Tuesday night at the Huff and Puff

Hmmm, I got it wrong, tonight was not a work night, next Tuesday is. So we had to quickly clean up the layout to run a session. Everyone checked out the new Lincoln with no complains, now only time will tell how well it switches. We are almost through all the new cards and it seems to be working well. I didn't run, but I did observe. In my opinion, we are running trains that are too long, some trains should be shorter, we should adopt a courtesy movement policy, don't just arrive in the next town, if you are just passing through, ask for permission to pass, or wait until the switching ahead of you is done, we all start from the two yards, we need to leave trains on the layout to be completed and   Run the other trains, branch, ore, log, passenger trains, we should have a train schedule to gets the other trains running, we should be fixing rolling stock issues and need the supplies to do it, the good thing is we can do all of the above with little effort.
Looking to the new year. We have accomplished a lot. The upper loop is nearing completion. The changes in Lincoln just need some scenery. The 2 new cross overs just need testing and scenery. The code 100 replacement on the branch is working well. What's next? We still have updates to Wellington to be worked out and scheduled. Some have talked about replacing the rest of the code 70 track in Ortona, which would allow us to redesign it to allow for more industry there. But first we need to relax and enjoy what we have accomplished,
Happy New Year everyone!




Ore trains returns to Ortona.












 Glen switches Lincoln.














Passengers wait to board at the Lincoln station.













 Freight train arrives at Elsewhere

Rolling stock list

We counted the cars on the layout to see what we need.
Box cars need between 46 to 58, we have 47 and Glen is bringing a couple more.
Tank cars need between 19 to 23, we have 17, could use a few more.
Hoppers need between 31 to 43, we have 28 could use a few more.
Cov. Hoppers need 18 to 24, we have 19, could use a few more short ones.
Refers need 8 to 10, we have 10.
Gondolas need 10 to 13, we have 14.
Stock cars need 8 to 10, we have 9.
Flat cars need 14 to 17, we have 8, could use a few more.
Piggyback need ? We have 1, could use a couple more.
There is also cars to be repaired that we're not counted.
I think we should run for a while to see if we still get shortages before bringing in much more

Sunday fun

I guess everyone agreed with the changes as outlined on the blog, so it happened. The crossover in Miller was installed and the tracks were repositioned to fit. That crossover and the one in Valleyview were wired. The new area in Wellington was painted and some ground cover was added. A new turnout was put in to make the new run around in Lincoln, and it was wired in.
The water tower and switching shanty may be put back between the tracks. Tom also painted this area.

 Jim also wired in the on off switch for the switcher shed in Lincoln.













 Two turnouts were removed at the old Miller Interchange yard and replaced with track and wired. Hay Co. was moved to the old Miller Interchange yard area. This whole area had scenery added. Hay Co. Now has a log delivery track.









 The old siding to Hay Co. Was shortened and straightened. The piggy back ramp was added and scenery put down.



The freight station was moved to the old Allen Lumber siding.







 Buckley Mill was removed, turned around and positioned on the old piggy back track and this area had scenery added. Going to add a truck loading dock to the back of Buckley Mill.

Don putting the glue down, so it can't be moved.












 Allen Lumber now sits where Buckley Mill was. The city block will be put back where it was before.  I think everyone will like the new Lincoln.

Car counting

I tried to estimate our car requirements. At any time there are about 90 cars at industries plus say 3 trains with 8 cars or another 24 cars or 114 cars in total with none in the yards, so add another 90 cars for the next day and you get 204 cars max. Cars needed. The total 2 top days in a row, for all car types is 198 cars. That puts 42 cars in each of the 2 yards, with 3 trains on the layout, that I would guess would be a good max. count. The total industry car count only varies by a max of 6 cars for any 1 car type, per day. Guessing the car count for any type will only drop by 10 or under, for the first 4 trains of the session, until trains start returning, maybe we could use 1/2 the next highest count for the min. Cars required. This works out to 46 to 58 box cars, 31 to 43 hoppers, 18 to 24 covered hoppers, 14 to 17 flat cars, 10 to 13 gons, 8 to 10 refers, 19 to 23 tankers, 8 to 10 stock cars or 154 min to 198 max. That means at the min. count there would be 20 cars in each yard with 3 trains running, a much better number. This does not include piggyback cars and sawdust cars maybe a total of 5 cars. I have no idea how close we are, but I would guess we are close to the min.

Branch card system

How this sound. The first idea was to select the cards and then use them in a reverse order to the main, that is, you would first pick up cars at the locations your will deliver to, take them to Elsewhere and then get the cars to deliver, not the ones you just delivered. Confusing and you would always run the same cars both ways.
What if you select cards. Say you have 1 box car for the pier, 2 hoppers for the coal dock, and 2 flat cars for the saw and a passenger car. You pick up the cars at Ortona from yesterday's freight and a passenger car. Deliver yesterday's cars to Elsewhere, stopping at all passenger stations on the way. Turn your engine after setting out the cars and make up the return freight. You would leave Elsewhere with 1 box car, 2 hoppers, 2 flats and your passenger car. Stop at all mainline station on the way to Miller. drop 2 flats at the sawmill, and pick up the cars there, say 3 flats. Then drop 2 hoppers at the coal dock and pick up the cars there, say 1 hopper. Proceed to Northdale stop at the station and deliver the box car to the pier, picking up the cars there, say a box car and a flat car. Return to Ortona dropping the passenger car, 4 flat cars, 1 hopper, and a box car. So now there are 6 freight cars for the next train to take to Elsewhere. This is more like the mainline trains and the consist will be different both ways.

Lincoln plan update.

Changing the way we run the branch line, running it as a separate railroad that now interchanges with the mainline at Elsewhere, has had an impact on the Lincoln update plan. We no longer need the interchange yard at Lincoln, and do not need to reroute the mainline. It now boils down to adding another run around to help the switcher to set out and pick up cars, and moving a few buildings.
A lot of discussion was held about changes at Lincoln. A plan was made that requires little track work changes. It involves, moving the freight station to where Allen Lumber is, which opens the space to make another run around using that siding. Move Allen Lumber where Buckley Mills is, and move Buckley Mills to the other side of those 2 sidings, this makes uncoupling rolling stock at both of these industries better. Shorten the siding that now services Hay Co. and put the piggyback ramp there, just to the right of Hillcrest Packers. Put the city block where Hay Co. is, and move Hay Co. where the old Miller Interchange yard is, removing the 2 middle tracks and shortening the back track, which will serve as a log dump track. It was also suggested we put in some tanks for bulk glue.

We need a name for the branchline, O & E (Ortona and Elsewhere), M.&N.W. (Miller,and Northdale , Western), M & N R.R. (Miller and Northdale Railroad ). Any input is welcome! 

This coming Sunday morning and Tuesday night are work days, bring your tools. 



The crossing shanty, water tower and the freight station will be moved and a turnout will be installed on the track to the right of the crossing shanty and the track will be connected to the track at the freight station, giving us a new run around.
The track that looks like it is headed towards Hillcrest Packers will be the new piggyback ramp track.
The yard in the distance will be the new home of Hay Co.

Tuesday Night at The Huff & Puff

More rolling stock has arrived, thanks to all. Discussions were held on the Lincoln update, more on that later. Thanks To Doug for the ice scrapers and pen sets. Thanks to Don for his raisin, oatmeal  cookies. Don also suggested that people wait in the crew lounge for train assignments, to reduce the congestion at the start of a session, what do you think?


 Glen installed the rock liner for the upper loop tunnel.






The ore train got it's first run in a long time.




Things that can be worked on during the work days, Sunday and Tuesday.
Finish the Trent's Hill tunnel and wire and electrify that turnout.
Work on the scenery at Wellington Station.
Install Heritage Furniture.
Ballast and wire the Valleyview crossover.
Install, wire and ballast the Miller crossover.
Install a turn off switch for the branchline engine house.
Install and wire the new supper snapper.
Clean the branchline track.
Clean up office and remove clutter around the layout.
Lincoln update? See next blog entry.

Thoughts from Gap

running the branch train as a mixed is a good idea. CN did this on many branch lines in the 50's. Psgr cars could include a coach,a baggage car or combination car for mail/lcl express/baggage.These were on the tail end of the train of course.

The mixed could be run from the end point on the branch six days a week alternating the destination yard and having it return shortly after arrival back to the branch. This type of operation was very common in steam days. Running it this way avoids having the confusion of cars dropped at Lincoln 

Never thought about running the branchline train from Ortona. Cards could be there and passenger cars could be stored there also. May work. 

Ore train

When the cross over in Miller is installed, we should start running an ore train, what's your thoughts.
X number of cars run from Ortona straight to Elsewhere? Should a smaller number of cars be brought to Lincoln until there is enough to be run on the mainline? When it is run to Elsewhere or Wellington should it wait for another train order, or wait a few minutes and returned to Ortona? Should it be run around one of the loops and return immediately? Should it run every day? If run more than once every 5 days, should the car could vary every run? Should we add a siding for it in Elsewhere? Any other ideas?

Branchline idea

What if we run a branch line freight from Elsewhere to the Ortona yard and back. This freight would only switch the branch line towns, Miller, Northdale, and Ortona. Why? This would take pressure off the mainline as 1 train crew would be on the branch line. It would take congestion out of Lincoln, because this train would only pass through Lincoln.  It would eliminate the confusion about the cards and switching the branch. It could be a mixed train with a couple of passenger cars. It would reduce the changes we have to make in Lincoln. How? Use the another set of card holders, which we have, for the branchline cards. It would be run as a separate railroad with its own set of cards. It would interact with the mainline from Elsewhere, eg a lumber load to Hillside Lumber driven by the mainline cards. This may require a through freight to return flat cars for lumber, tank cars, and coal hoppers needed for branchline industries from Wellington to Elsewhere. Maybe this could be the first part of this train order. You would pull the cards for the branchline mixed freight, if some of the rolling stock is not in Elsewhere, you would get them from Wellington. The log train will be just a branchline operation.
What do you think?

Merry Christmas

Hope everyone has a happy holiday.

Tuesday Night at the Huff and Puff

Good to see Doug back. Thanks to Barb Owen for the shortbread cookies and Trent's Mom for the coffee. Also thanks to the members who have brought in rolling stock for the layout.





Don did you just give that car a figure flip?















Again we ran with the new card system. It moves too much rolling stock, hmmm. Even with someone switching Lincoln, we still get bottle necks there. We still run out of rolling stock. Trent pointed out that there were 5 or 6 trains running, with 10 our more cars each, maybe over 70 cars on the move. Add another 80 cars at industries, and another 20 on the branch line, 170 cars are not in the 2 yards. I counted at 1 time of the 28 box cars 24 were at industries. I guess that's 1 thing I didn't think of, there will always be cars at every industry.  We need to space out our freight trains maybe by having 2 man crews, maybe a freight can't leave the yards until one has returned, run passenger trains. Maybe a freight shouldn't leave for the next town until the freight switching there is done, sort of a self imposed dispatch system.




Some paint added to the stone walls.
















new tunnel positioned











a new coaling tower being built for the club by Mike.















Ooops


















Christmas train is back.

Operating Procedures

Should we have something like this as our standard operating procedure?
Steam engines : 
    Train cars are dropped on the incoming track for the switcher to position in yard
    When they arrive with a train need to have the ash dumped and be turned for the next trip . If the ash dump is by the turntable might work well.
    Before leaving they would need water,coal and sand. 
     I f it is a passenger, then the express freight car needs to be picked up
    They are then parked on a ready track for the crew to pick up , get their orders and couple to their train and pck up a caboose

  Diesel engines; 

    The train cars are left on the incoming track for the switcher.
    Depending on the type of engine it may need to turned on the turntable in readiness for the next trip
    Needs to go to the prep tracks for fuel and sand before 
    This allows time for the switcher to move the incoming train and position the next outgoing freight. 
Submitted by Jim Long.

Tuesday night at the Huff & Puff

Had our monthly meeting, glad to hear Doug is on the mend. He has 20 percent off on in store stock. The new card system is a go and we will try having some members on switching duties at some of the towns. Had a few visitors, 2 Fallowfield's and an old friend Leroy. Even though it was a work night they sill got to see the layout, which from the comments they enjoyed








Don started on the crossover at Miller. The run around now ends down past the coaling tower and is hard to reach. So we used the first part of the siding to the coaling dock to create a new one where all the switching is.













Don and Tom work on the crossover in Valleyview. It was need to cut in half the 13 foot run around there. This will help switching the cement plant and allow someone to pass a stopped passenger train.

Mike and Donald swap out a turnout to the coal mine to make the siding line up better. Replacing the right hand turnout with a left hand one removed a sharp curve there. We will be backing up 6 hoppers at a time through that switch.










We are all but done plastering the upper loop. The wall on the out side of the loop was installed, including the highway bridge abutment and ramp, and the tunnel portal. The buildings are not where they go but we needed to clean up the layout for next Tuesday.

 Glen has made a tunnel portal for the other side of the middle wall, more on that next time.