Greg from Mi.
Greg from Mi.
I had another one last night. I can have from 6 to 12 people. If you have never had one or been to one I would recommend It and it adds so much to a railroad.
Greg
Greg
how many of you have operating sessions?
- Thread starter Greg from Mi.
- Start date
WCWBrassHat
Member
I have been hosting operating sessions for many years. This layout will handle up to a crew of 11 without doubling up on any jobs. The layout is not yet complete and will handle about 15 when finished.
Previous layouts were much smaller and had smaller crews.
As long as the crew is having fun, it is a great way to spend an afternoon or an evening.
Glenn
Previous layouts were much smaller and had smaller crews.
As long as the crew is having fun, it is a great way to spend an afternoon or an evening.
Glenn
Iron Horseman
Well-Known Member
My railroad will be designed for operations by multiple people. I can't imagine enjoying running by myself nearly as much as with a group of peers. Currently I participate in 4 different operating groups each with different emphasis.
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Old 97
Hogger
As a "Lone Wolf", that's the only way I've ever run my railroad. I still enjoy myself as I love running a train and spotting cars. Plus, with so many characters on the layout, I'm never really alone.
Greg from Mi.
Greg from Mi.
Glenn...........
Being a little new to the forum how do I send you A PM ? I have a question for you
Greg
Being a little new to the forum how do I send you A PM ? I have a question for you
Greg
D&J RailRoad
Professor of HO
I hosted operating sessions on the previous D&J Railroad. As it was an around the wall layout using the full basement, there was pleanty of room for the operating crews as well as foamers who just wanted to sit and watch trains at their favorite location. Each train crew picked up their orders from the yardmaster. The engineer used a 5 channel radio headset to talk to the yard master then the dispatcher as he transitioned to the mainline with his train. The dispatcher's position was actually upstairs and he had several TV monitors showing different locations of the railroad downstairs and he coordinated the train movements over his radio set as well. He also had a linear depiction of the layout on foam board to control train movements. The 8 track, 40 foot run through staging yard required a train crew to run the helper service. They also had their own dedicated channel to work with the train crew they were pushing. A train crew was made up of the engineer and the brakeman. Train crews that didn't have a job right away could hang out upstairs in the ready room where I had train DVDs running on the big screen TV and the wife provided fresh baked goodies and drinks in the kitchen.
The new D&J Railroad, which will have more than twice the running mainline will also have operating sessions. I'm currently forming up new crews to operate as I now live about 35 miles from the previous house. Some of the old crews will make the drive. I have found a few new prospects in the area.
The new D&J Railroad, which will have more than twice the running mainline will also have operating sessions. I'm currently forming up new crews to operate as I now live about 35 miles from the previous house. Some of the old crews will make the drive. I have found a few new prospects in the area.
Cjcrescent
Master Mechanic
Left click on Glenn's handle, "WCWBRASSHAT", and 5 choices will come up. One of them is, "Send a private message to WCWBRASSHAT". Another is, "Send an e-mail to WCWBRASSHAT".
Simple as that!
Iron Horseman
Well-Known Member
Ok to put this into context I had to go and read the "characters" thread which I had not been following.As a "Lone Wolf", that's the only way I've ever run my railroad. I still enjoy myself as I love running a train and spotting cars. Plus, with so many characters on the layout, I'm never really alone.
I did not say I did not enjoy running trains by myself it is just much more fun to have others there too. Sure I can switch and spot cars all day, but having to clear the main in time for the afternoon mail and express, and be done on time to get the train out of town before the stock train arrives adds exponentially greater "fun" element to it. On the other side of the coin, if I am the one running the Express it is much more fun to have another operator running the local to give a hard time to if they don't have that main cleared for me to blast through....than it is to just go and run the express when I get done switching. I don't know that adding characters to the mix will help as they cannot run the trains themselves and provide sensory input.
Iron Horseman
Well-Known Member
And if you have operating sessions do they go like this?
March 16th on the Wind River.
I was called for train 214 out of the South Yard to depart at 7:30 a.m. Reporting there I found a max size train coupled to a powerful looking black GP30 locomotive in handsome D&RGW speed lettering. Cleared from Dispatch I left the yard a couple minutes late due to a air-brake test failure (I actually could not read the loco number and was unable to call it up on the DCC throttle). After departure it is a short trip to Denver so quickly called the Denver Yardmaster for permission to enter in time to roll right in without stopping at the yard limit.
Denver Yard crew took 4 cars and added on 3 so I was one car shorter when I called for permission to leave from Dispatch. I departed after swapping paperwork the the Denver yard. Dispatch cleared me past Carston to New Castle my next switching assignment. Following the signals I proceeded at 15 smph (max speed limit for a freighter on the WRRR) through tunnels 1 through 3.
In New Castle dispatch quickly gave me time and track. Since we are only doing trailing point switching it only took a couple shuffles to fish out the two cars I needed to pick up and replace them with the one I had to spot. Informing dispatch I had completed work I then waited for the signal. The yellow light was not long in coming and the GP30 swept the train around the outskirts of town and up to the red light just short of Richfield.
There was a facing train in Richfield still working the oil tank farm. As they finished I was cleared into the passing siding, as they then took the main which I had just cleared. Once they cleared the block I had time and track to perform my switching. What a quandry. I was to pick up 5 cars from the bakery, but only leave 2. That would make my train 2 cars too long. To complicate matters the bakery had paperwork for a car that was not present, and a matching car with no paperwork. A few telegraphs up and down the line found the missing car at the next town I was to switch so I just took the paperwork with me. I examined the loads in the 5 cars I was to switch and discovered three of them were empty. So I picked up the full loads and one empty for my train, then moved the 2 other empties to another track for a westbound train to pickup. It is shorter and more efficient to take empties back to Devner than to lift them over the divide. The final complexity in Richfield is that the stock pens loading area is actually ON the main. Since I spotted a car there I had to tell dispatch to be certain to mark a car on the panel as I got permission to proceed to Wind River and Tennesee Pass.
The modern GP30 power didn't even work hard up the grade to Wind River and the pass. I caught a yellow entering tunnel 7 telling me there was another train to meet in Leadville. Sure enough I saw the caboose of another train leaving as I arrived. The train orders for an east-bound are to work the Leadville yard. This can normally be done without obstructing or crossing the main; however, I soon discovered that the yard contained 2 "internal" Leadville moves. So I had to take the cars, run arround them, cross the main and spot them at the stamping mill. Fortunately Leadville yard does have its own run-around so I did not have to use the whole siding and main to make that move. Do the run around internally and then it is just a simple jump across the main, but I still needed dispatch to allow that. Just as I was calling dispatch to get time and track, I noticed that an overflow car for the mining district branch had been left on the run around track. As I got permission for the move across the main I had a brain storm. I still had to move the off spot car, but once I got the cars in the stamping mill I did not have to run around to put it back. I simply pushed it up the branch a ways (grade), then got the locomotive out of the way, released the brakes and let gravity move it past the locomotive back to where it needed to be. There was a tense moment when I released the brakes a little too much and the car accelerated much more rapidly than expected. Fortunately, quick work by the brakeman got the situation and the car under control before there were any adverse side effects.
Two trains passed me in Leadville before I followed the signals down the slope. Leadville was the last dance on my card so the trip to the yard was uneventfull.
After spending the obligatory 8 hours of rest in the crew hotel (about 2 minutes real time), I was immediately assigned to train 247. This train is basically a reversed the schedule of 214. Power assigned was a wizened 2-8-0 #919 apparently purchased by the Wind River 2nd hand from the Reading. As such I had to stop at every town to take on water. It was not that much more of an inconvenience since the orders of the day indicate that the signals are all stuck on red from Tennesse to Leadvile so despite a trains clearance from dispatch we had to watch for hand orders from the stations for any changes that were telegraphed to them.
In Leadville the stamping mill is a trailing point siding but has to be switched from the main. After spotting the cars and picking up those left on the main I discovered there was no caboose. Hmmm, seems it had uncoupled and while the cars brakes were set its weren't so it rolled away. I had to back down the hill to pick it up. Two hours late I finally depart from Leadville. Since my next switching site was Richfield I picked up one extra car (my train is now over size), but it shouldn't matter since I can switch it out in Richfield. Since I am late apparently the whole line is blocked up and I get told to take the siding in Richfield but don't do any switching and go on to New Castle. Ooops now I have an oversize train heading to the shortest siding on the line. Sure enough before I could back into the stub spur in New Castle where the extra car would fit, I have a facing train already there and get ratted out by the facing train's crew. It is an excursion train and as soon as it leaves I am relieved to find I can leave 3 cars here and only take 2 so I fit again. Unfortunately I am still late and now have to wait at every passing track for every facing train that I was supposed to have met in Richfield. Even though the too long train was not the reason for the delay the Super didn't seem to care. He chewed on my a55 in the yard office for delaying an Excursion. I was glad to get that run over.
No sooner had I ditched old #919 when the call board showed a soft fruit special #100 Express needed a crew. I ran to the cab and blasted the train out of Denver and passed locals switching along the way. Express can run at 30 smph. It was going fine until Tennesee Pass were there was a train on the siding but the approach track to the main was still red. So my express and this coal train sat there watching each other wait. About 30 minutes later the dispatch called to ask why nothing was happening. We informed him of the situation, and somehow he had gotten our train numbers crossed. He thought my train indication was the coal train leaving and I was the train on the siding. Soon the turnouts shifted, lights cleared, and we were both on our way. I did not see another train until I hit the yard and handed that fruit off to an all points west crew.
March 16th on the Wind River.
I was called for train 214 out of the South Yard to depart at 7:30 a.m. Reporting there I found a max size train coupled to a powerful looking black GP30 locomotive in handsome D&RGW speed lettering. Cleared from Dispatch I left the yard a couple minutes late due to a air-brake test failure (I actually could not read the loco number and was unable to call it up on the DCC throttle). After departure it is a short trip to Denver so quickly called the Denver Yardmaster for permission to enter in time to roll right in without stopping at the yard limit.
Denver Yard crew took 4 cars and added on 3 so I was one car shorter when I called for permission to leave from Dispatch. I departed after swapping paperwork the the Denver yard. Dispatch cleared me past Carston to New Castle my next switching assignment. Following the signals I proceeded at 15 smph (max speed limit for a freighter on the WRRR) through tunnels 1 through 3.
In New Castle dispatch quickly gave me time and track. Since we are only doing trailing point switching it only took a couple shuffles to fish out the two cars I needed to pick up and replace them with the one I had to spot. Informing dispatch I had completed work I then waited for the signal. The yellow light was not long in coming and the GP30 swept the train around the outskirts of town and up to the red light just short of Richfield.
There was a facing train in Richfield still working the oil tank farm. As they finished I was cleared into the passing siding, as they then took the main which I had just cleared. Once they cleared the block I had time and track to perform my switching. What a quandry. I was to pick up 5 cars from the bakery, but only leave 2. That would make my train 2 cars too long. To complicate matters the bakery had paperwork for a car that was not present, and a matching car with no paperwork. A few telegraphs up and down the line found the missing car at the next town I was to switch so I just took the paperwork with me. I examined the loads in the 5 cars I was to switch and discovered three of them were empty. So I picked up the full loads and one empty for my train, then moved the 2 other empties to another track for a westbound train to pickup. It is shorter and more efficient to take empties back to Devner than to lift them over the divide. The final complexity in Richfield is that the stock pens loading area is actually ON the main. Since I spotted a car there I had to tell dispatch to be certain to mark a car on the panel as I got permission to proceed to Wind River and Tennesee Pass.
The modern GP30 power didn't even work hard up the grade to Wind River and the pass. I caught a yellow entering tunnel 7 telling me there was another train to meet in Leadville. Sure enough I saw the caboose of another train leaving as I arrived. The train orders for an east-bound are to work the Leadville yard. This can normally be done without obstructing or crossing the main; however, I soon discovered that the yard contained 2 "internal" Leadville moves. So I had to take the cars, run arround them, cross the main and spot them at the stamping mill. Fortunately Leadville yard does have its own run-around so I did not have to use the whole siding and main to make that move. Do the run around internally and then it is just a simple jump across the main, but I still needed dispatch to allow that. Just as I was calling dispatch to get time and track, I noticed that an overflow car for the mining district branch had been left on the run around track. As I got permission for the move across the main I had a brain storm. I still had to move the off spot car, but once I got the cars in the stamping mill I did not have to run around to put it back. I simply pushed it up the branch a ways (grade), then got the locomotive out of the way, released the brakes and let gravity move it past the locomotive back to where it needed to be. There was a tense moment when I released the brakes a little too much and the car accelerated much more rapidly than expected. Fortunately, quick work by the brakeman got the situation and the car under control before there were any adverse side effects.
Two trains passed me in Leadville before I followed the signals down the slope. Leadville was the last dance on my card so the trip to the yard was uneventfull.
After spending the obligatory 8 hours of rest in the crew hotel (about 2 minutes real time), I was immediately assigned to train 247. This train is basically a reversed the schedule of 214. Power assigned was a wizened 2-8-0 #919 apparently purchased by the Wind River 2nd hand from the Reading. As such I had to stop at every town to take on water. It was not that much more of an inconvenience since the orders of the day indicate that the signals are all stuck on red from Tennesse to Leadvile so despite a trains clearance from dispatch we had to watch for hand orders from the stations for any changes that were telegraphed to them.
In Leadville the stamping mill is a trailing point siding but has to be switched from the main. After spotting the cars and picking up those left on the main I discovered there was no caboose. Hmmm, seems it had uncoupled and while the cars brakes were set its weren't so it rolled away. I had to back down the hill to pick it up. Two hours late I finally depart from Leadville. Since my next switching site was Richfield I picked up one extra car (my train is now over size), but it shouldn't matter since I can switch it out in Richfield. Since I am late apparently the whole line is blocked up and I get told to take the siding in Richfield but don't do any switching and go on to New Castle. Ooops now I have an oversize train heading to the shortest siding on the line. Sure enough before I could back into the stub spur in New Castle where the extra car would fit, I have a facing train already there and get ratted out by the facing train's crew. It is an excursion train and as soon as it leaves I am relieved to find I can leave 3 cars here and only take 2 so I fit again. Unfortunately I am still late and now have to wait at every passing track for every facing train that I was supposed to have met in Richfield. Even though the too long train was not the reason for the delay the Super didn't seem to care. He chewed on my a55 in the yard office for delaying an Excursion. I was glad to get that run over.
No sooner had I ditched old #919 when the call board showed a soft fruit special #100 Express needed a crew. I ran to the cab and blasted the train out of Denver and passed locals switching along the way. Express can run at 30 smph. It was going fine until Tennesee Pass were there was a train on the siding but the approach track to the main was still red. So my express and this coal train sat there watching each other wait. About 30 minutes later the dispatch called to ask why nothing was happening. We informed him of the situation, and somehow he had gotten our train numbers crossed. He thought my train indication was the coal train leaving and I was the train on the siding. Soon the turnouts shifted, lights cleared, and we were both on our way. I did not see another train until I hit the yard and handed that fruit off to an all points west crew.
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My club is working on how to run entertaining operating sessions, rather than just building random trains and running them around the layout. We have a couple dozen industries, several hundred feet of main line, and about 20 operator positions. It's just a lot to organize, and the club layout is designed more for public shows than 'realistic operations'.
I have to say, I'm jealous of groups that run regular operations.
I have to say, I'm jealous of groups that run regular operations.
D&J RailRoad
Professor of HO
Ya just have to start small and simple and develope your op session from there. Things will become obvious as you need them.
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Old 97
Hogger
Nobody said that you did.
I'm just a lone wolf with lots of characters on my layout to keep me busy so I don't have a need for operating sessions. 