Rico is complete - now for some ops stuff

Wow, I can't believe it's been almost a month since that last posting; looking for work and doing all the search-prep classes and whatnon burns thru the days at a surprising rate.

Anyway, I did get some time on the weekends and completed the trackwork in Rico; it's completely done now, including the Enterprise branch, turnout controls, the whole deal.

Next up is adding boxes for car-cards and waybills, and alongside that is finally figuring out my operating scheme (at least a 1st draft), adding at least markers for each of the buildings, etc.  I've decided to take a somewhat non-typical approach; if you're reading this feel free to comment on the validity of the idea.

Here it is:
I want to make operations a bit more flexible, so operators feel a little more like they're responding to the current situation on the layout, rather than following a tight script of events.  Perhaps this won't work, but my idea is to use only 2-cycle waybills, and to mostly keep the waybills stored seperately from the car cards.

We play a good number of board games around here - Rail Baron, Empire Express, Silverton, etc, and most of those function w/ some type of random demand request, which is then fulfilled as efficiently as possible to make money.  Of course, ops on a model railroad have a different focus, but I've been wondering if I could borrow some of those game concepts, and see how that might work.

The sequence would be something like this:

• At the spur (factory, mine, stockyard, etc) there are a bunch of waybills in a pocket, available for use.  Each lists the type of car needed, and a destination.  So, a mine shipping lead has a card saying it needs to ship a load of lead to Grand Jct (which is a staging location).
• The operator grabs the waybill, walks to a yard where empties have been returned, finds an appropriate car, and loads the waybill, empty-side up.  This becomes a waybill to move the empty to the mine.
• The car is routed to the mine w/ this waybill, sits for a while, and is magically loaded.
• The waybill is flipped to reveal the destination (Grand Jct staging in this example).
• The car is then routed to that location, via a scheduled or extra local, or whatever else.
• Once arriving in staging, the waybill is removed.
• The empty car-card has instructions for where to return the car, and it's returned.  Alternatively, another waybill could be inserted before it gets back to its home yard.

Trains would be routed via schedules, and supported with 'train cards' laying out their runs for each operator.  For passenger runs, those would be set schedules.  For freights, scheduled locals would simply take all available loads from point A, and pick up what's needed along their route.  Extras would be handled by the dispatcher.

So - what da ya think?

Pushing forward in Rico

Well, I'm still out of work, and spending most of my time in job-search related activities.


But, there has been some time for layout work in the evenings, and I've been working on finishing the trackwork in Rico, and on the Enterprise branch.  Nearly all of that trackwork is complete now, and I've been adding track feeders.

All of the turnouts of Peco code-75, and all of the spurs, branch, and siding track in this area is ME code-55.  I'm using ME transition rail joiners (c55 to c70) which are plastic, and this means there's a lot of insulated track, and a lot of feedeers to install.  But wow, does that code 55 look great!

Feeling pretty blue today

This isn't about the RGS or my layout today... no, it's me feeling gloomy.  I lost my job yesterday, along w/ 80% of our office, which is being closed.  Piles of work, trips booked, meetings planned - then suddenly nearly all of us are gone.

There is severance and other benefits, but the loss is pretty painful right now.  I was there 22 years, and this change will take some getting used to, to say the least.

And no, the economy has nothing to do w/ this - corporate acquired one of our competitors, then decided to move the software headquarters, management, quality (my area), tesing, and more to their location, and to discontinue a number of our products.  Corporate greed?  Saavy business?  I don't know... seems there should've been better ways to use a staff w/ the decades of experience and very industry-specific expertise that can't be replaced easily.

Making tracks in Rico... again

After a long pause for wiring, I'm back to laying track.  I managed to save up enough to purchase the rest of the track for Rico and the Enterprise branch, and have completed about 1/2 of the town's industrial trackage already.

Once Rico is complete, that'll leave only Dolores and Durango for major track-laying work.  Ridgway is done, except for the engine terminal, which is waiting on the turntable, which is waiting on funds that - um - aren't available yet!

HUGE milestone - operations can begin!

A friend and I wired the last Tortoise turnout motor (of the initial set of these, anyway), spent some time cleaning tools and whatnot from the tracks, and then started some simple operations.  The Ridgway and Telluride yards worked wonderfully, and we had a blast doing some switching and routing trains back and forth.  Although we mostly used only these two towns (and Rico a little), there was plenty of space, and it's encouraging that the layout can probably support a good number of operators easily, even now.

Next up, hopefully - completion of the Rico trackage, and the Enterprise branch, which should add significantly the operating possibilties.

I've started playing with David Hussman's car-card / waybill software, and eventually will start moving toward some more formalized operating schemes.  If you're looking for his software, btw, it's in the files section  Yahoo's Car Cards group.  It's great, and it's free, but does require Microsoft Excel and Access, on a Windows platform (since Access isn't available for the Mac at the moment).