along the line were indentified with a specific colour using coloured dots from the dollar store. Cars were randomly spread out over the railway with assorted coloured dots on them. You could start at any place on the railway. Simply make up a train of cars with an assortment of coloured dots and start rolling. When you reached a switching point, you dropped off a car with a matching coloured dot, and picked up another. There were no time clocks, so you could take your time figuring out your switching assignments. Everyone one enjoyed themselves, and looked forward to the next operation.
Over the years our railway operations have become more sophisticated, but easier and more fun. Computer generated switch lists have now replaced the photocopied maps and coloured dots. The only colour coding required is on the car trays. The computer knows where every car ended up, and we know where to put them back the next week by the colour on the tray.
What makes it more fun than round and round? Each operation is different from the last. When you get bored running a particular train, pick one of the other seven.
We now have so many people we use two man crews. The engineer drives the locomotive, and the brakeman throws the switches and requests clearance to the next point from the dispatcher by two-way radio. Between them both they figure out the best way to switch each point. Each week the personnel on the crews can change, so you get meet and work with everyone in the group by the end of the season.
If you get tired of running trains, there are also assignments for yard masters, yard master assistants, and the omnipotent dispatcher.
In years gone by people would run their assignments and go home. Then one day someone brought hot dogs to grill. People stayed to eat, have a beverage, and socialize in the Crew Lounge. Our lunch of hot dogs or hamburgers and a beverage is now as much a part of our operations as running trains.
Thanks for the reply, Paul. You explained some of the how, but only a tiny bit of the why, It is the why that I am interested in.
Why do we do this. What is the fascination?
The ‘why’ for me is that watching trains go around again and again and again and again is BORING.
Bob McCown said:But is that enough reason to put up with the frustration of trying to switch out the Miracle Chair Factory? :P
The 'why' for me is that watching trains go around again and again and again and again is *BORING*.
Steve… It’s not a frustration, it’s a fun way to work a railroad… Operations to me is kind of like any stradegy game…
There’s a starting point (Freight yard), where you assemble your train, then you manage it over the rails(run the mainline) to a destination that requires you to disassemble part of your train, and place an object at a location(Local Switching)… Usually, you also retrieve an object and include that back into your train… Then you move(run the mainline) on to the next destination(Local Switching Move), and so forth and so forth, until you get to the end of the line… Once you get to the finish line, you disassemble your train again, and get it ready for the next level…
Usually, this is done with a group of people, and a dispatcher during large operating sessions… clearance must be authorized to move your train… you will have to hold for oncoming trains, trains doing local switching, or higher priority trains…
Working the railroad by oneself can also be very rewarding, given the fact that you have successfully completed the game/operation…
Operations are fun… However, I will admit, at times I also just like to watch a train run…
Exactly, there’s no frustration involved. Its more like a “Why the *&$# did it take Bruce and I an hour and a half to switch out FIVE cars at Majestic?” Like Andy says, its a puzzle to figure out. Its a big game, outdoors, with your friends, with food and drink. And generally nobody gets tackled.
Bob McCown said:well, nobody gets tackled, unless Rooster is around... :)
Exactly, there's no frustration involved. Its more like a "Why the *&$# did it take Bruce and I an hour and a half to switch out FIVE cars at Majestic?" Like Andy says, its a puzzle to figure out. Its a big game, outdoors, with your friends, with food and drink. And generally nobody gets tackled.
To me, it gives the railroad a purpose. Sure, it’s only in my mind that I’m delivering goods to Matheson Textiles, or picking up some from Buchanan Tool & Die, but I like the sense of purpose of the whole thing.
It makes my railroad come alive.
It’s also very social. I like having a two-person crew so we can both discuss just how the heck are we supposed to get that boxcar where the gondola is currently. I like planning a meet with the train running in the opposite direction; having to clear the main so the priority train can get through.
It also helps me improve the track work. It’s easy to get the train to stay on the rails going round and round, but switching a siding will sure show you all the places a car can derail.
The “why” can’t be explained any more than “why” we like steam vs. diesel vs. narrow gauge vs. whatever. It’s just “there.” For whatever reason, operations strike a chord with certain individuals. For me, it’s just something I’ve always done, from my earliest memories of Lionel trains spread all over the basement floor. I’ve always enjoyed switching cars in and out of sidings. Within a few years of driving the golden spike on my dad’s outdoor railroad, I had R/C’d the front coupler on an LGB switcher so I could make up trains in the yard. My HO railroad was decidedly operations-oriented as well. “Roundy-round” railroads never really appealed to me.
Having said that, there are also a good number of days when I want nothing more than to lay out on the back patio with a cold beverage du jour, and just listen to the train as it winds its way around the garden–the sound increasing in volume as the train nears the chaise; the sound of the metal wheels click-clacking over the rails as it goes by; then the quiet that returns after the train passes. But even after an hour of that (usually once the cold beverage du jour has been exhausted), it’s time to move some cars in and out of sidings. I paid good money for sound systems that replicate the labored and relaxed chuff as the loco starts and stops. I may as well enjoy that, too. 
Could be why my workshop test track is a physical manifestation of the “Riverside” switching problem found here. If you’re going to run back and forth, you may as well earn your keep while you’re at it.
Later,
K
I have to say this “chasing cabooses” while it has its pleasures also has it limits. Thats where Ops enters the scene to add interest to the show. To me the best layouts have both Ops and running. My latest layout while using a loop is primarily a switching layout. I will NOT use a fast clock or any of that nonsense. Ops isnt a game of speed under a clock but a puzzle sorting various pieces into specific spots that may require time to work out. Of course if I get bored or frustrated I can always just let it go roundy round for a while.
For me it’s the “challenge”. Running a scenario through my head first, when I arrive at a location, especially when I’m at a someone elses layout. Then seeing if that scenario will work. It’s a game, much like a puzzle, that makes it fun. It doesn’t always work out they way you pictured it, but that’s all part of the fun, too.
Victor Smith said:This is what I'm trying to do with my layout. When it's finished, the plan is to "run" two trains and "operate" a third train around the two mainline trains. I still have a ton of work to do. For now, I am mostly limited to building trains in the yard and dropping cars at the couple of sidings I have roughed in. The sidings are not named yet. Their purpose still needs to be established. So, I'm playing around, rather than operating. I'm having fun and I'm not bored. As the layout progresses, so should the challenges. Ralph
To me the best layouts have both Ops and running.
I guess Im one of the few whos not into operations. Why dont I like operations? For me I have to be thinking all day at work, be alert of my suroundings plus im always on the go. Operations for me involves to much thinking. I was never into games, puzzles ect… For me I like to watch the trains go around. I keep busy, I sit and relaxe, I fuss around the layout ect… I have done many operations but I just cant get into it. I actually enjoy watching people do operations.
I’m with Steve and Shawn, while I certainly do not have a “problem” with operations they have no appeal to me either. I “chase cabooses” as I find it relaxing…The fun comes from building the layout, building the cars, repairing the engines, planting the garden, caring for the fish, etc. (Something I have to do all over again in the new house).
My club has no interest in operations either so I visited an HO club to give it a shot…I had to try it. I have also tried the little “puzzles” on this site, just not my thing.
It’s like my other big hobby, R/C airplanes. Some like little electrics, some like big gas, some like super scale, and some want to buy “off the shelf” and just fly. They all have fun and no one is “missing out” on anything.
Room for all I say.
As they say, “Different Strokes for Different Folks” On my layout, I have no choice. I’m point to point with no loop at one end. Even when I did have a complete loop inside I would only run a couple of times around before stopping to drop or pick up cars in the yard. This isn’t to say that I don’t enjoy just putting my train on someone else’s track and watching it run around. I really enjoy group operations like up at Fred’s or at Bob’s. I’m not good at it, it usually takes me several extra moves to figure something out, but I enjoy the hands-on with the train.
Most of the time I run trains around the circuit. If the weather is unlikely to change I will have probably have two trains out which alternate: one on the main and another on a siding or loop. I don’t run continuously, I let the train rest at the station or freight depot for a short while.
This method of operation allows me to do maintenance or small alterations to the ROW or re-position any contents of buildings or figures that need to be put back into their correct location. Dogs, winds etc. do have a habit of moving small items and ballast! It also allows me to do other projects and honey-do’s whilst still watching the trains. I have a bench and table on a patio which looks at the railroad. A third factor is one already mentioned by others: relaxation.
On warmer days I occasionally do some switching; I have two areas on the RR where this is possible but this type of job in wintertime can be cold stood around. I can watch trains from a chalet (which can be heated) on colder days.
For the record, providing it is not raining, I have trains running most afternoons.
Addendum. When I’m working in the garden, I will often drop one of my 7/8 locos or maybe Goose #2 or #6 on the track, set it to slow crawl, and just let it run. It keeps me company, and its fun to play “spot the train”.
When I had my layout, there was only enough room for a loop, BUT there was also enough room for a three track stub yard. If I got bored going “roundy-round,” I could use the stub yard like Inglenook Sidings.
Presently I get my operations fix as an operator on Tom Harris’ Lakeside Lines HO model railroad. I can still run “roundy-round” by setting track out on the carport, running on other local club members’ railroads, or running at shows.
Best of both worlds, I suppose.
Have fun,
David Meashey
Mark, and perhaps others may have misunderstood. I’m building my layout with operations in mind. I’m putting together a class to give to the club on “Operations.”
I just wanted some more input on the “Why we do it.”
I loose interest after two loops, though if I’m working in the garden, I find that a train chortling through the tulips, round and round, to be somehow very soothing.