How do people operate and shunt their layouts?

[martink]

I have noticed that there is very little in the forum about layout operation.  There is plenty about layout design, construction, etc., but how do we actually run our trains? 

Timetables?  Waybills?  Automated sequences?  As a driver simulation - inertia, signal checks, etc.?  As a signalling simulation?  One operator or many?  Sit back and watch the trains go by?  There are many shunting layouts, but how do people decide what and where to shunt?

[martink]

I'll start the discussion with one of mine...

My existing small test track/shunting layout, Dunharrow, is a 5' x 2'9" double track oval with a small station at the front and a couple of loops at the back - a very traditional design. 

It is set up for hands-off shunting using B&B couplers with five strategically placed electromagnets.  I have re-couplered and weighted about 30 wagons, enough to fill the yard and run one goods train.  The other trains generally run as block trains and do not shunt, except for a passenger dropping off and picking up the odd siphon, milk tanker or full brake from the bay platform.

A basic shunting seqeunce starts when the special goods train arrives and sets back into the refuge siding.  I then roll a six-sided die to determine how many wagons to take off the front of the train and set out in the yard.  Each wagon gets placed into the appropriate siding: mineral and tankers into the coal/mileage siding; cattle wagons to the cattle dock; and general goods to the goods shed.  I also collect the same number of wagons and add them to the rear of the train.  These are taken from the end of each siding (the wagons that have been there longest), with wagons chosen from whichever sidings happen to contain the most wagons (and a minimum of one from each, die roll permitting).  With a full yard and a very constricted headshunt and spare road, this is enjoyably fiddly.  I keep the extra trains trundling through while the shunting is going on.

[EtchedPixels]

Timetable usually, Snow Hill doesn' t yet have all the signalling but the previous layout I had JMRI interlock all the signals and lights and I plan to do the same again.

[martink]

OK, "timetable" is a good start, but what about the specifics?  Fast clock or sequence?  Random variations or does everything run on time?  Fixed rakes and preplanned movements or changes of consist?

[martink]

I'll toss in another one - Mousehaven, a friend's large OO (yes, I know) layout.  A six-station point to point single-track main line with three branch lines, needing a crew of at least seven operators to run it.  Basically a British layout built in the American style.

<The "Operation" section extracted from its web page>

Operation

Mousehaven is run very much like a prototype railway.  Each operator controls one station, acting as signalman and also handling all shunting and all arrivals at that station.  Communication with neighboring stations is by means of bells and buzzers, using a variation of the standard LMS bell codes.  Simple block instruments allocate control of the line between stations to the receiving station.  Each block has a bell or buzzer at each end, 14 in all.  At busy times it can get quite noisy!

To send a train, the operator at the departure station bells out the code for the train, then waits for the acknowledgement from the next station.  Both operators then set their block instruments to the correct direction (both have to match), and then the receiving station clears the originating station's advanced starter signal.  The departure operator then gives the "train entering section" bell code and starts the train moving.  The receiving operator has control as soon as it passes the last set of points in the departure station.  When the train arrives at the next station, the operator sends a "train out of section" bell code back and both operators clear their block instruments, so everything is ready for another train.

There is a full 24-hour timetable for the whole layout with approximately 150 scheduled trains per day.  The busiest stations (Westmere and Rapstown) will see most of these trains, while the branch line stations might only handle 30 arrivals and departures.  One of three synchronised railway clocks running at 4x normal speed is visible from anywhere on the layout.  At the end of an operating session, the clock is stopped and all trains stop at their next station.  The next weekly operating session picks up from where things left off, and generally getting through about half the timetable over an evening.

All stock is fitted with KayDee couplers, but most uncoupling is performed manually (there are a few permanent magnets scattered around, but operator opinion is divided on their utility).

Passenger trains are mainly fixed rakes of coaches or DMUs, with a maximum train length of 6 coaches.  Most passenger trains originate and terminate from the last two stations at each end of the line, some stopping all stations, some running express through particular stations, and a few running express from one end of the line to the other.  Variations include mail, parcel and newspaper trains that drop off one vehicle at each station heading away from London Road, then pick them up again on the return working.  There is even a daily ferry train that ends up on a barge at Port Baker.

Goods handling is extensive.  All stations have some basic standard facilities (goods shed, cattle dock, coal merchant, and (usually) a loco depot needing coal and/or oil).   Each station also has its own unique collection of industries, ranging from timber merchants, grain silos, dairies up to a large colliery, steelworks and wharf.  There are dedicated block trains running between major industries, as well as numerous local coal trains and pick-up goods services each day for everything else.  The maximum train length is 16 wagons plus a brake van.

All open wagons have removable (reversible) loads, and all wagons (open and closed) have a small hole somewhere to accept a drawing pin.  Each pin represents a waybill or consignment, and is colour coded to indicate the receiving station and industry.  When a goods train arrives at a station, the operator can see at a glance what wagons need to be removed (and where to put them), and how much space is left for outgoing loads.  Outgoing loads are allocated using various rules and common sense, based on wagon type, what pins are available, etc. (OK, who sent the fish van to the dairy?)  The total number of each kind of pin reflects the number of suitable wagons and the available siding space. 

There are also a number of special trains that run once or twice a day to random destinations: the breakdown train runs every midnight, the Chief Mechanical Engineer's inspection saloon travels at midday (usually mid-afternoon when long luncheons cause delays), while (horse)race and pigeon specials each do a round trip once a day.

Each station has extensive platform, yard and building lighting allowing night time operation, although currently not all of these are operational.  An alternative set of purple room lights can be switched on to provide general illumination by moonlight. 

[Alex]

Hmmmm, very interesting. Haven't got that far yet and not sure if I will. Both my layouts are roundy-roundy and I can run 5 trains at any time. Usually when I'm working on the layout I'll have 2-3 trains running. After 5-10 mins I'll reverse one into a siding and pull out another one to run.

My 'trains' are set up to run with a certain number and style of freight/passenger cars. For example I have 7 BAR woodchip gondolas (mid 80's) in one siding. In the one next to it is my BAR Maintenance of Way train (roughly 1970's). Next is a BAR train made up of wooden 40ft single sheath cars pulled by a 2-8-0 Consolidation (40-50's). I then have a BAR preservation passenger train pulled by another 2-8-0. Then a BAR freight train with a mix of 50ft 50-60-70's liveried cars, plus various other 'trains'.

So I have a varied choice of what I can run. I just like to watch the trains go by without having the bother of stopping the freight train to let the passenger train hurtle past. I have enough hassle during the day to contend with without adding to it in the shed.

Alex

[Claude Dreyfus]

Operations have long interested me...for me they make running the layout more fun.

For exhibition layouts, particularly terminus layouts, operations, either a sequence or timetable, are essential; preventing you getting tied in knots at a show. Kanjiyama currently has three squences, which when run back-to-back last approximately an hour. Coupling will be manual, which is not too bad as freight is block working and passenger services are exclusively handled by units.

Our latest project, Petworth Town, will again be sequence operatef, but will make use of auto unvoupling...B&B couplings are the current front runners.

[port perran]

If I just want to sit with a glass of wine and watch the trains go by, I do just that.
However, I do like to run to a timetable at other times which involves passenger and goods trains (and parcels) and plenty of shunting including local goods picking up and setting down waggons.

[Matthew-peter]

It is an interesting subject indeed.

Delfryn will be operated by just one person (myself mainly) and will be run to a time table, with differing scenarios such as 'a late train running causing differences to schedules' and ' a unit breaks down in the station and a second unit is brought in to re leave the service' depending on how I want to 'play'.

If I was to start exhibiting, I think I would come up with a full day rota and operate like that, but my layout is small so easily describable. Although i do plan to operate it realistically with signals, electro magnetic uncouplers and points operated by motors.

[PLD]

I like the 'sequence' option. Effectively run all the trains to be seen over a day in order but without the long gaps between them in the timetable.

As well as giving a realistic mix of different types of train, it stops the operator running their favourite all the time...

I tend to use a set of 'flip cards' to control the sequence. The rear side of the card give the instruction to the operator [usually one major instruction for an arrival/departure and subsidiary notes e.g. 'drop off cattle wagons' per card]. The front of the card facing the viewer gives them information of what is happening e.g. time of day, where each train is going to/coming from etc etc.

[elmo]

My layouts are run to a timetable (sequence really as I do not clock watch).
Freight trains and shunting - I have a small photo of every freight wagon stuck to an index card. Down the left hand side I write the days of the week on a different line then next to the day I write where it has to be shunted to. This means that my operations will differ for each day of the week.
Once I have marshalled my goods train I shuffle the cards to pick out 1,2 3 etc wagons that are being shunted to the goods yard. The then shuffle the cards representing the wagons in the yard to see which one(s) is leaving.
My next project (on hold until I have moved house) is to have a separate inglenook sidings where I can shunt a small train to be moved to the main board then added to the next goods train.
I model 1930's steam so the mixed freight ruled supreme. The above system will not work too well with block freight but you can do something similar.
Elmo

[tim-pelican]

I really like the waybill idea, but I don't think it's going to work on the current layout - there aren't enough places for anything to go to and from!  (Maybe next time, but don't let SWMBO see me posting about "the next layout"!)

I think it will be sequence-based - a lot of my layout is single-track, so I need to have a good think about how the movements would work and where the token-passing or equivalent signalling would happen.  Making working somewhat-prototypical signalling (based on block detection, point setting, running direction of the single-track sections) is still high on my wish list...

[Bad Raven]

Currently the only complete layout I have is Cromford Wharf and Sheep Pasture Incline (Bottom).

This is a "one engine in steam" shunting layout with a working incline that can be shunted and operated hands off (at least the view part of the incline and sidings)

I use 50's BR info on Incline traffic, running and times (as I can't get detail before that) but inevitably there is a little poetic licence along with it, even for two engines on "changeover" day.