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.

Wordless Wednesday #155

Authentic New Haven Railroad flimsies - reserved for special operating sessions

Pre-Ops Session

Saybrook Tower Control Board all tested and paperwork ready to go.

Well, I'm all set for another operating session on the CT Valley Lines of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad, circa October, 1948.

Friday night MikeR (of spreadsheet fame) came over to help set up the layout for the next operating session and to further tweak the spreadsheet that generates my car movements. Since it had been originally developed for just one train on a switching layout, he, Randy, and I have been further developing the 'sheet to work with my four independent trains. I really like how it's been evolving and the latest version is already a significant improvement over something that was pretty darn good already. Even with the spreadsheet though, it still took about 3 1/2 hours to do all the paperwork and setup, but future versions of the 'sheet promise to automate the process even more.

But I don't really mind the paperwork - it's like "an ops session before the ops session" where I, as the Agent-Operator (the most realistic job on a model railroad, IMO), do all the work-a-day tasks of keeping the traffic on the railroad running smoothly. So, once the spreadsheet is printed out, and I further massage it with additional info (car numbers, cars to be transferred between trains, off-spots, etc), it's time to complete the switchlists, train orders, and clearance cards for each of the trains.

Remember, you can always click on the image for more a more-detailed view.

I also have to produce an up-to-date Bulletin Order indicating any changes to the layout, as well as to highlight any special operations notes for the session. And - finally - I have the fun of finding an era-appropriate calendar - in this case, one from October, 1948. I'm still trying to find an original 1948 calendar (I have ones for 1947 and 1949), so in the meantime, I grab what I can off the 'net. Fortunately, this one has Missus' full approval (unlike the calendar for last month's session, which barely made it).

And, new for this session, is some additional paperwork for the A-O to complete . . .

On the left is a listing of all the local freights and the towns they work. I'll use it to record the time each train enters a town (both "prototype" (fast) time as well as actual/real time), and the number of cars the train has at that point in the session. This info will help me balance the work for each of the trains and ensure 1) that my crews are all working about the same amount of time, and 2) that my trains aren't TOO long or unmanageable (the typical "local" freight on my layout is 12-18 cars long!).

The paper on the right has a listing of ALL the trains that go through Old Saybrook during the session. This is just a subset of the 71 trains that go through during a 24hr period. I use this sheet - along with the fast clock - to know when I, as the tower operator, can clear local freights to foul the main. As each train passes, I'll mark through it simulating the operator's duty of "OS-ing" trains - as well as simulating the traffic through Saybrook until I have actual trains running through there on schedule.

Now that all these tasks are done, the Crew Call has gone out, and everything is set up, all I have to do is wait for the guys to arrive and sign the register. Should be another fun day of railroading in the CT Valley.

Wordy Wednesday #117 - TT Ops Notes

A railroad's employee timetable is - not surprisingly - a treasure trove of operating detail. Here are some such notes for the Valley Line . . .

List of stations - natch - what does the "D" and "N" mean?

Speed Restrictions

What to do at the Middletown crossing with the Air Line

Siding capacities

Engine limits

Spreadsheets & Switchlists: It's How I Roll (my trains)

Clearance Card, Train Order, Switchlist

How do you operate your railroad once you have the track down and the trains running? There are a number of different ways to operate your railroad beyond "just watching the trains go by" and if you're trying to stay true to a specific prototype railroad, there's only one right answer to how you operate your model railroad: "However the prototype operated."

On my railroad - and as far as I can tell, on my prototype - there three essential items of paperwork each local freight crew receives to operate their train:

• Clearance Card Form A - gives you authority to move your train and tells you what train orders you have.
• Train Order Form 19 - tells you how/where you're authorized to move your train and what, if any, meets you may have with other trains.
• Switchlist - tells you what cars are in your train, including road name, car number, and destination.

Unlike on the prototype where their use is required, Clearance Cards and Train Orders aren't actually necessary on our model railroads - but having them certainly heightens authenticity and reminds you that you're operating a train according to the Rules.  But you have to know what to do with the cars in your train. That's where the switchlist comes in.

When a freight train leaves the yard, the conductor has a list of all the cars in his train.  This initial list - also called a "wheel report" - tells the conductor where all those cars are destined.  As the train arrives at each town, the conductor already knows if he has any cars in his train destined for industries in that town.  But he doesn't know what, if any, cars he needs to pick up in that town.  So, he checks with the freight agent for that town and the agent gives him a switchlist that tells him what cars need to be picked up and where they're destined.

This is why the agent (aka Agent-Operator or A-O) is so important. If you don't have someone to actually perform the agent's task of writing up switchlists (and depending on how many towns/industries you have, it could be a lot of work), you could simulate the agent's position by following prototype practice for when an agent wasn't on duty: put the switchlist in a box located at the station (or on the fascia at the town).  I went into a bit more detail about the A-O's job here.

On most model railroads, the A-O's job is usually simulated with bill boxes at each town and in the typical setup, those boxes hold car cards & waybills which contain instructions on what to do with the cars. The cards are flipped between operating session to simulate orders for cars and shipments of commodities. 

While many folks use this 4-cycle waybill/car card system, that doesn't seem very authentic to me. The freight cars always go the same four places in the same order that the waybill cards are flipped. It makes railroading seem more like a card game than actually responding to customer requests. And I find the cards annoying to carry around and difficult to manage without putting them on the layout for sorting and such.

But without car cards & waybills, how does the A-O know what to put on the switchlist?  That's where the Spreadsheet comes in.

Randy discovered an Excel spreadsheet developed by Mike Rose that simulates customer requests by "ordering" cars to be delivered to different industries & spotting locations, telling you what cars need to be picked up, and what cars to leave alone. It does this by calculating the probability of a particular car type being delivered to a customer or a loaded car that's ready to be picked up. See pic below.

Columns L-R are: Industry, Car Type, Frequency, Occupied?, PickUp, Deliver, Notes

Detailed directions on how to use the spreadsheet can be found here, and it was developed primarily for switching layouts. But I've used it for my railroad for a few sessions now and have been very satisfied with how it generates traffic for local freights - even multiple trains on two different lines. I suspect it could be further adapted for even more trains, but this is how I use it:

1. For the first session, you'll need to place cars at your industries in a way that makes sense to you, based on commodity (car type) and where it came from (car roadname) (e.g. flatcars at lumber companies, hoppers at coal companies, etc).  But for subsequent sessions, all you'll need to do is go around and indicate on the spreadsheet where cars actually are (what spots are currently occupied). Time required: unknown for initial session, about 5-10 minutes of walking around your layout with your iPad, smartphone, or laptop for subsequent sessions.
2. The "Deliver" column tells you what cars have to be in your train (or, in my case "trains"). I populate my trains with the types of cars indicated in the "Deliver" column.  While I could just pick any boxcar from my stash to fulfill the "deliver boxcar" request, I choose roadnames of railroads that would most likely have delivered to this particular industry.  For example, on the spreadsheet above, I need to deliver a boxcar to Wethersfield Lumber.  I imagine (and if I had enough research, I could actually know) that Wethersfield Lumber most often got its lumber from Canada.  So I'd put a boxcar from a Canadian railroad in my train to be delivered.
3. Generally speaking, on my layout I'll populate the Valley Local with the cars that are destined for Valley Line customers, and populate the Air Line Local with the cars that are to be delivered to customers on the Air Line. To make things interesting though, I'll often put some cars on the Valley Local which are destined for Air Line customers and (as was actually true for deliveries of Pennsylvania anthracite to Valley Coal in Wethersfield, for example) will put cars on the Air Line Local that are destined for customers on the Valley Line.  Since I'm benevolent when playing the role of yardmaster, I'll put these "transfer" cars at the end of the train since they'll be swapped in Middletown - the meeting and turn-around point for both locals. Time required for steps 2 & 3: about 20-30 mins.
4. Next, I'll write up a "wheel report" for each train on a switchlist form that tells the conductor what cars are in his train, and where those cars go.  This bit of paperwork is clipped to the Clearance Card and Train Orders and given to the conductor of each train at the start of the session. Time required: approx 15-20 mins.
5. Lastly, I'll write up a switchlist for each town.  This will tell the conductor what cars he needs to pick up, from what industries, and where they are going.  If I have an actual A-O, he can do this during the session - he only needs to be sure the switchlist is ready to give to the crew when they arrive in town. If I don't have anybody working the A-O job, I'll need to prepare these lists ahead of time and leave them at each town - either in a bill box or, until I have bill boxes, clipped to the fascia at the town. Time required: varies depending on traffic.

And that's "it" - seems like a lot, but I can tell you from experience that it sounds much more difficult & involved than it actually is. And when the session is over, you don't have to audit anything or worry about whether your crews kept good track of their car cards/waybills and/or delivered the cars properly - your cars are already set up for the next session.

IMO this system does a better job of simulating the "organic" nature of freight traffic - and, just like the prototype, gives the A-O his pile of work to do. The A-O takes the customer requests generated by the spreadsheet, assigns cars to trains depending on where the cars are going, and writes up switchlists to tell the crews what cars to deliver/pull while working out on the line.

Best of all, if you have a lot of cars and dread having to create car cards for all of them and waybills too, this system will get you up-and-running much faster.  It'll mean some work during (if not before) each operating session, but if you - or a friend - is willing to act as the A-O you've just added another "job" to your railroad. There's no pre-session car setup required, and you don't have to worry that your previous session "screwed up the railroad" by delivering cars to the wrong places.  You just have to go around and indicate where cars actually are, print out the result, and write up your switchlist(s).

I'd be very interested to hear of anybody else using switchlists rather than CC&WB to operate their railroad. And if you use Mike Rose's spreadsheet to generate the traffic, I'd be especially interested to know how you went about tweaking  the "Excess Delivery Probability," "Leave Occupied Probability," and "Days/Week" fields.

I still have a lot to learn about operations and I've only used this spreadsheet/switchlist system for a few operating sessions, but I like it a lot so far.  Even better - if not even more importantly - my operators like it. They like not having to juggle & keep track of car cards & waybills and, while they may not always enjoy having to walk to the "station" to report to the agent, they appreciate the authenticity of the task. It probably helps that I also "on sheet" them each time they report and indicate the (fast) time on their paperwork as I deliver it to them.  This all contributes to a heightened sense of realism and, if I'm doing my job right, gives them at least a little glimpse of what it must have been like to operate a local freight train down the Connecticut River Valley in the late 1940s.

The Best Job on the (model) Railroad: The Agent-Operator

Reading the model railroad literature lately, you discover that Timetable & Train Order (TT&TO) operations - long mainlines, long sidings where long trains can meet and get out of each other's way, reading & knowing all the Rules on train authority, etc. etc. - are all the rage.  It certainly sounds exciting and some of the hobby's most famous names swear by it.  But what about the lowly branchline that has only one lonely wayfreight per day (or, worse, "M-W-F" or "as needed")?  Can a model railroad based on such a line be exciting to run?

I think so, and one effective way is to add an Agent-Operator - the most realistic job on a model railroad.

On the prototype,* the A-O was responsible for proper billings and collection, checking the location of cars, investigating damage claims, etc.  He would also have maintained a station record of train movements on which he recorded train arrivals and departures and would issue train orders as needed.  Most importantly for our purposes, he'd give local freight train conductors their switchlists - information on what cars in the area needed to be pulled & where they needed to go.

I'll have to credit my friend Randy with turning me on to this position.  At an operating session (the best ideas always seem to come up for ops sessions) during the NE ProtoMeet, he asked me if I wanted to be the A-O for his session.  Figuring it'd either be really fun or I'd really screw up his railroad (a win either way in my book <g>), I tried it out and quickly discovered how easy it was to forget I was working on a "model" railroad and not the real thing. I was getting records of cars being dropped off by through trains, recording train movements, and issuing switchlists to crews - it didn't matter that the trains were 1/87th scale and that the cars were, in fact, empty models.  It really felt like I was doing bona fide railroad work.  Now I'm totally hooked.

First, some preliminaries.  You're still operating TT&TO so you still need paperwork to move your train.  I use a Clearance Card A and a Form 19 train order (see below).  You don't get to move without a clearance card and you don't know where to go without a train order.

Clearance Card & Swtichlist made up based on prototype forms, but the Form 19 is an actual New Haven RR flimsy from a pad of them I acquired a while back.

So that takes care of how your train moves and where it goes.  But what about what it does along the way? This is where having an Agent-Operator job on your railroad really makes a difference.  The A-O at the initial station/yard gives the conductor a listing of all the cars in his train and where each car must be delivered - see the form we use on the right in the photo above.  That's all the conductor gets with his clearance card and train order.

As the train arrives at each station, the conductor checks with the agent for the work to be performed in that town.  The agent gives him another switchlist for that town - a listing of the cars that need to be pulled, and where they're going.

And so on.

The cool thing is that - at least for now (or until I can train somebody to take it over) - I'm the A-O at my layout.  Both the Air Line Local and the Valley Local have to check with me each time they reach a station. And each time they check in with me, I give them the work that needs to be performed in that town - and also have an opportunity to issue any additional orders that govern the movement of their train.

The A-O position is typically simulated on a model railroad with bill boxes at each town.  But on a railroad with few trains, having an actual person perform this task provides another job for someone to do.

And all this work is done on a really cool desk - set up as much like the prototype as you're able.

Agent-Operator's Desk: Prototype or Model?

When you're sitting at the desk doing your work, you might as well be working on an actual railroad. Unlike being an engineer or conductor, when you're working directly with the 1/87th scale models, the A-O's job is really not all that different than the real thing and "scales" well too. And that's why I think this job is one of the best ones you can get on a model railroad.  Why not try instituting it on your railroad for your next ops session?  If you do, let me know what you think!

*Prototype information from an article by Richard K. Hurst & Edwin G. Motte, Jr. in the New Haven Railroad Historical & Technical Assn.'s Shoreliner magazine, Vol. 35, No. 3, pg. 22-23.

Valley Line Freight Ops in the Late 1940s

A basic question every prototype modeler must confront at some point is "what trains operated on the line during the time I'm modeling."  The earlier your era, often the harder it is to find the answer to this question.

Fortunately, the New Haven Railroad published a little booklet titled "Arranged Freight Train Service."  Also known as a "symbol book," this document listed all of the freight trains on the railroad and what schedule they generally maintained.  As far as I can tell, new books were issued at regular intervals on or around the same date as the employee timetable.

The symbol book I really need for my chosen era is the one issued September 28, 1947, but - alas - I haven't yet found a copy.  What I do have though are relevant parts from the book from the previous year (9/29/46) as well as April 25, 1948 and April, 1949.  So, based on the information I have on-hand, I just have to make some educated assumptions about operations in the Autumn of 1947.  Here's what I discovered (remember, you can always click on images to enlarge):

Symbol Book #76, September 29, 1946

The Valley Local
Turning to the section titled "Hartford Division Local Service" (p. 153), I see that such service generally occurred every day except Sunday & legal holidays, unless otherwise specified.  Looking down the list, I see #7 (aka Hartford Division Local #7 or HDX-7) is the Valley Local.  It leaves Hartford at 9:30am and goes to East Berlin (via Middletown) on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and to East Haddam on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays.  It connects at East Haddam with the New London-Cedar Hill Local (aka PDX-2, more on that in a minute) and the Shore Line crew (i.e. PDX-2) does the switching in East Haddam.

The Air Line Local
Continuing in the Hartford Division Local Service section (p. 154), I see that train #12 runs from Cedar Hill to Colchester and back - HDX-12, aka the Air Line Local.  It goes on-duty at Cedar Hill yard at 9am and services all the towns to Colchester, including Middletown where it meets and exchanges cars with the Valley Local.

The Shore Line Local(s)
Saying "the" Shore Line Local is a little misleading since there were actually at least three of them listed in the Providence Division Local Service section (p. 157) .  But relevant to my layout, I need only concern myself with two: The Cedar Hill-New London local (PDX-1) and the New London-Cedar Hill local (PDX-2). PDX-1 went on-duty at 9am in Cedar Hill and PDX-2 went on-duty at New London at 12:30pm. Interestingly, the eastbound local (PDX-1) didn't service the towns of Pine Orchard, Stony Creek, and Westbrook, but instead brought cars bound for those towns to Old Saybrook to hand them off to the westbound local (PDX-2).  For its part, the westbound local skipped the towns of Lyme, Black Hall, Millstone, Madison, and Guilford, leaving cars destined for those towns at Old Saybrook for the eastbound local to handle.  There was clearly a lot of interchange of cars at Old Saybrook, but I don't know what time that interchange took place.  I suspect - especially given the big difference in on-duty time - that the cars were just left.  Unlike the typical interchange between the Valley Local and Air Line Local, the two Shore Line locals were probably not in Saybrook at the same time.

As an aside, while I'm not there yet, I do plan to model Old Saybrook.  And when it's operational, my layout will have the distinction of being the home of four separate and distinct local freights.

But which Shore Line Local exchanged cars with the Valley Local in East Haddam?  It depends on what year you're talking about, and in 1946 it was PDX-2 - the New London-Cedar Hill local - that went up the Valley line.

Symbol Book #?, September 25, 1948
I only have a very small part of this symbol book, so I don't even know the number.  I do, however, see the Valley Local is on page 156 and this edition contains more-detailed schedule information.  See below:

The only substantive change in two years is that the local now leaves Hartford at 7:30a, an hour earlier than in 1946.

The page for the Air Line Local shows similar detail, and an earlier departure as well (7:45a):

The Shore Line Locals leave earlier too - 8:00am (PDX-1) and 11:15 (PDX-2):

PDX-2 still goes up the Valley to East Haddam in 1948, but the coolest thing about the info in this edition of the symbol book is that it shows when the two Shore Line locals were in Old Saybrook: PDX-2 got there at 12:14p and left for East Haddam at 12:35.  Just 5 minutes later, PDX-1 arrived and didn't leave Old Saybrook until 1:10pm.

Symbol Book #?, April ?, 1949
As I detailed on my website, diesels had supplanted steam on these locals by the spring of 1949.  Freight service changed quite a bit too in the seven months since the prior symbol book was issued.

You can see that the Valley Local (HDX-7) is now a M/W/F only job, departing Hartford at 8:30, and it no longer services East Berlin.  The Air Line Local (HDX-12) now has that chore, running (crawling, actually, given the poor track) up to East Berlin on Tuesdays/Thursdays/Saturdays.  PDX-1 (the Cedar Hill-New London local) goes up the Valley line now, and the exchange of cars happens in Essex rather than East Haddam.  Unfortunately, the information I have doesn't include PDX-2 so I'm not sure what it does in 1949.

As you can see, prototype modeling really is all about the details and prototype operations can vary widely, even within the span of a few short months. Thankfully, railroads tended to be very paperwork-heavy, keeping records of just about everything imaginable.  The secret to having prototypically correct operations is to find those records if you can.  The thrill of that hunt and the research that's involved is just another fun aspect of our hobby.

BOs in lieu of ETTs (for now...)

I've finally started to catch up a bit on some model railroad blogs and Trevor Marshall's blog is certainly one of my favorites.  Way back on May 5th, he did a post on the Employee Timetable he created for his layout and, since I want to create an ETT myself at some point, I've already bookmarked his ideas.  I highly recommend reading his post if you want to create a model-railroad-appropriate ETT.

I'm not quite ready to do an ETT myself yet, so I've done the next best thing - set up a Bulletin Board (thanks to my buddy Randy).  On it I can post - you guessed it - Bulletins!  Well, more specifically, Bulletin Orders.

The Bulletin Order (BO) tells operators anything special they need to know in addition to anything that would normally be in the ETT or the Operating Rules.  This is especially helpful on my layout where there are some, um, particularly specific ways of doing things.  But more on that in a minute.

What's included in the Bulletin Order?

• The date & number of the order (BOs supercede previously issued BOs)
• The number & edition of the ETT and Operating Rules that are in effect
• Any speed restrictions or tracks out of service
• Any signals out of service
• Additional orders and notices
• Any timetable special instructions or amendments

So, what's all that mean for my model of the Valley Line?

• I can impart some authenticity to my layout by referencing the ETT and Rules that were actually in effect on the date I'm modeling.  In my case, I operated on Tuesday, October 14, 1947 (you can tell what day it is by checking the calendar on the bulletin board, naturally :).  On that date on the actual New Haven RR, Timetable #164 and the 10th edition of the operating rules were in effect.
• There's a liftout between the two modules, so I note a speed restriction between the stations of "Somerset" and "Draper."  I also note a prototype speed restriction that acutally existed on the curve north of Rocky Hill station (which also has the benefit of lengthening the mainline run).
• I haven't yet installed the flashers that the prototype had at Main Street (Middlesex Turnpike) in Cromwell, so I note those signals are OOS (out of service) and require trains to stop & protect there.
• Until I get some FrogJuicers, I'm using toggle switches on the modules to control turnout frog polarity, so I note that under "Additional Orders and Notices."
• Finally, since I have a 10-car limit in runaround capacity in Middletown yard, I note under "Timetable Special Instructions/Amendments" that trains departing Middletown yard cannot exceed 10 cars.  I also have an "award winning" (inside joke) depressed-center flatcar that is VERY light when unloaded - so I require it to be placed just ahead of the caboose when being moved empty.

You can see the result of all this in the document below.  Every operator gets a copy of the latest Bulletin Order with his other paperwork (Clearance Form A & Form 19) and, according to the Rules, he must review the bulletin board in case there are any last-minute changes.

Until I can get around to compiling a model-appropriate version of the New Haven ETT - as Trevor has done with his CN version - I think BOs will suffice quite nicely.

What do you think?

First Operating Session - Paperwork Done!

The trains are staged, the cars are all spotted, and the paperwork is done in anticipation of my "sea trial" ops session tomorrow night. After much more preparation than I expected, I think I'm ready to go. I still didn't get done all I wanted, but that just means there'll be more to see next time.

But at least There Will Be Snacks.

Just briefly for now, the paperwork includes Clearance Forms & Train Orders to authorize train movement, and switchlists to govern the work en route. The bulletin board is where you'll find the latest Bulletin Order which makes any temporary changes to the timetable and gives the crews up-to-date instructions.

All true to the prototype I'm modeling - which is pretty cool.