D&J RailRoad
Professor of HO
Just a couple hours away from the start of another COVID daring op session on the D&J Railroad.
I made the decision a couple weeks ago to do this, a little out of step from the previous op sessions over the winter. Seems to be getting easier each time.
As the railroad has been running just fine over the past 6 months or so, there is little to do as far as repairs from the previous session.
I have been improving the way bill system and the management of trains with each session and I'll prolly be employing a yard master today to make and break trains.
With the decision a couple weeks ago, I put out the invite to the club. I've only been getting about 5 to 9 operators each time so I scale the session accordingly.
Todays session will be steam era with a few turbine locos to haul trains up the grade from the staging yard. I removed all the intermodal stuff from the layout along with all diesel locomotives. That was a task. I kept finding em on siding, in the staging area and in the classification yard. Got all the way bills in the industries updated for the freight cars nest destination then built the trains in the classification yard along with their packs of way bills and direction of departure from the yard. Right now, there are 18 trains prepared for movement. As the session moves along several more will be assembled in the classification yard, assigned numbers then assigned to an operator.
Refining the op sessions so that freight is being shuffled into sidings on the east bound track while loaded coal trains are running west. When the east bound locals are back in the yard, the west bound locals go out and the empty coal trains are running east. I can have two freight locals running at the same time in each direction. If I have enough operators, I assign to people to a train, engineer and brakeman. I usually do that with new people so they work with an experienced operator.
A few days prior to the op session I put out another message to the club confirming the op session is still a go and if there are any others who want to attend. I announce the theme for the op session and any other final details.
A couple days prior to the op session, I'll run trains on the layout with the track cleaning pads then clean the wheels of all the locos. Bring up the command station on the JMRI and clear all other locomotive addresses from the roster.
Hit the grocery store for some soft drinks and snacks and a bag of ice. The morning of the op session vacuum the basement floors and put some stools out for the rail fans who just want to sit and watch the action.
Morning of the op session, I'll do a final review of the train roster, turn on the layout, bring up the Train Controller Silver program and do a final walk around. Put all the tools away, set out the snacks, put signs on the door to "Enter without knocking" along with directions to basement. Turn on the big screen TV in the living room (crew lounge) and log into YouTube and put on Virtual Rail Fan to one of their cameras.
During todays op session, I'll have the club corner section modules setup in the crew lounge for the members viewing. This is a corner section that replaces a standard corner plus the two 4 foot modules on each side of the standard corner module. Makes the corner much broader. The corner is part of the mainline yard I've been building over the past several months. Now it totals 64 feet of mainline with yard sidings. The corner can be used if needed or just the straight sections. The two tracks, 3 and 4 from the left with the two gondolas behind the SD 70 are the mainline and are slightly super elevated. The auto racks are on the inner most curve to illustrate how broad a curve it is. Because these modules only work together as a complete set, the end of the tracks come right up to the end of the module and the setbacks from the front edge are different. The front of the module layout will be on the left. There are two modules in the set that have standard ends to match up to other modules. The corner section breaks down into three modules that will all be carried in a module transport box I keep in the garage. When its show time, I can roll the transport box onto a 6'x10' trailer and haul it to the show venue.
I made the decision a couple weeks ago to do this, a little out of step from the previous op sessions over the winter. Seems to be getting easier each time.
As the railroad has been running just fine over the past 6 months or so, there is little to do as far as repairs from the previous session.
I have been improving the way bill system and the management of trains with each session and I'll prolly be employing a yard master today to make and break trains.
With the decision a couple weeks ago, I put out the invite to the club. I've only been getting about 5 to 9 operators each time so I scale the session accordingly.
Todays session will be steam era with a few turbine locos to haul trains up the grade from the staging yard. I removed all the intermodal stuff from the layout along with all diesel locomotives. That was a task. I kept finding em on siding, in the staging area and in the classification yard. Got all the way bills in the industries updated for the freight cars nest destination then built the trains in the classification yard along with their packs of way bills and direction of departure from the yard. Right now, there are 18 trains prepared for movement. As the session moves along several more will be assembled in the classification yard, assigned numbers then assigned to an operator.
Refining the op sessions so that freight is being shuffled into sidings on the east bound track while loaded coal trains are running west. When the east bound locals are back in the yard, the west bound locals go out and the empty coal trains are running east. I can have two freight locals running at the same time in each direction. If I have enough operators, I assign to people to a train, engineer and brakeman. I usually do that with new people so they work with an experienced operator.
A few days prior to the op session I put out another message to the club confirming the op session is still a go and if there are any others who want to attend. I announce the theme for the op session and any other final details.
A couple days prior to the op session, I'll run trains on the layout with the track cleaning pads then clean the wheels of all the locos. Bring up the command station on the JMRI and clear all other locomotive addresses from the roster.
Hit the grocery store for some soft drinks and snacks and a bag of ice. The morning of the op session vacuum the basement floors and put some stools out for the rail fans who just want to sit and watch the action.
Morning of the op session, I'll do a final review of the train roster, turn on the layout, bring up the Train Controller Silver program and do a final walk around. Put all the tools away, set out the snacks, put signs on the door to "Enter without knocking" along with directions to basement. Turn on the big screen TV in the living room (crew lounge) and log into YouTube and put on Virtual Rail Fan to one of their cameras.
During todays op session, I'll have the club corner section modules setup in the crew lounge for the members viewing. This is a corner section that replaces a standard corner plus the two 4 foot modules on each side of the standard corner module. Makes the corner much broader. The corner is part of the mainline yard I've been building over the past several months. Now it totals 64 feet of mainline with yard sidings. The corner can be used if needed or just the straight sections. The two tracks, 3 and 4 from the left with the two gondolas behind the SD 70 are the mainline and are slightly super elevated. The auto racks are on the inner most curve to illustrate how broad a curve it is. Because these modules only work together as a complete set, the end of the tracks come right up to the end of the module and the setbacks from the front edge are different. The front of the module layout will be on the left. There are two modules in the set that have standard ends to match up to other modules. The corner section breaks down into three modules that will all be carried in a module transport box I keep in the garage. When its show time, I can roll the transport box onto a 6'x10' trailer and haul it to the show venue.
