October Layout Operations Summary

 Greetings All,

 

October Layout Operations Summary

Welcome to another look at the model railroad operations on my home layout. Today we'll take a look at some things I added to the ops, some things that worked well and some that should not be repeated.

First Stop Sub-Level 5 in the Operations Rabbit Hole

During the month of October I spent sometime updating a large number of freight waybills for my freight car fleet with particular attention to the ice bunker reefers that have been in the fleet for two decades with many not yet being included in the layout operations.

Over many years the fleet of 40' ice bunker reefers and 50' ice bunker express reefers had all been upgraded with metal wheels and Kadee couplers. They make for a colorful train and were great to see from a railfan and operations perspective.

Four Lightning Striped NYC F7s powered Train RM-12 (Refrigerated Merchandise) that consisted of all of the newly added reefer cars to the layout operations.

Are The Waybills Important? 

Actually they're not. Most of my reading and viewing of layout operations with hardcore operators and 1:1 railroaders revealed that those in actual train service do not care about what is in a car or where it came from. The only thing they care about is where it is going.

That said some model railroaders, including yours truly, enjoy having the waybills which for me make the model railroad operations realistic.

Layout Operations Before The Waybills

Prior to getting involved in car card and waybill operations my attempts to operate the layout delivering freight cars to various industries resembled my experiences as an urban driver looking for a parking space. Oh wait, there's an empty spot!!!

Back to the Operations!!

Catch the RM-12 as it heads to Terminal Yard!!

Hotshot Train FAST-50 (Ford Auto Service Train) was led by second generation NYC power, a GP35 and two U30Bs.

E33s powered New Haven Trains between Cedar Hill to Terminal Yard.

A pair of old Athearn BB super powered PRR F7As were assigned to Terminal Yard. These two old workhorses, while noisy, performed very well. Note the cars on track #2 with their new waybills that were part of the "paperwork operations".

An Atlas Classic PRR RS1 9921 was assigned to Bedford Park Yard.

The 9921 also handled the BP-12 / BP-41 transfer runs to and from Terminal Yard. Below Train BP-41 hustles thru Bedford with important traffic for the Bedford Park Ford Plant.

The hind end of Train BP-41 features a pair of PRR 50' boxcars making their first operations revenue runs.

The Empire Belt fielded their fan favorite Alco FA-FB-FB-FA set to handle yard, local and transfer duties.

Empire Belt RR freight traffic transferred to and from North Side Yard to Terminal Yard was handled by EBRR Trains EB-2 and EB-3.

In the October Op Train EB-3 began to handle the interchange traffic from Terminal Yard to North Side Yard on a rotating basis with the New York Central / Penn Central. This worked well. Prior to this the EB-3 was a caboose lite move back to North Side Yard and NYC/PC Train EC-1 handled the freight transfer from Terminal Yard to NSY.

Train EB-3 heads to North Side Yard with the interchange traffic.

Penn Central E33 #4605 had the dubious honor of powering an empty coal hopper extra that outlawed on the Bedford Secondary as it waited for a yard track in Terminal Yard.

The Long Island RR continued to be an important interchange partner with Train MA-3 delivering thirteen (13) freight cars to North Side Yard and Train MA-4 taking forty six (46) freight cars from NSY back to Fresh Pond Yard.

Three locomotives were sent in MA-3 to power the forty six (46) car MA-4 which presented some challenges for both the EBRR and LIRR.

The long MA-4 was set up on the Belt Line so as not to foul the yard. The EBRR crew has the LIRR caboose and waits to tack it onto the MA-4 when it clears the switch under the Railbox car at the bottom right. .

The LIRR caboose is tacked on. 1:87 Emery was in town at his favorite spot to catch some of the action.

LIRR Train MA-4 heads back to Fresh Pond Yard with forty six (46) freight cars.

In other action two GG1s came to the rescue of the Tuscan 4910 to get a passenger train up the 2.5% grade between Empire City Station to East Bedford Station.

A PRR hotshot LCL Merchandise Service Train powered by a GG1 got into the operations.

The October Ops closed out with the E33s bringing Train HN-2 from Terminal Yard to Cedar Hill Yard.

Check out the Electric Action at RA Tower.

Final Thoughts and Comments

Minuses

The October layout operations were overly ambitious for the season. Homeowner Autumn chores took a big chunk of time away from the layout. The below freight train with cars featuring new waybills sat on track 2 in Terminal Yard where I staged it for the duration. Staging the train on this track was a mistake. Traffic into Terminal Yard with this long track clogged and out of service hindered both freight and passenger operations.

46 Defense?

The forty six (46) car interchange with the LIRR at North Side Yard while challenging was a bit much. I'll try to keep this move to about 30 cars or less. If traffic warrants an LIRR extra will be sent out to keep the car count down at North Side Yard and keep that yard fluid.

Pluses

On the plus side seldom used trains were powered by seldom used power with a nod toward the electric motors in the fleet. Another plus was the paper operations getting some freight cars never used before in layout operations into the ops mix. Ironically some of those cars were still awaiting movement at Terminal Yard!!

The continued goal of cycling equipment on and off the layout was met and it's now time to get ready for the November layout operations which will include a PCCM 108 virtual op. 

Thanks for reading and watching!!!

See you soon!!!