Building and operating the Atlantic Inland

 I’m starting the Helix. The floor is painted and there is a “base” installed upon which I hope to build the helix. It has been brought to my attention that these things are heavy. Lights. I just got another box of lights. I like these lights best and I want to install them in the aisles, but they need a modification so that they can be mounted to the joists.  Smoke detectors. This is something I did not think I’d need in the train room until that layout fire we all heard about recently. So I spent some money and bought a three pack of smoke detectors for the train room. They need to go up. Once the helix is up, we are off to the races. I’ll try to start posting pictures, but in any case I’ll keep you posted.

 On the West end of AIR2 there are two industries in particular, many other industries get reefers, that receive and or ship reefers. The Wholesale Produce Market* and the West Virginia Cold Storage. Between the two they have 64 spots for reefers. If all these MTY Reefers are sent to Littlerock Yard for forwarding back to their points of origin, then Littlerock will be jammed. The two industries in question are worked by the Jay Yard Switcher.  I’d like your input.  Can the Jay Yard Switcher bring these cars back to its yard, and simply build an MTY reefer train there? Power could move light from the house at Littlerock, or the power could be stationed at Jay Yard, and when a train is built, just depart from there? I understand it is not as simple as just gathering up a bunch of reefers and off we go. All URTX reefers need to be culled out for cleaning and then loading at the brewery. Next the remaining reefers need to be classified as to final destinations. Empty MDT ree...

 Based strictly on the plans for my next layout, my mainline is 930’ long. Figure about 30 minutes end to end at full track speed. I do not, at this writing, know how many station stops a passenger train will make. For four of my passenger trains (#’s 1, 2, 15, 16) they make only one or two stops. For the other four (#’s 27, 28, 35, 36), all mail and express trains, they have multiple stops. Let’s look only at Train 27. Twenty-Seven is one of two of my primary East-West Mail and Express trains. #27 will also bring fresh milk in to a creamery at Littlerock Yard (East Charleston, WV). I am a TTTO railroad. So when a crewman picks up this train he shows up at Chatsworth Yard and picks up this train. He has Time-Table authority so he knows what time he is departing, but he still must get a clearance from the Dispatcher. So the train crew for #27 has a train pack full of CCWB’s, a Time-Table, and a clearance. He then signs the register, and OS’s his departure. I want this train to simul...

 After both Al Daumann and I attended different ops events this past week, Al was in New Jersey* and I was in Indiana, we discussed Passenger operations at length. What we basically found was that, FOR THE MOST PART, layout owners simulate VERY limited passenger operations. It’s rare that a passenger train even has a train pack with, what I would consider, are the normal items: CCWB, train brief, as well as paperwork that simulates passenger tickets, express packages, mail bags or milk cans* So let’s go over what I think should be included in passenger operations. I’ll make a list then try to give a detailed explanation. CCWB, Picking-up and Setting-out cars, passenger servicing facilities, passenger tickets, mail bags, express bills, milk or dairy operations,  So first, I know there were not waybills associated with passenger cars, but I think it’s important to use CCWB with all your passenger equipment to keep the trains organized. I use numbers and colors on my waybills. Fo...

 We signed up for Three River Ops in Ft. Wayne, IN. We drove out from home on Friday. The drive was easy. I enjoyed the drive from Winchester to Ft. Wayne, Indiana. Roughly 7 hours. Because of a lack of interest, only 24 people signed up, the organizers dropped the Friday layouts. We used the Friday as a travel day. There was not much to choose from meal-wise near my hotel, i settled for a nearby  Italian restaurant and ate average pasta. I would not go back, but it was far better than the Doritos I had on Sunday night! The first op session was Saturday Morning. This layout was the Northern Michigan. I was Grand Rapids YM, and had a rolling chair. These days I love sit down YM jobs, and in fact plan my Littlerock Yard job to be sit-down. Here Fred Paepke, the Layout owner, uses “Ship-It” switch lists. I’m not a huge fan of this because of the “Cherry picking” it forces on you, but Fred had this organized well, and from my perspective it was workable and I had a good time. Even...

 Re-railers are pieces of track the majority of us find far too toy-like to place on our layouts. I just ordered 72 of them. In my hidden trackage I’m placing a re-railer on each side of a yard ladder. So in a staging yard of four tracks, I’d have five re-railers. In East and West Staging there are  nine re-railers.  The idea is that if a train derails on the yard ladder of a hidden staging yard, either while departing or entering, the re-railer MIGHT catch the dragging equipment and re-rail it. Additionally I have several swing gates or lift outs. On each side of these sections gaps in the tracks I’m placing a re-railer. In West staging there is a lift out in front of the egress window. There are 8 tracks and that 16 re-railers. The idea s to keep the trains on the tracks when they pass through these areas. I’ll also have re-railers in the Helix. Finally, after speaking with a coupler modelers, I’m considering placing re-railers in the middle of each staging yard to help...