Freight train operations question


R

Railfan87

Member
Hi all,
I am in the middle of laying track on my new, hopefully lifetime, layout. I'm operating it in my mind, looking for potential snags etc. and it occurred to me that despite being a veteran modeller, there are gaps in my understanding of operation.

Consider a manifest freight. In my HO world, a train leaves staging with a block of cars to be dropped at a city with a classification yard, plus another block to be carried on to staging at the far end (operationally this could be more than one block destined for other cities).
- would the block to be dropped be immediately behind the engine, or immediately ahead of the caboose?
There will be a cut of cars for this train to pick up, too. Cars that were collected from local industries being forwarded.
- where in the train would this pickup block be placed?
- would the train do the pickup first, then the drop? (In this case, there are sufficient sidings to do it either way)

How about a local freight? If the cars to be switched at one town are in a block behind the engine, would the pickups be placed ahead of the caboose?

I suppose the trade off becomes extra switching moves and time 'on the road' versus in the next classification yard.

I know we have active and retired railroaders here, as well as experience model train operators. What do you folks say?

Thanks in advance,
 
Regarding manifests, this may depend on the railroad and the yard, since depending on how things are laid out, it may be more convenient to do things either way. Regarding locals, from everything I've heard, how things are ordered depends very much on the individual conductor and will depend on how much time and effort each move takes.
 
Chris,
For Manifests -

Generally the set off would be first behind the engine. It could also be just ahead of the caboose depending on how the fictional yard job built your train in staging. You could also play "idiot yardmaster" and put the set off in the middle!

95% of the time cars are set off first, then you go to your pick up. The other 5% is when the yard is congested and the set off needs to go where the pick up is...then you would pick up first(preferably holding onto your set off).

For Locals -

It really depends on what the job does and how the industries are laid out. Ideally you'd want to build the train in the working order of your industries. JWB is correct, it depends on how the conductor wants to work the industries as to how the train is set up.

Generally you'd want to pick up first to give you room to set off. (opposite of road trains)

Hope this helps.
 
Actually, as you get your operations going, you will gravitate to which is easier to do. That's how the railroads work, most of the time. Sometimes you won't have pickups at an industry, just setouts and vice verse.
 
Having worked as an extra-board brakeman on the Missouri Pacific RR in the Ozarks back in late 1970s, I often caught the 7am to 7pm switcher. We would run south out of Bismarck MO about 50 miles to Annapolis MO and then back to Bismarck. We ran short-hood to the south then long hood back north (no wyes, loops or turntables.) We built our train at the yard in Bismarck according to customer set-offs and pickups for THAT DAY, and made the consist as efficient as possible. Why did we do it this way? Well, the sooner we finished (tied up back at the yard) the sooner we could get home.

However, if you want some extra "interest" (i.e. delays) in this kind of operation, you can always throw in the unexpected - set out a car that has a smoking wheel bearing, staying "in the hole" longer than expected for another passing train or two, having a trainmaster throw a red signal in your face (a test), having a derailment on a customer's poorly-maintained track, having a slow and/or stop order while the track gang is fixing a low spot in the track roadbed, in the winter no kerosene in the caboose's stove heater, in the summer no ice in the water cooler in the engine, setting out an open-top railcar who's load has shifted, waiting for a customer to finish loading/unloading a railcar, having a worn air hose break and set the train in emergency - have to find the problem then go back to the caboose or engine and get an extra air hose (with wrench) and install it, having to double a hill, etc. Oh, am I talking from experience? Yup!

Lastly, do you have to stop the train when you hit a bunch of cattle on the track? Nope (at least not back in the 1970s). :)

DougC
 
Thanks to everyone who replied. Definitely need to finish the track so I can try these ideas out and see which works best for me.
 
Years ago, when I was a kid, I spent a lot of hours riding in locomotives with relatives and I can remember some rather colorful works aimed at who ever made up their train when they were on local freights.

I built my layout as a switching layout, and purposely made each town a switching problem, having to spot cars in both directions using a passing siding for a run around track. I probably could have a lot longer main line, but I chose a point to point layout, passing through the scenery only one time. This left a lot more room for towns, and the industries in them. It can take a few hours to travel from one yard to the other with all of the switching duties.
 
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