Operating Session 7 (Amrail)

Operating Session #7 took place on Saturday 8/25/2018.  This was my first time hosting the Amrail operating group.  We had six operators from Amrail, and two from my usual operating group to fill in the remaining spots.  The session went well and I look forward to hosting the Amrail crowd again.  Only one problem was reported by the operators, which was a problem with the couplers of one of the P&E Pekin switch engines.

Here were the assignments for the session, Tuesday September 8, 1959:

• 6:45am ATSF/P&E/C&IM/P&PU Dispatcher on duty.  Dan J, all day job.
• 6:45am ATSF Peking switcher on duty.  Rich S, all day job.
• 7:00am PPU yard switcher on duty.  Greg B, all day job.
• 7:00am PE Pekin switcher on duty.  Mike R, all day job.
• 7:00am ATSF #14 Eastward passenger from Pekin.  Bill S.
• 7:15am ATSF Eastward extra local freight from East YaRD.  Gary S.
• 7:45am ATSF #47 Westward green fruit express from ATSF staging (Streator).  George S.
• 8:30am ATSF Westward extra local freight from ATSF staging (Streator).  Charlie S.
• 10:00am ATSF #48 Eastward through freight from East Yard.  Gary C.
• 10:15am CIM #6 Northward freight from CIM staging.  George S.
• 11:00 ATSF #17 Westward mail and express from ATSF staging (Streator).  Bill S.
• 12:05 PE #11 Westward passenger from PE staging (Bloomington).  George S.
• 12:50 PE #95 Westward freight from PE staging (Bloomington).  Gary C.
• 1:00pm ATSF #18 Eastward mail and express from Pekin.  Gary S.
• 1:10pm ATSF Westward coal extra from ATSF staging (Streator).  Bill S.
• 2:15pm PE #12 Eastward passenger from Pekin.  George S.
• 3:05pm CIM #7 Southward freight from East Peoria.  Greg B.
• 3:15pm ATSF #13 Westward passenger from ATSF staging (Streator).  Charlie S.
• 3:30pm ATSF #50 Eastward way-freight from East Yard.  George S.
• 4:30pm PE #90.  Did not run before session end.
• 4:45pm ATSF #49 Westward way-freight from ATSF staging (Streator).  Did not run before session end.

Operating Session 6

Operating Session #6 took place on Thursday 7/19/2018.  We had eight operators, plus myself acting as dispatcher.  This is the first time we've operated with a full eight person crew.  This is also the first time we managed to complete all the trains for the day.  Overall I feel the session went great, and the layout performed without problems.  For the future I will shoot for eight operators as the goal.  Being able to focus on dispatching and not having to also run a yard job was nice.  

Here is some of the operator feedback:

• A couple of locomotives stalled on the road crossing on the siding in Roanoke.
• The track map in Pekin industrial is inaccurate and American Distilling is missing from it entirely.  Additionally the car card boxes for American Distilling should be re-labeled to match the order of the tracks.
• The IT and PRR interchanges in Morton clog up with cars.  The dispatcher might need to move some cars from the interchange tracks down to a storage box under the layout mid session.  There is unfortunately no room to make the tracks longer.

Here are some of the observations and lessons learned during this operating session:

• While test running locomotives before the session the MRC sound decoder in one of the Kato F3A units died.  The decoder appears to be fully dead, also not responding to DC power.  MRC sound decoders are generally thought of as unreliable, and my track record of having 2 out of 3 of these sound decoders die confirms that.  The dead decoder will be replaced with a Digitrax non sound decoder for the time being.  This decoder death makes me wonder if I'm getting voltage spikes on the layout.  I will install snubbers at the end of each power district to absorb spikes.
• A few locomotives stalled in the staging yard.  Currently the yard does not have power feeders due to it originally having been built as a temporary staging yard.  Temporary things sometimes become permanent.  It is time to extend the power bus and run feeders to each staging track instead of relying on track power through 15ft of code 55 track.
• The Corn Products and American Distilling switch jobs performed by the P&E Pekin yard switcher can tie that operator up for too long.  I will create instructions for these as stand alone jobs, and suggest that the P&E Pekin yard switcher call in crews to operate those switch jobs separately.
• Switching Morton continues to tie up the locals for a long time, causing some complications for meets.  I should consider if Morton needs to have a permanent switch job.

Here were the assignments for the session, Monday September 7, 1959:

• 6:45am ATSF/P&E/C&IM/P&PU Dispatcher.  Dan J, all day job.
• 6:45am ATSF Pekin switcher on duty.  Frank S, all day job.
• 7:00am PPU yard switcher on duty.  Art J, all day job.
• 7:00am PE switcher on duty.  Michael H, all day job.
• 7:00am ATSF#14 Eastward passenger from Pekin.  Mike A.
• 7:20am ATSF Eastward extra coal empty from East Yard.  Bob M.
• 7:40am ATSF Eastward extra local freight from East Yard.  Bill S.
• 7:45am ATSF #47 Westward green fruit express from ATSF staging (Streator).  Charlie S.
• ~ 9:00am ATSF Westward extra local freight from ATSF staging (Streator).  Kurt V.
• 10:00am ATSF #48 Eastward through-freight from East Yard.  Bob M.
• 10:15am CIM #6 Northward freight from CIM staging.  Charlie S.
• 11:00am ATSF #17 Westward mail and express from ATSF staging (Streator).  Mike A.
• 12:05pm PE #11 Westward passenger from PE staging (Bloomington).  Charlie S.
• 12:50pm PE #95 Westward freight from PE staging (Bloomington).  Mike A.
• 1:00pm ATSF #18 Eastward mail and express from Pekin.  Bob M.
• 2:15pm PE #12 Eastward passenger from Pekin.  Kurt V.
• 3:05pm CIM #7 Southward freight from East Peoria.  Dan J.
• 3:15pm ATSF #13 Westward passenger from ATSF staging (Streator).  Charlie S.
• 3:30pm ATSF #50 Eastward way-freight from East Yard.  Bob M.
• 4:30pm PE #90.  Mike A.
• 4:45pm ATSF #49 Westward way-freight from ATSF staging (Streator).  Mike A.

PPU yard switcher switches the yard, while the P&E switches Corn Products in Pekin.

ATSF Eastward extra local freight waits for ATSF #47, the Green Fruit Express, to pull into the arrival track in East Yard.