Friday Fun: Ops Session Setup

I've said before that it's ironic that layout owners seldom operate their own layouts, often playing host for operating sessions instead. Seems the only time we really get to participate in any way (other than by acting as dispatcher, trainmaster, or troubleshooter) is through a "pre-ops ops session" - aka ops session setup - where you get to act as freight agent, yard clerk, and transportation manager all at the same time.

Now though, with so many ops sessions on hiatus for the duration, many layout owners are taking this opportunity to scratch the operating itch by - gasp! - actually operating what they've built, all by themselves. And while I've been enjoying (and not enjoying) doing some modeling and making more progress on the layout where & when I can lately, my favorite aspect of the hobby - right after research - is operations.

Before you can operate though, you have to get things set up. The links above provide an overview, but I thought it'd be fun to document my process in a bit more detail here.

I start by consulting my Ops Session Checklist which lists all the steps required:

Remember, you can always click on the image for a larger view.

The first step is to grab a bunch of blank switchlists and go to each town to record the cars, their location, and where they're headed. Since the New Haven was basically a large terminal railroad, most of the cars going out are empties.

Here we are in Saybrook where we record 4 cars - 2 tanks & 2 boxcars - all headed back west to Cedar Hill yard in New Haven.

Another example: Wethersfield, where there's a car on the bulk track, in front of Gra-Rock and a boxcar at the house track. Both of these cars are also bound for Cedar Hill yard, but since Wethersfield is served only by the Valley Local (HDX-7) and it doesn't go to Cedar Hill, these cars will have to be transferred to HDX-12 (the Airline Local) in Middletown for further forwarding. They're headed ultimately to Oak Point and off the property to the PRR.

Once I've recorded the cars in each of the towns, the next step is to tell the spreadsheet what spots are occupied. Keeping with our Wethersfield example, I've entered an "X" in two spots which stand for a boxcar at the Wethersfield bulk track and a boxcar at the Wethersfield house track.

As I'm noting ("X"-ing) what cars are where, the spreadsheet is determining which cars are to be picked up, which cars are to be left alone, and what industries/spots need cars (and what type of car they need). In the photo above, you can see that one of the boxcars at Hartford Rayon won't be picked up during this session.

I then just go back and erase those cars from the switchlists.

I build my four local freights with the cars in the "Deliver" column of the spreadsheet.

• HDX-7 originates in Hartford Yard and serves Wethersfield, Rocky Hill/Dividend, Cromwell, Middletown, East Haddam (where it exchanges cars with PDX-2), and East Berlin. It then returns to Hartford.
• HDX-12 originates in Cedar Hill Yard and serves the towns of Somerset and Mill Hollow and also leave cars for - and picks up cars from - HDX-7 in Middletown. It then returns to Cedar Hill.
• PDX-1 (the Shore Line Local) originates in Cedar Hill, switches Old Saybrook (leaving westbound cars for - and picking up eastbound cars from - PDX-2), and terminates at Fort Yard in New London.
• PDX-2 (the Haddam Local) originates in Fort Yard, swaps cars with PDX-1 in Old Saybrook, and serves Essex, Deep River, and East Haddam - where it exchanges cars with HDX-7. It then heads back down the branch to Saybrook and continues west to Cedar Hill, where it terminates.

The cars to be delivered go into the trains that serve the towns the cars are going to. But there are exceptions. For example, based on what I know about my prototype's operations, I know that most of the traffic coming into Middletown comes via the Air Line Local (HDX-12). So you see noted above that two boxcars are destined for the Middletown house tracks via HDX-12. So even though HDX-7 serves Middletown, these cars being delivered will be placed in HDX-12's consist for delivery.

I keep track of the number of cars in each local - but note that HDX-7 and PDX-1 each got one car added . . .

Like the Middletown example above, you see in this photo that the hopper of coal consigned to the Essex Bulk Track is coming via PDX-1. Coal tends to come from the south (so through Cedar Hill yard) and not from the east (Fort Yard/New London) nor the north (Hartford Yard). So the best routing for coal to Essex is for PDX-1 to bring it from Cedar Hill and transfer it to PDX-2 at Old Saybrook. I also have a load of utility poles going to Deep River, but they're coming from the north - through Hartford Yard and down the Valley on HDX-7 to East Haddam, where they'll be transferred to PDX-2 for their final delivery.

Fun, eh? Actually, using your prototype research to imagine all this traffic is pretty fun. And we haven't even started the ops session yet!

Here are the component parts of HDX-7's paperwork to illustrate further. On the left, you see the note about the poles. On the right you see HDX-7's wheel report, which is a listing of all the cars in its train to be delivered (gleaned from the spreadsheet), blocked according to town. The last entry is the last car in the train - a gondola load of poles. Also, since this car will be left for a subsequent local freight for delivery to the final destination, I've completed a waybill that will be left with the car in East Haddam. The waybill replaces the old (and unprototypical) "Car Transfer Form" I'd been using to accomplish the same purpose (providing paperwork to go with the car which instructs the subsequent local what to do with the car).

And here is HDX-7 staged and ready to go . . . 11 cars . . .

plus the gondola makes a total of 12 cars in its train.

Then just "rinse & repeat" for the other locals:

1. See the spreadsheet for what types of cars need to be delivered and where.
2. Create trains with those cars.
3. Note swapping between trains as required.

Here's the Airline Local (HDX-12) staged with 9 cars from Cedar Hill yard for delivery - a whopping 6 of which will be transferred to HDX-7 in Middltown. Per the prototype, the Airline local just drops and picks up cars in Middletown and the Valley Local does all the switching. I didn't bother writing up waybills for the 6 transfer cars since HDX-12 will be able to just leave this list with the cars.

Here's PDX-1 staged at "Cedar Hill" staging, track 2. There are only 4 cars on its wheel report, including that hopper of coal for PDX-2 to deliver to Essex (and its associated waybill). The remaining cars in the train are ostensibly destined for Fort Yard having been picked up from towns between New Haven and New London.

Finally, here's PDX-2 staged in Fort Yard/New London. Seven cars, all being delivered to towns it serves, so no transfers (or waybills).

So there you have it! I'm all set up for another session (actually, if you paid attention to the Ops Session Checklist above, you'll note that I also had to stage 7 Shore Line trains, but those are easy and outside the scope of this post). Writing it all down, my process may seem more complicated and time-consuming than it is.

Or maybe I just enjoy playing the role of freight agent - drinking my coffee and listening to big band music as I imagine all the different freight traffic coming into, and leaving, the Connecticut River Valley during the late 1940s.

It's that type of immersion that really starts to transport you to a different time and place and is where prototype modeling shines the most. Ops session setup - especially what I go through - may be a bit overboard but it's enjoyable in its way. And it literally sets the stage for my favorite part of the hobby - actually operating all these local freights and doing the "retail railroading" that was an everyday part of the Mighty New Haven.

Wordless Wednesday #329 - On the Dead Line

Motivated Modeling Monday - Work on the Dividend House Continues...

Hobby time last week was mostly occupied by storm cleanup. Fortunately, the town cleaned up the major trees and branches - which was good since I couldn't get my chainsaw started. Ended up I'd flooded it.

And it occurred to me that that's often a metaphor for the hobby. We often get so flooded with information and input that we fail to start. When that happens, you have to take things apart, dry them out, and clean them up.

Which is kinda what I did to my workbench one evening last week. Before closing all the windows and turning on the A/C for the past couple of months, everything had gotten coated with pollen. Once the house was sealed, we gave it a good cleaning, but the workbench - with all its many, MANY little various and sundry things - had been put off. So, while I mulled what to do next on the layout, I figured it was high time to give the bench, and all its contents, a good cleaning.

A clean workbench can be a great motivator - you just wanna take advantage of the great space to just work on something. So, since I'd gotten the walls of the Dividend house weathered, I figured I'd work some more on that. Here's where things started - all the weathered walls laid out . . .

Before assembling the walls though, I decided to add clear styrene "window glass" and curtains.

Window treatments are often overlooked, and they do take a bit of time to cut out and apply, but I think they really add to the overall "lived in" look of the model and imply there's something going on inside (even if you don't do an interior).

The window treatments are an old sheet of them I found in my scrapbox - which I then scanned and print out on a color printer as needed.

I also decided to add some Tichy shutters to the front wall to dress things up just a little. . .

Unlike the Goff Brook Farmhouse, in addition to the green window frames and shutters, I decided to narrow the front porch. These City Classics kits just beg for modification, so you might want to try this yourself.

I started by cutting down the porch supports to just two (down from three) and then used that to determine the porch width. I've dry fit the supports above and cut the porch down, allowing for an overhang similar to the "factory" end.

To allow room for a strip of styrene to finish off the cut end, I again used the porch support for a template to guide how much to cut back.

The proper size styrene strip is .040x.065 but the closest I had on-hand was .020x.066, so I just laminated two strips to get the proper thickness. Once all dry & cured, I'll file and fill as needed.

I cut down the roof support the same way I did the porch support (from 3 down to 2) and then used it to determine the width of the ledger board and front fascia trim board.

Here are the three pieces ready for assembly. First, I glued the fascia board to the front of the roof support. Then I needed to make sure the sides were nice and square before adding the side boards

This is where having a perfectly level workspace really pays off . . .

Once I could rest the assembly on its side, I was confident it was nice and square.

Next, I needed to add the side pieces. As you can see here, my steel blocks are a little too low to mock this up easily for gluing.

So, I just raised them the proper amount using stripwood. As you can see above, the side piece is now perfectly lined up and ready for gluing.

And that's where things currently stand. I don't even want to admit how long this all took, since there doesn't seem to be nearly the amount of progress I'd expect for the time I spent.

Far too often, I'm stymied by how long it takes me to accomplish anything modeling-wise. Unfortunately, that often means I end up not doing anything at all - and another hour/day/weekend goes by with little/no progress to show.

But another of the many lessons I'm learning from this project is that ANY progress - no matter how minor - is still SOME progress. It's much better to keep moving forward, even if the pace seems glacial sometimes. You may not get nearly the amount done think you should for the time you spend - but it's still LOTS more than you'd have done if you'd done nothing at all.

Seems pretty obvious, but I'm surprised how I have to keep relearning this lesson. And I don't think I'm alone.

So, I'll continue plugging along, listening to my podcasts, '40s music, and old-time radio shows and eventually I'll have some real progress to show. And I suspect the more I do, the faster I'll get.

Fingers crossed!

Wordless "Wednesday" #328

Still catching up . . .

Meh Modeling Monday: Weathering Walls on Three Different Houses

By way of a quick update since my last post, lots of nothing happened last week - other than a major storm, five days of power outage, no internet, and little modeling to report. I even missed posting a Wordless Wednesday for the week - and I don't think I've ever missed one of those during the almost 7 years of this 'ere blog.

Ah well. That's life. Fortunately, we have a generator that kept the fridge cold, the food saved, and the lights on. But it couldn't generate much motivation for modeling. I did get pretty good at timing the fueling, changing the oil, and (at least attempting) trying my hand at getting two chainsaws refurbished and started. Thankfully, the trees that came down on both sides of our house actually missed the house - but not the wires. And between the utility company and the town, they all got cleaned up. Good thing - the chainsaws are now at the repair shop.

I did however gin up enough enthusiasm to try some more weathering on the house I plan to put behind the tracks at Dividend, as well as on an outhouse and a doghouse. To wit:

The walls of the house had been spray painted white, but in the last post I described how the alcohol/ink foundation weathering had seeped under the masking tape. So, though I covered those  mistakes with some more white paint, I decided to go ahead and brush paint white over the entire walls to give them an "uneven" effect. Then I drybrushed a variety of different grays to represent peeling/worn paint.

Click on the image for a closer view and let me know what you think. While I was at it, I also decided to use a similar technique (though this time I also added some raw and burnt sienna) on the outhouse. I think the house came out ok - but the outhouse? Meh - not really sure.

After a farmhouse and an outhouse, I decided to build & weather a dog house. I again used the same dry brushing technique, but I really think I'd do well to remember to use a hair dryer and dry each color thoroughly before drybrushing on the next color. Failing to do so tends to allow the different colors to actually blend together rather than being distinct as they should be. I think I got away with it though. The dog house came out halfway decent (though, admittedly, I need to be sure and "plant" it - it's just sitting on, rather than in, the grass for now).

Not much progress for a whole week - but given the circumstances, I'll take any progress as a success. Hope the coming week is more productive and I have more to report soon.

At least I hope to post a Wordless Wednesday this week!

Hope you and yours are doing well despite storms, pandemics, and heat waves. I can attest to the fact that the basement is a great place to be this time of year - whether to work on your layout or to wait out a hurricane - and it's the coolest place in the house!

Manic Modeling Monday

So after all the rabbit holes and navel gazing lately, I decided to do some more modeling - on a wide variety of things. . .

First off, I painted up some more (and, as it turns out, the last) of the whistle posts I got from my buddy ChrisZ. They're super cool since they not only have recessed "W"s just like the prototype, but also include the beveled corners. You can barely make them out in HO scale, but they're there - just like they should be.

And because of those recessed "W"s, they're actually pretty easy to paint. Just spray on white & once dry, use a fine tipped brush to put some black in the Ws. As you can see above, you don't need to be at all perfect . . .

. . . because once the black is dry (and craft acrylics dry very fast, especially in these small amounts), you then go back over the Ws with white paint, drybrushed on until the black "outside the lines" disappears - as you can see above.

Since I was in the paint shop anyway (and enjoying more podcasts) I decided to tackle the house I'll be putting behind the tracks at Dividend. I'd sprayed the walls white a couple of weeks ago (when I also introduced this project, toward the end of the post) so it was time to paint the foundations.

The house has a stone foundation under the main house, and a concrete foundation under the addition. Having gotten acclimated to using multiple colors to get a better effect, I decided to use a couple of "concrete colors" and applied them using a leopard spotting technique.

I used that same leopard spotting technique using 4 different grays on the stone foundation . . .

. . . then I used my alcohol and india ink wash over all the foundations to tone down the spotting, blend everything together, and make the dividing lines pop.

Unfortunately, I must not have had the masking tape tight enough - or I used too much A&I - since it bled under. I figured I'd fix it with some more white paint later.

But first, I decided to give the window frames and doors a contrasting color of green to make this house a bit different from the other one. Jury's still out on whether it was faster to do all this masking & spray paint, rather than just painting it all with a brush. But I will attest to the fact that it was much less harrowing - and no steady hand required (so I could drink as much coffee as I wanted!)

Also, to give this house a different character, I decided to use some Tichy small shutters (p/n 8039). They're a perfect match for the size of the windows in this kit. Just put them on some masking tape to hold them . . .

. . . then spray everything with Rustoleum Camouflage Deep Forest Green (p/n 279175).

It took a LOT more time to do the masking than the painting - but, again, very low stress provided you make the masking tape nice and tight. This time, I rubbed/embossed all the edges of the tape with the side of a toothpick to make sure nothing would seep under.

Speaking of seepage - it was also time to touch up my earlier masking misfortune. Out came the white craft acrylic and a brush  . . .

. . . and I just brushed right over it. I'm getting a LOT more patient with myself about not making things look perfect. And this certainly is anything but perfect. But it's a house literally right by the tracks and I also plan to weather it. So I don't think this'll end up looking all that bad - in fact, it may make it look just right.

Finally, I got around to planting the (formerly) white picket fence I put together and weathered. I used thick, gap filling CA to glue the sections to the arbor and glue the corner together. It's a pretty delicate fence and came out a bit bent, so it was critical that the mounting holes were straight. I drilled the holes with a 1/16" bit in my Dremel - the instructions suggested a 3/32, but I wanted a bit of play to make sure I could make the fence nice and straight during final positioning.

I filled the holes with Aleene's Quick Dry Tacky Glue and put the fence in. The extra play helped me get everything nice and straight, but I had to be a bit creative in bracing everything while the glue dried.

I also dusted on some Woodland Scenics Burnt Grass Fine Turf to cover up the glue & holes. I vacuumed it up once everything dried.

An old boxcar body (which I used to use for airbrush practice) fit the bill - and the plot - nicely. Actually looks kinda cool.

But the proof is in the positioning. Everything lined up nice and straight.
 

So that's all the modeling for the moment. I've gone back to the bench to work some more on my K-1 mogul - still vacillating between taking the time to dial-in the TCS decoder motor control vs. just using a Tsunami2. But I won't be doing any operating sessions any time soon, so there's really no hurry on that so I can take my time.

In the meantime, I'm enjoying doing more modeling and making more progress.

Until next time!