Notes on Designing, Building and Operating Model Railroads

As I’ve settled in at the new home, I’ve met some local model railroaders through a few email groups. A few weeks ago I received an email from Tim, a local model railroader. He invited me to operate on a local layout. After checking the family calendar, I sent a note that I was clear to attend.

If you have not had the opportunity to operate on a model railroad using rules and procedures of the prototype, I highly recommend you reach out for this experience. I attended an operating session in 1987 that was a defining moment in my hobby career. Operating a model railroad makes it come alive. The purpose of the tracks and design become more apparent with train movements and spotting freight cars at industries. From that moment on, my perspective on designing and building model railroads changed. 

Tim had invited me to an operating session on Jerry’s layout; an HO scale model railroad based on Penn Central operations in New Castle, Pennsylvania. The layout occupies a portion of a large basement and is set in 1969. Jerry uses Digitrax digital command control to make the trains move.

I arrived early to meet folks and review the layout. The Penn Central had a few branches and secondaries serving New Castle. The E&A Branch is a double-track mainline that loops from a hidden staging yard into the visible layout. The E&A Branch connects with Moravia Yard (a small pocket yard), passes through a junction with the E&P Branch then disappears back to the same hidden staging yard. Action centers on Moravia Yard as E&A Branch through trains picked-up and dropped-off blocks of freight cars here. Several local switching jobs worked out of Moravia Yard to the nearby industrial branches. These switching jobs would depart Moravia Yard on the E&A Branch then follow the E&P Branch at the junction. Jerry has modeled the E&P Branch, New Castle Secondary, and Houston Secondary on a stretch of his layout that is entirely separate from the double-track E&A Branch. All of this is under Penn Central operations.

I was quickly paired with Fred and we were called to run the New Castle Local. Our train had eight cars to spot at industries along the New Castle Secondary tracks adjacent to the E&P Branch. Ron, the Moravia Yardmaster, asked that we pull cars from industries that are bound for Youngstown. Fred offered to be the conductor if I would be the engineer. That sounded fine to me, so I dialed the locomotive number into the throttle and backed the loco to the awaiting cars. After coupling to the train and waiting a minute to pump up the air in the brake lines, we were ready for clearance to proceed. Yardmaster Ron checked with Jerry and we had an ‘all clear’.

I don’t recall how long it took for Fred and I to spot and pull cars on the New Castle Local. It may have been ninety minutes later when we returned to Moravia Yard with nine cars for Youngstown. Yardmaster Ron had his hands full as another local was about to depart, and a through train on the double-track E&A Branch was waiting to drop-off and pick-up cuts of cars at Moravia Yard.

  

Jerry uses car cards to route each freight car to a destination. Each freight car has a card with a pocket that holds a waybill. The waybill directs yardmasters and operators to route and spot the freight car at a specific destination. Between sessions, Jerry updates the waybills on many cars to give them a new place to go on the layout. This is a traditional system that was originally outlined in a 1960 issue of Model Railroader. Jerry has car card boxes mounted to the fascia near the intended industry or industrial siding.

 

Fred and I had a short break before we were called to run the Houston Local. We prepped the train to leave Moravia Yard similar to the previous run. This local was headed to the Houston Secondary, also just off of the E&P Branch. Here’s a similar train leaving Moravia Yard.

As I operated, I noted several key layout features. While I am not familiar with the rails of New Castle, it seems apparent that Jerry is following the prototype setting. Several large industries are served by the railroad. Most of these have several spots to receive multiple cars, with some specialized spots for inbound cars. It was very interesting to see several neighboring industrial districts. While I operated on two districts, it seems there are four industrial districts along the E&P Branch. A message from Jerry confirmed this as he marks up paperwork with Mahoning Avenue district, Washington Street district, Grant Street district, and Houston Secondary. Of note is how Moravia Yard Functions as an interchange point between the mainline and local work. The junction between the E&P and E&A Branches is modeled well. Jerry is working to make this fully interlocked and under the control of a tower operator. Lastly, local track diagrams were installed to ease understanding of spots and industrial locations for the crews. These diagrams were inside a plastic display which had a metal disc glued to the back. A magnet on the fascia holds it in place. The diagrams were very helpful.

Fred and I wrapped up the Houston Local work and returned to Moravia Yard. After dropping our loco on the ready track I was able to chat with Jerry about the layout. As mentioned, the model railroad uses a portion of the basement. Jerry wants to move this segment towards complete scenery before moving to the next phase. Eventually the E&P Branch will be extended into the next room for more action, although a set of Free-Mo yard modules may be temporarily employed to create a staging yard at the far end of this branch. Either way, there will be interesting operational challenges as through trains are added to the mix. Locals working the New Castle and Houston Secondaries will need to be aware of updated train orders and schedule changes.

Before I knew it, time had slipped by and I had to head home. Thanks went around to all of the operators for helping me out. My head was spinning with ideas and memories of the evening as I motored home. It has been a few months since I attended an operating session, so this night on Jerry’s Penn Central recharged my batteries. The experience gave me some ideas for the future home layout and motivation to progress further on the new project. I’ll have some details on my new layout theme very soon.

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 25th, 2009 at 15:30 and is filed under operating. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.