A Day on PDX-2: Part 3 - Essex & Old Saybrook

Essex is the largest town on the south end of the Valley Line and has the most customers. It also has the most track real-estate, so there's plenty of room to switch & sort cars. Additionally, all the stub-ended sidings are trailing point southbound so best practice is to work Essex on the return trip from up the river.

PDX-2 southbound, arriving back in Essex.

Once the train clears the Middlesex Turnpike, it's time to head to the station and get our work to do.

There's a lot to do in Essex, between delivering 3 cars that we brought from Fort Yard, delivering 4 cars we picked up in Old Saybrook from PDX-1, and picking up a whopping 10(!) cars - one of which is going back to Fort Yard on PDX-1 (in addition to the two we got from East Haddam). The rest of the cars continue with us to Cedar Hill Yard.

Here's the situation in Essex when we arrive. The six cars on the passing track (track 5) are destined for Essex customers. The seven cars on the bulk track (track 7) and the two cars on the house track (track 6) are all pickups (an empty hopper pickup at Burdick coal is off-picture to the right).

Here we've pulled the house track cars and are delivering a car to the feed mill at the end of track 8.

We've delivered the two hoppers to Burdick coal and are spotting cars on the house track.

Tracks are pretty crowded here - house track has 3 cars and we're making up our outbound train on tracks 1 & 5 (mainline and passing track, respectively). Note the two Canadian cars and GTW car - those will need to be left in Saybrook for PDX-1 to take to Fort Yard and the Central Vermont interchange in New London, so we're putting them on the engine's pilot.

The last move is to spot a hopper on the bulk track (track 7).

Having finished our work in Essex, using all the track here to block & assemble our train, we're ready to depart southbound for Old Saybrook with a whopping 16 cars(!).

Putting the cars destined for PDX-1 & New London on the front of the train pays off in Saybrook. Here, we've left the remainder of our train north of the Mill Rock Road crossing . . .

 . . . . so we can continue south, along the west leg of the Saybrook wye . . .

. . . to spot the cars on track 7 for later pickup by PDX-1.

If there were any cars left in Saybrook that were destined for points west, including Cedar Hill, we'd pick them up at this point. There being none, we reverse our moves back up the wye to pick up our train.

And then, provided we have clearance from the dispatcher, we head down the west leg of the wye onto track 5 and proceed west on the Shoreline to Cedar Hill Yard in New Haven.

Looking south on the old Middlesex Turnpike (grade crossing long-since closed).

Final view of PDX-2 heading westbound toward New Haven.

I hope you've enjoyed this (long-ish) glimpse at operations on the Valley Line. PDX-2 is only one of four local freights I'm able to model - in addition to all the Shoreline traffic. Depending on the response/interest, I may "railfan" the other locals at some point (hopefully after doing some more scenery work!).

While the locals operate similarly (since I try to operate them all according to the prototype), you may want to check out some additional links for more detail on how I do ops. You can find more information at the Valley Local website - http://www.thevalleylocal.net - by clicking on the "Operations" link on the left side of the homepage. Enjoy! And I hope you'll weigh in with any suggestions on how I can do ops more prototypically.

A Day on PDX-2: Part 2 - East Haddam & Deep River

East Haddam is a busy place on the Valley Line, second only to Middletown in importance. The railroad presence consists only of a main track and two double-ended sidings, a freight house, and a bulk loading area. But this is where the north end and south end Valley locals exchange cars, typically using track 6 (the center track) for swapping. Track 8 serves as both the bulk track and the house track, just as on the prototype.

Since any cars left on track 6 are most often destined for consignees south of East Haddam (or headed toward either Fort Yard or Cedar Hill), PDX-2 typically enters East Haddam by heading into track 6 and coupling onto the cars left there.

East Haddam is also an order station, so be sure to sign the train register before checking for any work in the bill box.

As you can see, there's a lot of work for PDX-2 to do in East Haddam. In addition to delivering a car from Fort Yard to the bulk track, we also have to pick up two cars for delivery back to New London (Fort Yard), one car for delivery to the transload track at Deep River, and two cars that have to go back with us to Cedar Hill Yard in New Haven.

Though it looks deceptively simple, that's a lot of switching. Here are some photos of some of the different moves required:

PDX-2 continued north on track 6 to clear Bridge Street, uncoupled from its train, and is here pulling the cut of cars south on the main (track 1) that it had coupled to on track 6.

Here we've broken the train to be able to deliver PRR boxcar 45939 to the bulk track.

Having picked up all the cars we need to, we're now switching them all together for the southbound train.

Best practice is to use the track real estate we have up here to sort & block the cars for efficient delivery to consignees on the southbound trip.

We don't have any cars heading further north that we have to leave for the Valley Local (HDX-7), so track 6 is empty and we've assembled our southbound train on the mainline, track 1.

With our train all assembled, and having orders in hand authorizing the return trip south, we whistle off and head back down to Deep River.

As we saw before, all the sidings in Deep River are facing point northbound, so we work those sidings on the southbound trip.

We know from the paperwork we already have that we have 4 cars in our train destined for Deep River customers and we discover when we check the bill box at Deep River that the two empty cars sitting here have to be picked up and taken with us to Cedar Hill.

First step is to spot the flat cars at the transload track. The 2nd Baldwin Bridge over the Connecticut River was being built during my modeling era, and many of the construction materials were transloaded here to barges and floated down to the construction site.

Next, we spot the gondola of poles at the bulk track (though we have to remember to pick up the boxcar sitting there first).

We also have a Southern boxcar to spot at the feed store (represented here by an old school house model).

With the 4 cars spotted and the 2 cars picked up and added to our train, we head south to Essex. . .

*******

For more information on operations, be sure to check out the website at http://www.thevalleylocal.net
and clicking on the "Operations" link on the left side of the homepage.

A Day on PDX-2 aka "The Haddam Local" - New London to Deep River

While this blog is dedicated primarily to The Valley Local which operated from Hartford south to East Haddam (or East Berlin, depending on the day), I'm also lucky enough to be able to model the other local freights that operated in the area. While the Valley Local covered the north end of the New Haven RR's Connecticut Valley Line, during my modeling era (Autumn, 1948) The Haddam Local (aka PDX-2 or the "westbound Shore Line local") took care of the south end, operating from Fort Yard in New London to Cedar Hill Yard in New Haven. On its way, it branches off at Saybrook Junction and goes up the Valley Line as far north as East Haddam, returning to Saybrook before proceeding to Cedar Hill.

I was a little shorthanded during my last ops session, so I ended up annulling PDX-2 figuring I'd just run it myself another day. Well, with another ops session looming, it was high time to finally finish the previous session. One of life's ironies is that layout hosts don't typically get to operate their own layouts, so this was a rare treat - and a chance to see how my layout operates from a crew's perspective for a change.

And since I was alone, I could take my time to take some photos along the way! So, come along as we run the Haddam Local up the south end of the Valley Line. You'll be able to railfan a bit, and also get a glimpse of how I operate my layout. We'll start off by signing the crew register and picking up our paperwork & train at Fort Yard, New London. . .

So that's what's going on here...

Here's all the paperwork laid out:

I'm trying to operate my layout as close to the prototype as possible, so I don't use car cards and, unfortunately, I don't (yet) have any waybills. So my car forwarding consists of switchlists and car transfer forms (admittedly contrived, while I wait for waybills).  The two documents on the left are a locomotive function-key list for the engineer, and a "Conductor's Notes" card providing tips to the conductor for operating the train efficiently. Train movement is governed by a clearance card and train orders, copied from prototype NHRR documents.

Once you've reviewed the paperwork, the last step is to check your train against your initial switchlist (also known as a "Wheel Report").

This document lists all the cars in your train at your originating terminal and tells you where they're to be delivered. Here, we have 7 cars going up the Valley Line. While there are sometimes cars destined for Old Saybrook, I don't model any other Shoreline towns.

You can leave Fort Yard once you get permission from the dispatcher. Your journey from New London to the east end of Old Saybrook consists of leaving the yard through #21 switch and entering track 5 in Saybrook through #24 switch.

Once you arrive in Saybrook proper, let the tower operator know you're clear of the main (so he can realign the #24 switch), and check the box for any additional paperwork/work to do.

Since Saybrook is an order station, be sure and sign the Train Register noting your arrival, then pick up any paperwork addressed to you. In this case, there's a Car Transfer Form (the switchlist is addressed to PDX-1, so leave it in the box).

The CTF tells you about the four cars sitting on the siding which were left for you by PDX-1 (the eastbound Shoreline local). You're to pick up these cars and deliver them to consignees in Essex.

We've left our train in the clear on track 5 and used track 7 to run-around and couple onto the cars sitting on the siding (an extension of track 5). Then it's an easy matter of backing these cars onto our train and heading up the branch - once you get your orders from the Saybrook agent.

At that point, having given you the legal authority to go up the branch, the agent/tower operator will, um, give you the physical ability to go up the branch - by installing the liftout between the Saybrook wye and Essex.

Then you get to whistle off and head up to Essex!

Crossing the old Middlesex Turnpike on the east leg of the Saybrook wye.

  

Crossing Mill Rock Road at the north end of the wye.

Once you arrive in Essex, if you've reviewed the track arrangement (located on the fascia) you know that all the sidings here are facing-point northbound and if you've reviewed your Conductor's Notes you know that the best move at this point is to leave any Essex-bound cars here and continue north.

Here PDX-2 is leaving 7 cars destined for Essex consignees on the passing track (3 cars from Fort Yard & the 4 that were picked up in Saybrook). After leaving these cars here to deal with on the return trip, we continue north to Deep River.

While in the caboose between Essex and Deep River, you look at your notes (or "talk to the Old Head conductor" in the cupola) and learn that all the sidings in Deep River are also facing point northbound.

So, being a quick-learner, you direct your engineer to continue through Deep River without stopping and proceed north to East Haddam.

It takes a bit of time to get to the north end of the Haddam Local's operating authority, so we'll rejoin PDX-2 when it arrives in East Haddam. Until next time post . . .

*******

For more information on operations, be sure to check out the website at http://www.thevalleylocal.net
and clicking on the "Operations" link on the left side of the homepage.

Reducing Paperwork, Increasing Realism

Some of the feedback I receive from my crew is clearer than at other times...

While I strongly believe that operating realistically and prototypically requires proper paperwork (and I am, admittedly, still very much in the learning phase), this past session it became clear that I needed to try and whittle it down where possible. Perfect example - the Train Registers which I just instituted last fall. While originally conceived as a way to get a "real time" view of when trains got to particular locations and how many cars they had with them at particular points in time (both useful bits for tweaking/balancing the session), crews usually "forgot" to fill them out and probably thought they were "make work." But the real death blow for them was the one-two punch of their not being perfectly prototypical or all that necessary.

First off, while I do run TT/TO, only one train is on a particular line at any one time. So signing a register isn't really necessary - who are you telling? And also, it turns out on the Valley Line only Wethersfield, Middletown, East Haddam(?), Essex, and Old Saybrook were order stations - so I think those would be the only register locations (I'm not positive about East Haddam yet). And interestingly, Middletown, East Haddam, and Old Saybrook also happen to be the only places on my layout where trains exchange cars with each other. So the registers are prototypical at those stations - and also useful to let a subsequent train know you've been there.

And so I've eliminated the registers everywhere else, including at the staging yards (which will no doubt make Tom happy!)

Now, this reassessing the registers has prompted a reassessment of my paperwork generally. Here's a link to an overview of how I currently do may paperwork. And here's a link to a discussion between model railroaders and real railroaders, who also happen to be model railroaders too. That thread is particularly interesting in that it started as a CC&WB vs. Switchlist discussion, but then evolved into a more in-depth discussion of how the real railroads deal/dealt with paperwork and the best way to adapt those practices to a model railroad that you want to operate prototypically.

So I'm going to spend some time reviewing that thread and evaluating my ops in light of what's most prototypical and also adaptable to a model railroad. In the meantime, I hope you'll weigh in with how YOU replicate prototypical operations on your layouts and/or point me to some more good resources.

Tuesday Tip: The "Agent's Office"

Ever since I started operations on the Valley Line, I've required my crews, each time they enter a new town on their route, to "report to the Agent/Operator" for their work in town and any new/additional train orders issued for them. They already know what to do with the cars in their train, but they don't know what cars in town need to be picked up - and/or what additional orders they may have - until they check with the A/O. So they have to physically walk over to the desk (pictured above) and see the A/O seated there. And if he's not there (i.e. if he's investigating why somebody keeps shorting out the layout, just to pick a random example :^), then there's a bell to ring to get his attention. It's a very prototypical way to operate and keep the crews engaged, but it's a fairly unique way of doing things on a model railroad.

But lately - especially since the Saybrook Tower was completed - that A/O position has gotten very intense and stressful, what with having to be a towerman, throwing switches for Shore Line express trains, and be the A/O at the same time, managing local freights on the mainline as well as dealing with the local crews out on the branches. That may be the height of prototypical fidelity, but it's become increasingly clear why these guys were paid to do this job (or "jobs" since we're actually talking about 2-3 different roles here).

And even if I didn't mind doing all this work - or, more typically, pawning it off one someone else - as my crew sizes have grown the two liftouts that are required during part of the session have become real obstacles to the crews reporting in.

So I've decided to provide another option. I can still revert back to the full A/O/Towerman job if/when I want to, but in the meantime I've limited the "desk jockey" job to the Towerman and have offloaded the A/O tasks to a Train Register and Bill Box located in each town. Now, when a crew comes into town, instead of walking over to the desk to report in and get their work/orders, it's as if the agent has gone off duty. Everything they need is at the station, either on the clipboard or in the bill box.

The above photo is a typical "station" set up: Throttle pocket, plug-in, track map, bill box, and train register - all located, appropriately, near the station.

The first thing a crew (specifically, the conductor) has to do when he arrives in town is go to the "station" and register - recording the month, day, train, engine number, number of cars, and time. A closeup of my (admittedly "proto-freelanced") Train Register is below.

Click here for where I got the inspiration and how I did it.

Not shown are the switchlist(s) and, where appropriate, additional Form 19 train orders that would be sitting in the box for the conductor to take. The switchlist tells the crew what cars in town need to be picked up and where they're going. If I ever get around to doing waybills, they'll be in the box instead (and the conductor will have to use them to fill out his own switchlist). Until then, I fill out the switchlists myself beforehand and leave them for the crews.

And in my continuing effort to reduce the amount of "stuff" the conductor has to carry (paperwork, uncoupling tools, pencils, throttles, clipboards, etc) - after all, he doesn't have a caboose, or even a desk, to help manage it all - I at least have supplied a pencil and an uncoupling tool at each station for his use: 

For the rest of the stuff, I supply an apron:

Certainly not as "railroady" as a caboose - or even a desk - but certainly less cumbersome to move around in my basement. . . 

As you've probably guessed, if you've been following this blog for very long, one of my favorite aspects of this hobby is operating the trains as close to prototype as possible within the constraints of its being a model railroad and not the real thing. Compromises are inevitable, but I think I'm getting pretty close. Nevertheless, I'd be very interested in any additional tips/suggestions/feedback on how YOU manage operations on your railroad - everything from what car forwarding system you use to what "helps" you provide to your operators, as well as how much work you require them to do. 

"Modeling jobs" may be prototypical, but as I discovered, there's a fine balance between what's "fun" and what's "work." I'd love to know how you strike the right balance.