föstudagur, 30. maí 2014
Browse »
home »
Operations
»
Refining the Operating Script
Owning a large operating model railroad comes with a unique set of �management� challenges. The first of these is creating the operating scheme itself. Creating the schedule for a model railroad operating session is not unlike writing a play (hey, that�s an original thought, isn�t it?). Another issue is crew size. Too many people and inevitably an operating session will devolve into a gab fest. Too few and it seems like everyone is scrambling to keep up since trains are ready before bodies to man them.
Refining the Operating Script
Owning a large operating model railroad comes with a unique set of �management� challenges. The first of these is creating the operating scheme itself. Creating the schedule for a model railroad operating session is not unlike writing a play (hey, that�s an original thought, isn�t it?). Another issue is crew size. Too many people and inevitably an operating session will devolve into a gab fest. Too few and it seems like everyone is scrambling to keep up since trains are ready before bodies to man them.With each session I�ve made tweaks to the operating scheme to refine the �script.� At this point I�ve done the following:
1. Assign two-person crews to the local trains.
2. Assigned a crew member as the �Southern Division� crew. He works the B&M transfers to and from WRJ and runs the CV trains in and out of staging.
3. Added an Essex Junction turn to the operating scheme.
But even with these changes there�s still a need to flesh out the operating schedule with a few more trains. At the time I�m modeling the CV ran a grand total of 12 trains (6 freight/6 passenger) a day on the Roxbury subdivision. Each operating session is one 12-hour trick (with a 3:1 fast clock, that�s about 4 hours). Here�s the rub � I have a group of good friends who�ve given up their spare time to help me bring the railroad to life. Running a total of six trains in four actual hours doesn�t really cut it.
We could add second-sections, extras and the like. But this is Vermont, not the Northeast Corridor, so simply piling on more trains isn�t really the answer. The tightrope is to keep my operators sufficiently entertained and engaged but not end up with so many trains that a headlight is appearing over the horizon every 10 seconds.
A more extreme possibility involves resurrecting my freelanced railroad, the Southern New England (see MRP 2000). There is still plenty of SNE lettered equipment floating around the layout. And frankly, I kind of like those engines and cars. While this change may seem extreme it really isn't. Best of all, it requires no changes to the layout itself!
The real Southern New England was a proposed extension from Palmer, Mass. on the CV mainline to Providence RI. In the real world it was graded but never finished. My previous layouts were based on the fiction that the line was completed. The layout modeled the theoretical SNE mainline from Providence to Palmer.
But what if, although I�m not modeling the SNE itself, I presume the SNE was finished? White River Junction could serve as a logical division point for SNE trains heading to/from Providence or New London. An additional freight train or two could be added to the schedule between Montreal and Providence. There�s even the potential to split the Washingtonian/Montrealer in WRJ into �Providence� and �New York/DC� sections.
Part of the whole point of a blog is a chance for the reader to work through such things with the blogger. I'll conclude this post by saying the addition of the SNE trains is something I'm pondering - there are some negatives to simply throwing more trains on the schedule in the effort to simply entertain one or two additional operators. Since it doesn't require any real changes to the physical layout it will be a simple matter to try it out. But I'm not sure I'm going to like it.
1. Assign two-person crews to the local trains.
2. Assigned a crew member as the �Southern Division� crew. He works the B&M transfers to and from WRJ and runs the CV trains in and out of staging.
3. Added an Essex Junction turn to the operating scheme.
But even with these changes there�s still a need to flesh out the operating schedule with a few more trains. At the time I�m modeling the CV ran a grand total of 12 trains (6 freight/6 passenger) a day on the Roxbury subdivision. Each operating session is one 12-hour trick (with a 3:1 fast clock, that�s about 4 hours). Here�s the rub � I have a group of good friends who�ve given up their spare time to help me bring the railroad to life. Running a total of six trains in four actual hours doesn�t really cut it.
We could add second-sections, extras and the like. But this is Vermont, not the Northeast Corridor, so simply piling on more trains isn�t really the answer. The tightrope is to keep my operators sufficiently entertained and engaged but not end up with so many trains that a headlight is appearing over the horizon every 10 seconds.
A more extreme possibility involves resurrecting my freelanced railroad, the Southern New England (see MRP 2000). There is still plenty of SNE lettered equipment floating around the layout. And frankly, I kind of like those engines and cars. While this change may seem extreme it really isn't. Best of all, it requires no changes to the layout itself!
The real Southern New England was a proposed extension from Palmer, Mass. on the CV mainline to Providence RI. In the real world it was graded but never finished. My previous layouts were based on the fiction that the line was completed. The layout modeled the theoretical SNE mainline from Providence to Palmer.
But what if, although I�m not modeling the SNE itself, I presume the SNE was finished? White River Junction could serve as a logical division point for SNE trains heading to/from Providence or New London. An additional freight train or two could be added to the schedule between Montreal and Providence. There�s even the potential to split the Washingtonian/Montrealer in WRJ into �Providence� and �New York/DC� sections.Part of the whole point of a blog is a chance for the reader to work through such things with the blogger. I'll conclude this post by saying the addition of the SNE trains is something I'm pondering - there are some negatives to simply throwing more trains on the schedule in the effort to simply entertain one or two additional operators. Since it doesn't require any real changes to the physical layout it will be a simple matter to try it out. But I'm not sure I'm going to like it.
Gerast áskrifandi að:
Birta ummæli (Atom)
Engin ummæli:
Skrifa ummæli