Journal 51

Wednesday September 24, 2008 Lethbridge, Alberta

6:00 am

I have been very busy this month with this hobby. Looking at my Day Logs index I see that I have created Daley logs for 18 days this month. And it shows. This web site is now set up. My data bases for my trains are up-to-date. My DCC system is working: both the locomotive and the turnouts are functioning. And I am beginning to run trains on the layout.

But I am still a long way from a realistic operation. The next step, I think, is to begin moving "stuff" from one location to another. This will involve switching operations and will give me a chance to see how the layout actually works when a train is on it, trying to carry out a realistic operation.

I will try to finish reading, and making notes, on "How to Operate Your Model Railway" today.

Next steps will include reading about the early history of the CNR. And I should begin putting together a few of my models. I am determined to complete these kits before buying any more.

How to Operate Your Model Railroad

Bruce Chubb, 1977

Chapter 7 Time and Distance [p. 74 - 81]

"Since a railroad operates day to day on much the same schedules, crews become familiar with them. Yard and train personnel therefore can organize their time and remember train departures, arrivals, and meets without constantly consulting timecards." [p. 77]
"From personal experience, it is indeed convenient and desirable to complete a full 24-hour period in a single operating session. It helps us learn the timetable, of course.But it also lets us simulate all facets of railroading." [p.77]
"Action on a real railroad is carefully timed, and even when it isn't timed on a model railroad, the action should appear to be carefully scheduled ... " [p. 80]
"... the fast clock permits us to simulate the movement of traffic over long distances. Although a fast clock is not absolutely essential to a model railroad, it does add much more realism and interest to your operation. Its ability to amplify the size of any railroad, whether large or small, makes the results well worth the effort." [p. 80]
- I am still not convinced this is worth the effort. I want to hear from others, either at the train club or on the online forums.

Chapter 8 Timetables [p. 82 - 103]

"The timetable, in conjunction with the rulebook, is a major factor in efficient and safe traffic movement and is the master plan that welds the railroad system together." [p. 83]
To him [Frank Ellison] model railroading was a theatrical play, a drama of railroading in which the tracks were the stage, the buildings and scenery the settings, the trains the actors, and the timetable the plot. The plot may be dull and lifeless, or it may be pulsating with interest, and the same is true of a timetable. The timetable's success depends on our skill in planning it and the deftness with which we execute it." [p. 83]
"A good timetable cannot be conceived and developed in an hour's time." [p. 83]
"Before we can devise our schedules, though, we need to lay some foundations. First, make an outline of the different kinds of services you want your railroad to offer." [p. 83]
"Today, prototype railroads that operate scheduled trains usually group them into different levels of priority or classes. ... first class for passenger trains and occasionally high-priority freights, second class for general merchandise and drag freights, and third class for way freights." [p. 84]
"The simplest way to organize train schedules is to do as the real railroads do; Plot train movements on a chart or grid that shows stations, sidings, and times to form a train graph and then translate the results into a timetable form." [p. 85]
"Uniformly spaced vertical lines indicate time increments; horizontal lines represent stations and other schedule points. ... The chart's horizontal lines are spaced in proportion to the varying distances between stations and other schedule points." [p. 85]
"As an aid for plotting train movements, you can make a chart that shows the running times between stations for various speeds." [p. 87]

An interesting chapter. I am not sure when I will try to do this. I also want to read more about software such as Ship It! to see how much of this effort can be automated.

Chapter 9 Signals and Communications [p. 104 - 115]

This is another chapter that is interesting, but not likely to be relevant to my layout, at least in the forseeable future.

Chapter 10 Dispatching [p. 116 - 131]

Ditto.

Chapter 11 Freight-car Forwarding [p. 132 - 153]

This is a key chapter. It describes the principles underlying the movement of goods from one location to another. The book describes manual systems in some detail. Once again, I think that Ship It! makes much of this chapter obsolete. I think my time might be better spent reading the Ship It! manual (which is a free download).

The remaing three chapters describe how the material covered above could be applied in a few specific layout situations.

This has been a valuable book to read. I am much better prepared to continue learning about realistic operations than I was a week ago.

Tags: design, operations

7:15 am

Now to give a few minutes thought to next steps. First, I will review the Current and Future Activities links in the left margin to see if they are up to date. Done.

The Activities section of this web site appears to be working well. I can quickly and easily review all three pages and it is an easy matter to copy and paste a row from one table to another as it moves from Future to Active to Past.

I have a copy of Mackay's "The People's Railway" beside me. It should make for good reading.

Now to complete adding photos to the different sections of this web site. I have images added for the following five sections: Introduction, Day Logs, Running Sessions, Web Sites and Discussion Board. I still need to add images for Activities, Layout, Railroad.

8:30 am

I have added the images to these pages. I think this adds a little context to the site.

3:00 PM

I noticed CN 473966 box car resting on my work bench and decided to have a look at it. A little testing and I determined that the Kadee coupler on one end was bent out of shape. I replaced it and it is now working fine. I then dusted the car off and updated my data base to indicate that this maintenance had taken place. This car is described as a 40' box car having a "green horizontal leaf" with the text "Serves All Canada". The prototype was built in 2 - 46.

6:30 PM

CN 382682 was also lying on my work bench. It clearly needed new trucks and wheel sets. This was easily done. The car now runs very smoothly. This car is grey with a red CN noodle. The prototype was built in 2 - 81. My data base has been updated.

I have one more car in need of maintenance - a 1954 rotary snowplow, CN 55877. This turned out to be much easier than I expected. It needed to have the coupler re-installed but I the necessary pieces were right beside it. The front wheels needed to have the elastic band placed so that the rotary plow would go around when the front wheels moved. Easily done. Finally the snow deflector needed to be reattached at the front but that was also easy. A final dust-up and it looks like new.

That takes care of my "broken" rolling stock. Now to build the cars that are still in kit form.