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February 24, 2008
Op Session Number Four! This session was an exercise in minimalism – we ran the layout with only 8 people where normally I employ a full crew of 12. And it worked out all right, but I think we were really one crew member short of what we really needed in the end.
Originally scheduled for Friday evening on Feb. 22nd, but postponed due to a snowstorm that day, we had the session on Sunday the 24th at 11 am. We lost about half the scheduled crew members because of the date change, but picked up a few who couldn’t make it Friday. The final roster of crews for the session turned out to be:
Jim Schweitzer – Dispatcher
Neil Henning – Dock Yard YM
Henry Freeman – Wilson Point YM
Tom Callan – Mole Operator / Helper
Tom Bacigalupo – Road Crew
Craig Bisgeier – Road Crew
Ted Pamperin – Road Crew
David Ramos – Road Crew
We had no operator (person who copies orders from the dispatcher), no Wilson Point hostler (who usually works with the passenger crews to get the trains turned and ready, and handles moving power in and out of the roundhouse), a South Norwalk Shifter who assists the Dock Yard YM, and 1-2 more road crews. We got by all right, but we really could have used one more road crew or someone to man the South Norwalk Shifter to make things go more smoothly.
We got started a bit late as I was not quite done cleaning up (as usual) but several of the guys pitched in vacuuming and putting things away and we were ready to begin by 11:30. The clock went on at 5 am scale time, and within a few minutes Ted Pamperin was out on the road southbound with #10, the milk train.
Because we were short of road crews (normally we have six, not four) I had to step in and help get the other trains over the road. I took #4, out shortly after #10, and this was the first time I had officially ever operated on my own layout! I need to do this more often, because I learned in the first hour that the timetable schedules for the passenger trains are too fast to keep up with. I was supposed to meet #5 at Wilton, but he couldn’t make it in time to get there, and I met him at Winnipauk instead. Then #5 could not advance against #6 heading down behind me for the same reason, which set him even farther behind.
Poor Tom Bacigalupo running #5 had to sit there with his schedule ticking off until #6 finally met him in Winnipauk also. And by the time he made it up to Georgetown, he was on train #8’s time and stuck again. Which was a real problem because His trainset was also going to be train #8! Jim Schweitzer had to write him a train order to get past Branchville so his train could get looped in staging and sent back out as #8. He finally got there and started heading back but he was quite far behind.
Now again, since we were short of crews, Tom B’s frustrating experience had ripple effects all over the layout. Tom was only supposed to be handling #5, then he was supposed to go and help out Neil around Dock Yard so Neil could concentrate on getting the local trains built, and switching out the trains to and from Wilson Point from points north. Tom B. was supposed to be the South Norwalk shifter, responsible for industries around South Norwalk as well as the freight house and team tracks in Dock Yard.
But with Tom B. being tied up on passenger runs, Neil had no help and was getting into trouble. Trying to manage everything in the yard was confusing him, and some issues with him trying to understand the To / Via format of the waybills led to some real problems for him. Adding to that, two dead spots in the track surfaced around Dock (one on the mainline by where I’d installed the new switch, and one on a crossover track off the lead just shy of the ladder) and that slowed him down even more.
I also did not make clear to him that he needed to watch his lineup and make each of the local turns ready on time, so they all got terribly delayed (making matters worse for him because the cars sat in his yard, plugging it up). Making matters worse he sent a whole cut of cars to Wilson Point that were not supposed to go there, complicating things terribly. By the second part of the session I jumped in and started working as the South Norwalk Shifter for him, And Tom B. started trying to help Neil out too, but by then it was really too late. I felt really bad, it wasn't his fault so much as mine for not making sure he had all the tools and a clear understanding of what needed to be done.
Please don’t get the idea I’m trying to bury Neil here, I’m not. He got confused and had no help, but still he managed to get cars on and off the trains and kept things going. I think he did a decent job and next time we’ll talk some about the job beforehand and I know he’ll do much better. It’s just a matter of building up some experience doing the job. Dock yard isn’t the easiest yard to run; it’s small for the volume it has to handle and could make life difficult for even an experienced yardmaster unless they can stay on top of it. Neil will learn to do that and very soon I think.
Jim Schweitzer did a great job at the Dispatcher position, as he always does. He was helping out the crews understand and interpret the timetable and train orders as needed. He is such a valuable asset, I’m always glad when he can make it for a session. The only problem we had with Jim was my fault, I neglected to give him a copy of the train lineup before we began (I thought it was right there on the desk, it wasn’t) and that affected how he was able to identify and call the many different extra trains. As a result, it ended up being a fairly light schedule with not more than one or two trains on the road at a time, most of the time. It may also have been due to the lack of crews available as well.
Henry did fine at Wilson Point, though I believe there were some delays having to do with passenger trains not getting turned quickly enough to make the next schedule early on. I know he was fighting with a balky locomotive and idler cars that were too light, but eventually he picked a smoother engine, and I saw that he found a heavier flatcar to work with as an idler (he actually replaced the wheelsets and couplers on it during a lull in the action so he could use it). As he said later, “Better to do something about it than to sit there and complain”.
Henry had plenty to say after the session about car weight, which I had to agree with a lot of. There are too many cars on the layout that have not been ‘shopped’ yet, meaning pulled off the layout and checked for weight, coupler height, wheel gauge, free-rolling trucks, and so on. This is causing problems and needs to be addressed right away. He offered to take a bunch home and do that for me, and I may yet take him up on that at some point. I could sure use the help.
Tom Callan did a good job in the Mole Staging area, getting trains built up and turned around for us. At one point we even got him out of there for a while, when the northbound priority Manifest couldn’t get out of Dock Yard with its train. Tom came out and manned a helper locomotive, and he and I took the train all the way up the railroad together. That was really fun, and I think Tom enjoyed it too. We did miss a few carfloat sailings, though. I probably didn’t stress that enough with him, in fact I know I didn’t explain it clearly. Usually I take on the harbormaster job during the session but since I was busy I couldn’t.
David, Ted and Tom B. got to run a lot of trains through the day, so I would imagine they had a really good time. I think David got to run two of the three local turns, the Standard Oil job and the Georgetown Turn, which ran so late it almost outlawed and got stranded on the layout. Except for Neil getting a bit flustered, everyone seemed to have a really good time and we ran a full 12 hours on the clock. I have another list of problems to fix as long as my arm, but with every session that list gets a little shorter. Hopefully sometime soon we’ll get most of the issues squared away, and we can concentrate more on the finer aspects of the operations!
August 17, 2007
Op Session Number Three! After seven months of renovations to the layout, we had another operating session tonight. Where nearly everyone had a good time, there were a couple of problems that still need to be ironed out. But for the most part the session was a big success and I was very glad for it. Pictures from the session are at the end of this blog entry.
The attendees were:
Craig Bisgeier - Trainmaster
Jim Schweitzer - Dispatcher
Jonathan Jones - Operator
Dock Yard Yardmaster - Phil Monat
Wilson Point Yardmaster - Ray Louis
Wilson Point Shifter - Mark Guffrie
Gopher - Jay Held
Mole Operator - Tom Schmeider
Scott Dunlap - Road crew
Ted Pamperin - Road Crew
Tom Callan - Road Crew
Mike and Mike Jr. Sicurella - Road Crew
Jeff Ward was supposed to be attending but had a family emergency. We ended up with only four road crews but we managed to get through things. A lot of my regular operators were not available for this session but the new guys stepped in and did a great job
We started off a little late because we waited for everyone to arrive, and spent about 20 minutes going through the rulebook very briefly and diagnosing an engine problem, but the clock went on at about 8:15 pm. Things seemed to go very smoothly for the first 15-20 minutes, until Phil found there were some serious electrical problems in Dock Yard with frogs that were acting dead, even though every one of them was wired up with the new switch machines. Apparently there needs to be a lot of adjustments here before the next session.
But even worse, there was a critical turnout (north entrance to the Dock Yard siding) that was causing the entire layout to shut down anytime a train ran over it. This was a very serious problem, one that I probably introduced by doing some last-minute wire hookups in that area right before the session. Phil and I debated whether or not I should remove the connections but it was decided to let it be, just in case it made the problem worse. Between that and the other dead frog issues, Phil had a difficult time running the yard all night, which I felt really bad about. But he took it in stride and did the best he could.
The first bunch of passenger trains seemed to run smoothly, everyone reading their timetables and the meets all came off pretty well. The first real problem was when the Milk Train showed up in Wilson point without the milk cars it was supposed to pick up in Wilton! Fortunately another passenger train was just coming south through Georgetown and the Dispatcher managed to stop him at Wilton and give hin instructions to stop at the creamery just ahead and pick up the milk cars. Minor disaster averted, and the milk cars still got to Wilson Point, just a little delayed. This was the first time we got to use the Train Order boards on the clock panels in action, and they worked perfectly!
Then it was time to start the freight movements. Tom Schmeider put a lot of work into the job and did really well, getting as much use out of the cars he had and building. Of course, almost all the freights are extras, and needed orders and clearances to run. Some of the operators were a little confused at first on how it all worked, but everyone seemed to be catching on fairly quickly. Guys were signing the registers at Branchville and Wilson Point, reading their orders, and checking the timetables so as not to get in the way of the first class trains. I was really pleased about that.
Because several of my regulars who normally bring extra throttles didn't make it, we eventually reached a point where we ran out, and had some issues with the passenger trains starting to fall down on their schedules. It also had to do with not having enough road crew operators, we could have used one more guy. I tried to step in at one point and run a train but couldn't because all the cabs were in use. Oh, well. (I did run a train later in the session and had a good time with it, though.)
One of the great parts of the session was getting to watch Mike Sicurella and his son taking a train around the layout. Neither one had operated before and they had a shaky start, but by the middle of the session they were going gangbusters. They worked with each other to remember to OS their train, sign the registers and read their orders, and were having a great time doing it. Mike Jr. was really getting into it, and dad had a huge grin on his face all through the session. It felt really good to sit back for a few minutes and watch them. I would love to have had a relationship with my dad like that. I hope they remember having fun together like that for a long time.
Back to the session. I had really put a lot of work into the paperwork for the layout over the last couple of months for the session and it really came through. I got good marks from Jim on the tools he needed to work with as a dispatcher, The road crews used the timetables and had done some homework on the rules, and the yard guys were happy with their custom train lineups at each location. But it looks like I need to be more clear about how traffic on this part of the layout is supposed to be handled.
There were a lot of instances where cars that should have stayed at Dock Yard to go on a local train ended up going out to staging, where they would ping-pong right back to the yard on the next train south. I will have to add a section to the rulebook explaining that cars bound for South Norwalk, Winnipauk, Wilton and Georgetown have to go to Dock Yard to end up on the Georgetown Turn (a local freight train) to get to their destinations. Cars for Branchville, Ridgefield, Bethel and Danbury go to Danbury to get on the Branchville Turn, which serves those locations (or at least it will when the upper deck gets built).
There was also some confusion about the difference between Dock Yard and South Norwalk. Apparently it was not clear that Dock Yard is located in beautiful downtown South Norwalk, and that most industries there are served through the team tracks and freight house located next to, almost within, the yard. Cars bound for these location are billed as South Norwalk and not Dock Yard, so they were not sure where to send them. Once this was explained to the yard crews (especially at Wilson Point), everything ran a little more smoothly.
The guys at Wilson Point were both new to the job, and it took them a little while to get the jist of things. There were a few mistakes made (again because of a lack of good paperwork - sorry guys) that screwed up some movements a bit and put extra pressure on Dock Yard, and things got behind a bit down at the water's edge. But eventually they caught up and got things under control. The heavy southward volume of commuter trains in the morning is a problem for Wilson Point, as several sets of passenger cars and baggage cars have to lay over there for 2-3 hours before the evening rush where they all go north again. It becomes a problem trying to find a place to stash the equipment without fouling the float yard. This is only going to get worse as we add more baggage and passenger cars to the layout.
Towards the end of the session, Tom Schmeider managed to get some seriously long freight trains together and ran them out on the line. One with 15 cars, one with 18 cars! I was shocked he was able to to that, I didn't think there were enough cars on the layout to manage it. But there they were! Phil managed to get a few longer trains out of Dock Yard going north as well. I was wondering if we were going to have our first incident of having to double the hill between Winnipauk and Wilton, but the locomotive handled the task without failing.
We finally stopped the clock about midnight, just shy of having run a 12 hour session. We never got around to the sweeper trains, though the last couple of passenger runs before the big northward push in the late afternoon did get run. There was no time for a bull session afterward because folks wanted to get home, but a couple of the guys stuck around for a while and we talked about some of the good and bad things that happened. All in all a good time was had by nearly everyone, and except for the yard troubles the layout and my crews surpassed my expectations. I'm really looking forward to next month when we will try it again. I have some things to fix before that time but I think I'm starting to get the upper hand on a lot of the issues. I expect that we'll have the layout running smoothly before Xmas.
August 6th, 2007
I wrote this to help explain to a potential operator what the experience of operating under Timetable and train order rules on the Housatonic would be like. I later thought this would be a good addition to the Ops journal for anyone to read and get a feel for how an engineer works under timetable and train order. So here it is!
Running On a Timetable & Train Order Layout from the Engineer's Perspective
For purposes of this example, you will be running a
second-class southbound mixed train from Danbury to Wilson Point. This will not
correspond to any actual train in the current timetable but I think you'll
understand how it all works in the end.
Starting off - The crew caller calls for you to start getting ready for your
train. Hopefully this will be some time before it is actually due out. Get a
throttle and report to the yard or staging yard where you will pick up your
train. In this case it is the Staging yard representing Danbury. You'll be given
the locomotive number you'll be driving. Plug in your throttle and acquire the
locomotive.
From a paperwork perspective, you will need several things before you can leave.
The staging operator or Yardmaster will give you a deck of car cards with a
train instruction cover. The cover will explain a bit about your train, listing
origin and destination, Name or Number, basic instructions about what your train
will do. Behind that will be the car cards representing the cars in your train.
Almost every car card will have a waybill in its pocket. You may want to
familiarize yourself with the waybills to see if you need to do anything with
these cars during your trip. All the cards are kept in a binder clip to keep
them together.
Before you can depart you will need a Clearance Form A from the operator, which
is your authorization to occupy the main track. The clearance form will list
whether you have any orders that apply to you and will be included with the
clearance. You must read these orders and understand them before departing, and
do what they tel you to do. Train orders supercede the timetable. In this case,
you have no orders and now you may depart. Remember trains in the time table do
not require train orders to move, the timetable give you the right. But you do
need a clearance form to get the authority to occupy the main.
But before you do, check the timetable and make sure you do not have any
conflicts. You look across the page at all the rows and do not see any trains
that will conflict with your schedule for the first couple of stations. You need
to know the current time and also know you have to be in the clear of opposing
superior trains by the time they arrive at the next station in front of you, and
by five minutes for superior trains coming up behind you.
Since you are a second class timetable train on the southbound (superior)
direction, the only trains you have to clear up for are first class trains in
either direction. You are superior to Northbound second class trains and all
third class and extra trains. They are responsible for getting out of your
way. There are no Southbound first class trains to worry about (last one went by
two hours ago), and there is a northbound first class train (15) that you will
have to clear up for at some point. In fact, there is a hard (timetable-defined)
meet at Winnipauk, so you will be meeting him there later.
But wait - are you certain the earlier southbound actually has passed? If he's
running late and still behind you, he could appear out of nowhere while you're
taking the main and a collision would ensue. How can you know if it is safe? By
checking the train register at Danbury. You look at the register and see that
yes, he went by on time, so he is accounted for. If he had not gone by you'd
have to wait until he does, as his schedule is still valid for 12 hours and
technically the railroad still belongs to him. But it's OK, he's been through,
his schedule has been fulfilled and so has every other train you might need to
worry about.
Finally, check your departure time in the timetable and make sure you do not
leave early. You can always arrive early, but NEVER leave a station before the
timetable says you should.
So finally everything is OK and you are ready to go. You sign the register,
writing down your train #, locomotive #, direction, signals (none) and the time
departed. You give the whistle two long blasts, telling your brakemen to release
brakes, and set out from Danbury. It's an uneventful trip, and soon you are
pulling into Georgetown, and you see that there is an order board in the red
position for you. That means you will be getting orders here. You slow down the
train by giving a single short blast of the whistle (brakemen set brakes) and
check near the train order board panel. There are orders clipped to the fascia
with a binder clip here. You take then and see if they are addressed to your
train, they are. The order reads as follows:
Train Order # 7 August 7 1892
To C&E Train 34 Eng 11 at Georgetown (C&E means Conductor & Engineer, Eng
is Engine)
To C&E Train 15 Eng 38 at Winnipauk
To C&E Train Second 15 Eng 56 at Dock Yard
Train 15 display markers and run as First 15 on schedule.
Train Second 15 run 20 minutes behind First 15.
Train First 15 meet train 34 at Wilton instead of Winnipauk.
Train Second 15 meet Train 34 At Winnipauk.
Made complete 10:31 AM CJB (dispatchers initials).
You also get a Clearance Form A with this, indicating you have one train order,
# 7.
So what does this mean? The dispatcher has put out an order that amends the
timetable. He is running a second train as a section of # 15 on the same
schedule, but 20 minutes later. Your hard meet with train 15 (now First 15) in
the timetable has been changed to Wilton instead, and you'll be meeting train
Second 15 at Winnipauk. Train First 15 got (or will get) an identical copy of
this order when it arrives at Winnipauk, Second 15 is likely getting it at Dock
Yard as it is leaving. The clearance form again gives you authority to continue
to occupy the main, and also serves as backup letting you know you got the right
orders. You signal to release brakes again and continue on your way to Wilton.
As you pass Georgetown, you switch hats for a moment and call the operator to OS
your train by Georgetown.
As you approach Wilton, you signal set brakes to slow the train and prepare to
stop on the Siding track across from the station. Your head-end brakeman swings
down and runs ahead to unlock and theow the Notrh switch to the siding, allowing
you to slowly move into it. You cruise in and make your stop in front of
the station, and wait for First 15 to get here. You call in to the
operator and let him know you are clear in the siding at Wilton, and he notes
that in his book. As you are talking , your brakeman throws the North
switch back to the main once you are clear of it.
If # 15 is on schedule It will probably be about 10-15 minutes until he gets here, plenty of time to grab a cup of coffee. You buy a newspaper from the local news butcher on the platform and ask him to get you a cop of joe from the kitchen. As you relax with your coffee, you check the timetable to ensure nothing will be in your way as you head south. But it looks good, the next scheduled Northbound train doesn't leave Dock Yard for another hour, and you'll be at Wilson Point by then, assuming there aren't any more delays.
As you down your last swallow, First 15 comes round the
bend and glides into Wilton for its station stop. The train is pulled by
engine 38 and is displaying green flags on the smokebox. Your head end
brakeman has been waiting by the South switch for this. Once First 15 is
clear of it he throws it to the siding and waves to give you the highball
signal. You toss the news butcher a dime and the coffee cup, and put away
the paper. For a moment you switch hats again and call the operator to OS
that you are out of Wilton as the last car clears the platform. Moments later,
the crew of First 15 also calls the operator to tell him they are out of Wilton.
The first part of Train order #7 has been fulfilled.
You run downhill to Winnipauk at the fastest speed you dare, trying to make up
for lost time on your schedule. After just a few minutes at 40 mph, you
have to call set brakes again as you are about to pull into Winnipauk. The
North switch is set to the siding for you, and second 15 is in the hole on the
main. The train is pulled by locomotive # 56, and is not showing any
markers, which means this is the last section of # 15. You notice that
Second 15 is actually a freight train running late on the schedule of # 15, but
this isn't unusual. Dispatchers often run sections after scheduled passenger
trains to keep the freight moving and avoid having to write lots of extra
orders. You fold up Order # 7 and put it in your pocket because it is now
completely fulfilled. Without coming to a complete stop, your head-end
brakie jumps off again and lines the South switch to the siding. He'll
grab onto the caboose as it passes and move back up to the loco the next time
the train stops. As you move out onto the main again you call in to the
operator to tell him you are out of Winnipauk.
You blow through the rest of Winnipauk as fast as you can, blowing two longs and
two shorts for the street crossing in the middle of town. You are almost back on
your schedule. Your next stop should be Dock Yard, where you will be
dropping off a few cars on the tail end and may pick up a few to go to Wilson
Point.
But as you round Hard Cider Curve, you can see the ball signal at Catherine
Street ahead. It's down, which means you have to stop here. You blow the whistle
for set brakes, and come to a stop clear of the street crossing. They must be
busy in the yard, the yardmaster sets this signal when he needs headroom on the
main to do switching in the yard. Hopefully he's putting a Northbound train
together and you'll get down into the yard soon. You have a carfloat from
New York city to meet and the Superintendent won't be happy if you delay it,
even if it isn't your fault.
Fortunately the delay is short, soon the crossing guard comes out and pulls the
ball signal up. He waves to you with his good hand and goes back to his shanty
as you call for release brakes and slowly head into the yard. Things are busy
here, a Northbound extra train is waiting on the main as you come into the
siding. The white flags on the smokebox that extra trains are required to
displayare all you need to know, nothing to worry about here. He calls the
Operator and tells him he is leaving Dock Yard as the yard crew switches the
North switch from the siding to the main once you are in. As he's pulling out,
you call the operator yourself and tell him you are in Dock Yard and have some
work here, and blow for set brakes to your brakies.
Once the extra has left, the yard switcher pulls out of the yard and onto the
main track pulling three cars. He will be giving these to you to take to Wilson
Point. In the meantime, you have checked your waybills and note you have two
cars on the tail end that come off here. You send one of your brakies out to cut
the train, and in short order the cars have been switched out. You exchange car
cards with him, and double-check that these are indeed the cars you were given
and that they are going to Wilson Point.
You are back together again, and only a couple of minutes behind on your
schedule. There are no orders to be picked up here, and no timetable conflicts.
You call for release brakes and set off down the line for Wilson Point after
calling the Dispatcher and telling him you are out of Dock Yard. You must
proceed at restricted speed, however, because since you passed Wall St. in South
Norwalk you have been within yard limits, which means there could be a train
ahead of you out on the line. They have to clear up for first class trains, but
not for you (though they will probably try to).
All is well and there are no obstructions between Dock Yard and Wilson Point. As
you pull in, you see the Gopher job over to the right working the freight
transfer building, the WP yard switcher waiting for you on the float lead track
and a passenger train waiting at the station. You pull your train into one of
the two holding tracks and call the operator to tell him you have arrived at
Wilson Point. He's pleased because you've almost made up all the time on your
schedule and are only a few minutes late.
After stopping you cut off the engine and are directed to bring it out the south
yard lead, and then back it down to the roundhouse. The WP Yardmaster is already
getting your train ready for the next float due in soon. You leave the loco on
the roundhouse lead and turn it over to the hostler, and immediately dispatch
the engine from your throttle. The final thing you do is sign the train register
at Wilson Point, so other crews will know you have arrived and it is save for
them to move out onto the main track themselves.
And that, hopefully, is a fairly complete overview of how a trip over the
railroad works under timetable and train order from the engineers' perspective.
Hopefully I hit all the important points and didn't screw up on any of the
technical stuff. But now you should see how a road crew is expected to handle
moving a train along the line, and what is expected of you during the session.
It isn't hard but it does require a little getting used to.
Dispatcher: Chris Lee.
Wilson Point Yardmaster: Ralph Heiss. Wilson Point Assistant: Wayne Shortman.
Dock Yard Yardmaster: Neil Henning.
"Gopher": Jay Held.
Mole operator: Henry Freeman.
Road crews: Ray Louis, Matt Klemchalk, David Ramos, Ted DiIorio, Scott Dunlap, Tom Callan, Rob Purcell.
The January 5th session went well, considering that we were still lacking some important paperwork and the crews had very little experience. It was as much a shakedown cruise as anything. Work on the layout continued up to the last minute, I was still adjusting some switch machines under Standard Oil when everyone started arriving. I did have timetables and route maps ready, as well as lineups for the mayor yards, and it was enough -- but we'll need more information for next time. That's a mantra I expect to be chanting for months to come.
Chris Lee reluctantly agreed to be dispatcher, which I really appreciate. I needed to be unfettered to run around and answer questions and fix problems, and there was no one else qualified to run the operation. We will have to get a couple of people up to speed very soon so we have some options in case Chris doesn't make it, or wants to run a train or two. Raplh and Wayne got the Dock Yard jobs, Jay took the Gopher, and Neil got the Dock Yard job. I had pre-arranged with Henry to run the mole yard since he was the only one with experience at doing it besides me.
Things started off slow, primarily because of the lack of instructions. There was supposed to be several quick movements by the Gopher (whose job it is to shuttle cars from Wilson Point to Dock Yard and back) which did not happen because the instructions weren't very clear, and both yards and the gopher were trying to sort out what to do. By the time that started to get straightened out, The time was lost and the first bunch of passenger trains were out on the road which put those transfers behind. In a way this became a cascading failure that we never recovered from. Confusion in Wilson Point, where the Northbound passenger trains originated, also put several of these trains behind schedule.
The first carfloat did not get out on time. Neil, over at Dock Yard, did not know that the each carfloat had a different destination (Brooklyn, New York City, Oyster Bay) and sent all the carfloat traffic to Wilson Point at once. Actually the notes were on the timetable but I did not fully explain it to Neil beforehand. It took time to sort out the cars -- NY City and Long Island traffic had to be sent back to Dock Yard and then the float was finally loaded. Then another mistake was made, the cars pulled from the first float remained in Wilson Point for some time, and they all missed getting onto the Georgetown Local out of Dock Yard and the early Northbound manifest (freight) trains.
Speaking of the Northbound manifest trains, I screwed up here. I had originally planned to have them originate at Wilson Point from the inbound float loads, and make a stop at Dock Yard to set out and pick up traffic before going North. For some reason I forgot this and tried to have them originate at Dock Yard, after the Gopher had collected the cars from Wilson Point. Apparently this put a lot of pressure on Neil, who struggled to keep up with things. After the session several people noted this would have been smoother if the trains had originated at Wilson Point, and I remembered that that we the original idea. We'll do it that way starting next time. I'll have to see how we want to handle the Southbound Manifest trains, maybe do the same thing? That would really free up the Gopher, maybe too much. We'll have to see.
It came out after the session that Neil wasn't in contact with the Dispatcher by radio, and that led to a couple of times where as many as 6-7 trains (I'm told) ended up in Dock Yard at once. Frankly I don't think that's actually possible but there were an awful lot of people in the aisle there. Next time we'll have to make sure that the Dock Yard guy has a radio. That would allow him to work with the DS and make sure Southbound trains are held at Winnipauk before coming down the hill and clogging the mainline up.
As the session went on and everyone got more familiar with the flow of things,
everything got smoother. Naturally, this was when the DCC system started
to flake out. We had never run the railroad before with this many trains
and throttles, and the system started buckling under the pressure. Most of
the Cab 04's stopped working, and even the ProCabs were losing contact with the
command station. This caused a great deal of consternation and
frustration, and put everyone even farther behind. Eventually I had to
shut the system down to reset it. We had everyone
who wasn't actually running unplug their throttles also and that seemed to help
as well. Things calmed down after that and we didn't have too many control
problems. I've read that having long cab bus lines and many throttles attached require
more power than the command station can supply. I plan to address this by
adding 12 volt power connections into the cab bus, so next session this should be
fixed
The second carfloat also went out late. This was a combination of the
throttle problems, not clearing the float out when it first arrived, delays in
getting the New York City-bound traffic out of Dock Yard, and then getting it
onto the float. Wayne and Ralph were trying to work through getting
several passenger trains squared away and dealing with the Gopher trying to work
around them, which slowed things down.
Since we still only have one working carfloat, I acted as the 'ferry' removing cars from it and carrying them back to the mole yard in back, and bringing out the cars for the next float. This didn't work out too badly, but I still want to get a few more floats built and operational in the next few months. It was also my responsibility to arrive and depart the float (physically move it away from the bridge to prevent it from being loaded / unloaded early).
All during this time Henry was a bit bored over in Staging. I had pre-staged three of the five passenger trains and two of the freights, and that actually didn't leave Henry much to do in the beginning. Later in the session it got busier back there, and he was a little happier. I guess that until we get more cars on the railroad it will be pretty quiet there. When we get another 20-25 coal gondolas on the rails we'll be able to run 2-3 coal extras, and another 15-20 tank cars there will be more drag freight. We're also hard pressed to get enough general merchandise cars on any of the trains because there are only about 80 cars on the railroad. When we get that number up to 150 it will really help things out, but it's going to be a while before that happens.
There didn't seem to be too many problems with the Manifest freights once they got out of Dock Yard. It sounded like the Dispatcher had things well under control North of Dock Yard. The Standard Oil Turn and the Georgetown Turn both went out and returned without much trouble, and for the most part few problems were noted with the track, except in Dock Yard where we need to do some more work to eliminate some dips there.
In the end, there were problems but everyone took it in stride and said they had a good time. I was pretty happy with the results and really glad everyone had a good time. I have a page-long punch list of problems that need to be corrected that will take me most of the time between this session and the next to fix, but that's OK. I will get these things fixed and improve the paperwork as best I can by the next session, and we'll see how much things improve.
My thanks to everyone who participated.
Photos From the Session - click on them to enlarge:
Next Session -- February 16. 2007