Building and operating the Atlantic Inland

  I mocked up three benchwork widths with regards to places where there would be a town. The widths were as follows: 12” 14” 16” I marked off a hard line representing the scenery backdrop and then laid out some track centers representing a main track, a siding, and a spur. Then I took dimensions off some Walther’s Cornerstone structure kits and cut “foot prints” of those dimensions out of paper or card stock.  I arranged these foot prints on the remaining benchwork.  The 12” benchwork worked for just a train order office, with depot building and house track,  with room to spare. (I did not layout 8” or 10” and now I wish I had because the majority of the second deck is “planned” to be on 8” benchwork). 12” did not work so well for any area with an industrial spur. Interstate Fuel dealer actually did not fit in a manner that would allow for vehicle traffic to the pumps.  All the spacing was quite tight. The open benchwork space on the 12” sections with  a ma...

 One of the mid-sized industries I’m building on AIR2 is a coal gasification facility for the production of “Town Gas”. If you have seen the movie “The Best Years of Our Lives”, you’ll notice  Dana Andrew’s and Teresa Wright kiss in front of a gasometer, the large tanks that so clearly marked these Town Gas facilities, in the parking lot of the little Italian restaurant. On AIR2 the job that will switch the Town Gas plant is the “Gas Local”. I stole this name from Mike Peters and his late “Wyoming Railink” layout where he rostered a Gas Local. I liked the name, so sue me. My Gas Local will switch the town gas plant, it will switch an associated LP tank car facility, and move on to switch the P.E. Frantz Elevator and Mill. While the Gas local will originate in Littlerock yard, there is a small yard near the Elevator he can work out of.  My assumption is that this train will depart Littlerock yard (LRY) at the start of the session, run through the urban area that dominates ...

 In a recent blog I mentioned the Sperandeo rule, and in past blogs I’ve mentioned the Koester rule. I’m going to take time to elaborate. The Koester Rule*, as it’s known on the Atlantic Inland is that if you have one of one thing, five of them is better. Tony was referring to scenic features, I think. It came to the fore in a discussion about Fuel Wholesalers. Several years ago most layouts had no fuel dealers represented. Then Walther’s and Grandt Line offered kits of fuel wholesalers (I got both) and Viola! (Pronounced VIE-O-La**) every layout had a fuel wholesaler.  Tony weighed in on this almost at the same time and pointed out that every small town needed a fuel dealer, and that if one such industry was good three were better. This statement struck a cord with me and I adopted it with near religious fanaticism . On my layout I almost always had more than one of everything. Yards, I had three. Engine service, I had two complete facilities. Freight houses, one huge one, an...

 I’ve been re-examining my layout design and I made a startling, for me, change to my design. I reduced the space devoted to the layout and added it to the aisles. Who woulda’ thunk? I’m 290 pounds so bigger aisles are kind of required. Me aside, I  wanted crews to be able to operate and negotiate their way around the layout with less trouble. I think it’s the LDSIG that notes that aisle width should be a minimum of 28”* wide to allow two crew members to pass. I’m trying very hard not to place switching opportunities in conflicting spots. Back to back, directly across the aisle.  In any case I’ve come up with a plan that makes my minimum aisle space,  through-out, 4 feet wide. I believe the loss of some operation opportunity is off set by this additional space in the aisles. Should the aisle width take precedence over layout space?  *I believe this comes from a U.S. Navy study having to do with submarine design.

 I drove up to Timonium yesterday, a two hour drive each way. Half of the drive was spent with John Barry and we talked about transfers. The Sperandeo Rule of transfers came up. I believe I’ve discussed this before, but Andy Sperandeo stated that transfers of my era, ran one way with cars and returned home light. This was a union negotiated work rule. If the Foreign transfer picked up cars on its return trip, that job would, in fact, be taking work from the home road crews. So for example a AIR transfer run to the C&O would bring cars to the C&O, then return home with only its caboose. Then the C&O would, with its own crew, engine, and caboose bring cars to the AIR, and then return home with only its caboose. To operate transfers in this manner on my layout would require additional engines and cabooses, as well as a CREWMAN to run the other half of the transfer. My idea is to use transfers as a means to control the work load, but I’d like it if the transfer could be mad...

 As I’ve told you, repeatedly, ad nauseum,  I am planning to have foreign road transfers act as a regulating device to control the traffic intensity of the switch jobs on both the East and West ends of the layout.  After consulting the railroad atlas, and moving the WEST end of the layout 100 miles west to Charleston, WV, I settled on having the C&O, B&O, and NYC as the WEST foreign connections.  After “Wargaming” operations on the EAST end of the layout, and after an extensive visit and discussion with Bill Hanmer, I realized that the East end was already settled; the Western Maryland. On AIR1 the Western Maryland Railway was a huge presence on the layout. Half the through trains had WM power on them. I liked the WM, but I didn’t like all the foreign power, so on AIR2 I took the WM off my main line, but increased the WM track by an order of magnitude.  The WM will bring cars and trains to and from Chatsworth yard for interchange with the AIR. These trai...

 I am planning to have three additional foreign roads run transfers on my layout. On AIR1 and continuing on this layout the Western Maryland will have a large presence. Now, however, I am adding the transfer run dimension to my layout in an attempt to help regulate the session intensity for operators of differing skill levels. I already own considerable WM power and era appropriate cabooses, but I’m adding three more foreign road interchanges. The three additional foreign roads are: The C&O, B&O, and the NYC. I want these transfers to come out of a staging yard as a “Train”, that is to say, an engine, cars, and caboose, in the foreign road scheme. While I’m looking for Engines in these foreign road schemes, I’m also looking for cabooses. I’d also like it, very much in fact, if the cabooses were painted in an era appropriate scheme suited to my railroads era. By that I mean, I model 1952, and I’d like it if the C&O caboose I bought wasn’t from a scheme set in 1962. So I’...