Second Solo Operating Session

I only did a few things on the layout this weekend. I cut two sample boards to test my idea of a shelf for working with the car cards & waybills. They are the size I need and cut to form a right angle in the corner of Herminie but I am not positive on how I want to have them mounted to the fascia. I might get to that next weekend and will post a picture then.
I did managed some time to do test runs of the next two trains on the schedule. I had planned to alternate the eastbound and westbound trains but instead focused on just the success of running a train out of the yard, performing the work at the siding and bringing it back. So I ended up running the first two westbound trains on the schedule.

First two westbound trains for the day

I have not even named these trains yet (another thing for next weekend) but the purpose of the first westbound is to head to East McKeesport (around a couple of loops through the neighboring towns) and work the front two sidings for May Stern Furniture (east or right end) and the industries on the left siding which include Stetson Convention Service and Allegheny Cold Storage. Unlike the first solo run I documented in my last blog entry, I would be encountering both a facing point (the engine faces forward to enter the siding) and a trailing point (the engine backs down the siding). Since the object is to get all the cars BEHIND the locomotive, working a trailing point switch is easier than a facing point.
Bruce did an excellent job placing not one but two runaround tracks here in East McKeesport. The engine cuts off from the rest of the train and pulls the cars off the May Stern siding, then pulls the cars destined for May Stern off the train and run arounds them to push them onto the siding. Next, I pulled the cars from the other siding, place them out of the way on the farther roundaround track before pulling the rest of the cars from the train and pushing them on the empty siding. Finally, I assemble a the return train with the cars I pulled from the siding using the passing track as necessary to get on the right side of the cars and head back to Irwin.
The next train I ran out is even more interesting as its purpose is to work LAS Fabrics and the siding for PPG/Heinz...both facing point switches! I'll detailed that in my next blog entry.
One of the things I am realizing as I run through the timetable by myself is (a) I need to have these trains made up in the yard in order to send them out. And if you think that's a "well, duh!" moment, you should have seen me scrambling for (b) I need to have enough cars on the layout for all these trains!
Yeah, who would have ever guess that was a problem.