Sketching An Operations Plan

This week, while I could not work in the train room, I spent some time working on ideas for operating the train.I have been thinking about some of the limits of a circular track plan and at fist I thought this would be much more difficult than the last layout which was linear and staging on either end. But soon I realized it would be pretty straightforward.
First I determined the track capacity.I used a 40' boxcar as the a standard measure since all other cars (hoppers, gondolas, and ore cars) are smaller than this. I also determined what cars would be routed on the spurs. For example the mine tracks will only have hopper cars (H) while the industries in East McKeesport will only have boxcars (XM or XF). I use a rather simple AAR car code designation which I will describe in a later post.

Track capacity of the yard, all spurs and 2 hidden tracks

Next I considered each town on the layout - Irwin, Uniontown, Herminie and East McKeesport and how to best work the spurs whether from eastbound or westbound traffic. Once I had given it some thought, I realized that both Uniontown and Herminie should be worked by eastbound trains and East McKeesport would be served westbound. This follows the map geography as well. I had considered making one of the spurs on the left side Greensburg (LAS Fabrics) but as I worked through things I realized this would not fit.

Trackplan with the cities noted

Next step was to set up an alternating eastbound and westbound plan. Initially I do not intend to run completely under TT&TO (timetable and train orders) but I wanted something that would keep 2-3 operators busy for 2 or so hours. So I started working through the options. Herminie is too constrained to pull cars and drop off new so I would need to have a train do a pickup (p/u) and a second actually do the setouts. Hermanie was pretty easy as there is plenty of lead track except there are a lot of cars to move so at least 2 coal trains and a separate one for the P&LE Interchange.

Initial train list and their duties

Once  I saw I had 4 trains eastbound and only 2 westbound, I decided instead of having the city represent Greensburg in the east and East McKeesport to the west, it would just be East McKeesport with traffic going from Irwin Yard westbound with 2 trains, one servicing LAS Fabrics on the northside (back of the tracks) and 1 train servicing the south tracks on front of the layout.
Add 2 trains coming out of staging and I have a start. Hoping to have some time this weekend to actually go through the paces and see how it works. Wish me luck!

Weekend Notes

This past weekend, I had a little more free time than usual and wisely spent it working on the train. I did not accomplish much in the way of "major" changes but niched away at a few items that have been hanging around.

Daily Coal & Fuel Oil gets a little scenery

• Completed the scenery between the West Yard and the wall from the end of the layout to the PPG/Heinz spur.
• Added the remaining I beams to the underside of the Rt. 30 bridge.
• Added a roof to GGS Cabinets, unique on the layout as I spray painted it black, sprinkled on some sand and added another layer of painted.
• Finished the scenery around the Dailey Coal & Fuel Oil spur.
• Tested a mockup building flat for the PPG building on the spur.

Finished the scene from the rails to the wall in Irwin Yard

All in all, not a lot of changes but each little thing moves the layout forward. Soon, I will have the most development layout of the 5 or so I have built!

C;lancy's Tavern

Recently, I was able to finish Clancy's Tavern. This is the Kelly's Saloon DPM kit which I had decided was the perfect fit for this spot on the layout. I happened to be working in Harrisburg when I decided this and found a local hobby shop that was mostly RC but they had some train items - including a single building kit. Kelly's Saloon!

Clancy's Tavern on the right

Generally, I like the DPM kits except they are a little on the rough side. I had to sand the edges of the side walls to get the kit square. I printed some colored signs (white on black background) for the Clancy's name on the front door - a favorite Dayton restaurant that I always take Lisa and the kids to. Actually, it's a running joke. "Where do you want to eat, Dad?" "How about Clancy's?" Great chicken wings.
Anyway, I wanted to put some life on the upper floor (eventually there will be interior lighting) and the DPM kit showed a dance studio, so I created a sign for Dinah's Dance Studio. The prototype is Dinah Mason's School Of Performing Dance, in Irwin PA, run by my cousin. I thought it was perfect for the second floor space.
The building on the left is another DPM kit and I am thinking it will have a Kay's Bookstore (for Mom) on the first floor, AK Public Relations (for Angie) and an apartment on the 3rd floor. Still mulling that.

Nearly finished corner scene

Once I had these two buildings in place, I just added a couple of sidewalks, a parking lot and started concentrating on adding the scenery for the hill supporting Rt 30 behind them. As you can see, the scene looks pretty nice. This took a little while to pull together but gives me hope that I can get the rest of the layout scenery down...eventually!

Track Repair and Scenery

Yesterday, I was running the trains for the first time in probably 2 months. When we discussed the next time we would work on the train (Lisa calls it our "play date"), we could either finally tackle the bad track section between the liftout and Irwin Yard, or we could begin the scenery on the hills in Herminie and Uniontown. Bruce suggested we fix the track and I was hesitant.

The Cobweb Express

 I ran the trains before he showed up just to make sure things were working. Surprisingly, they ran although as you can see in the photo, 2 months idle is plenty of time for the summertime critters to get busy. In fact, in one corner of the layout, Bruce discovered a large, industrious spider apparently attempting to take over East McKeesport.
I was very hesitant to rip out the track. The outside track was OK and "most" trains ran east or west with little problem. The inside track could only run east bound, always derailing westbound trains. Bruce's idea was to replace the flextrack, which could not see to hold the correct spacing over the liftout cut with sectional curved track. We replaced the inside with 2 sections of 18" and 1 section of 22" radius track pieces and the outside track with a single 22" radius section. This worked so well that Bruce was running tracks BACKWARDS around the layout to test the reliability. He says this is his method of testing track...ouch! Actually, the trains performed very well only derailing once in a totally different section of the layout.

Testing the outer track first, everything works great!

It actually took longer that I was anticipating to fix and test this section of track and Bruce said he only had about 20 minutes before he headed out. Perfect to get started on some scenery.

The hill and tunnel in Herminie PA ready for scenery

Since he did the plastering on Herminie Hill, I wanted to leave the rest of the scenery for him to complete - other than the base coat of "earth" paint I had applied to get things ready. Now Bruce claims has not done much scenery work before but one of things I like about my approach to scenery is that if you don't like it, you can easily cover it with trees and bushes, or quickly strip it off and try again.

Bruce applying different colored grasses to the mountain top

 AS you can see from the "after" photo, its looking pretty good.

First application of scenery

After I took Lisa and the boys to dinner, I had some time Saturday night and decided to tackle the hillside in Uniontown which is tens of miles down the line, but actually on the model railroad only on the other side of the scenery divider from Herminie. I had more time than Bruce so I was able to get a little farther along.

Adding scenery to Uniontown hill

In my next post, I'll talk about some of the work I've been doing in the corner of the layout where Route 30 provided a view block, I have several structure projects underway and I think the next time Bruce comes over, we either will make tress or better yet, I need to have a few dozen ready to place on the layout.