Operating Session 11

Operating Session #11 took place on Sunday 8/25/2019.  I had 5 operators in addition to myself.  I had to leave the P&E Pekin switcher and the P&PU yard switcher unmanned, focusing on crewing the ATSF.  This works for a while, but by the afternoon the layout started to clog up a bit when the traffic wasn't flowing smoothly between the ATSF/P&E and ATSF/P&PU. We still had fun.

With it being a Sunday schedule all of the ATSF passenger trains are still scheduled, but none of the freights are.  Any ATSF freight that ran did so as an extra.

The crews are getting better about signing the registers at ATSF staging and ATSF Pekin East Yard now that all of the train instruction sheets mention it.

Here were the assignments for the session, from memory due to poor record keeping that day, Sunday 9/13/1959:

• 6:45am ATSF/P&E/C&IM/P&PU Dispatcher on duty.  Dan J, all day job.
• 6:45am ATSF Pekin switcher on duty. Mark G, all day job.
• 7:00am PPU yard switcher on duty.  Mostly uncrewed, occasionally crewed by Dan J.
• 7:00am PE switcher on duty. Mostly uncrewed, occasionally crewed by Bill A.
• 7:00am ATSF#14 Eastward passenger from Pekin.  Charlie S.
• 7:15am ATSF Eastward extra local freight from East Yard. William A.
• 7:45am ATSF X203L West Westward green fruit express from ATSF staging (Streator).  Bill A.
• ~ 8:00am P&PU Transfer job.  Bill B.
• ~ 9:30am TPW Westward coal extra from ATSF staging (Streator).  Annullled
• ~ 10:00am ATSF X203C East Eastward through-freight from East Yard.  Bill B.
• ~ 10:00am PE Morning Corn Products job.  Bill A.
• 10:15am CIM #6 Northward freight from CIM staging.  Dan J.
• 11:00am ATSF #17 Westward mail and express from ATSF staging (Streator).  Charlie S.
• ~ 11:00am PE Morning American Distilling job.  Bill A.
• Mid day ATSF X707 West local freight from ATSF staging (Streator).   William A.
• 12:05pm PE #11 Westward passenger from PE staging (Bloomington).  Bill B.
• 12:50pm PE #95 Westward freight from PE staging (Bloomington).  Dan J.
• 1:00pm ATSF #18 Eastward mail and express from Pekin.  Delayed, did not run before end of session.
• 2:15pm PE #12 Eastward passenger from Pekin.  Delayed, did not run before end of session.
• End of session
• 3:05pm CIM #7 Southward freight from East Peoria.  Did not run before end of session.
• 3:15pm ATSF #13 Westward passenger from ATSF staging (Streator).  Did not run before end of session.
• ~ 3:30pm ATSF extra Eastward way-freight from East Yard.  Did not run before end of session.
• 4:30pm PE #90 Eastward freight from East Peoria.  Did not run before end of session.
• ~ 4:45pm ATSF extra Westward way-freight from ATSF staging (Streator).  Did not run before end of session.

Train orders issued during the session:

1.  To: C+E X203L WEST at Streator, C+E X721 EAST at East Yard.  At: 6:40A.  Body:  X203L WEST MEET X721 EAST IN MORTON.  X203L WEST TAKE SIDING.
2.  To: C+E X203L WEST at Streator, C+E No 14 at Pekin.  At: 6:40A.  Body:  X203L WEST MEET No 14 IN ROANOKE.  X203L WEST TAKE SIDING.
3.  To: C+E ENG 203L at Streator.  At: 7:05A.  Body:  ENG 203L RUN EXTRA STREATOR TO EAST YARD.
4.  To: C+E ENG 721 at East Yard.  At:  7:09A.  Body:  AFTER No 14 DEPARTS EAST YARD ENG 721 RUN EXTRA EAST YARD TO STREATOR.
5.  To: C+E X203C EAST at East Yard, C+E X721 EAST at Morton.  At:  9:08A.  Body: X203C EAST MEET X721 EAST AT MORTON.  X721 EAST TAKE SIDING.
6.  To: C+E ENG 203C at East Yard.  At:  9:10A.  Body:  ENG 203C RUN EXTRA EAST YARD TO STREATOR.
7.  To: C+E X203C EAST at East Yard,  C+E X721 EAST at Morton.  At:  9:50A.  Body: X203C MEET X721 EAST AT ROANOKE.  X721 EAST TAKE SIDING.  TRAIN ORDER 5 IS ANNULLED.
8.  To: C+E ENG 707 at Streator.  At:  12:20P.  Body:  ENG 707 RUN EXTRA STREATOR TO EAST YARD.

Some progress on scenery work

I'm finally making some progress on scenery and structures.  For the last few weeks I've been building structures in Washington, IL, and finishing the scenery there.  Next up will be Roanoke, IL.

Looking north (railroad west) towards Washington, IL

Looking south (railroad east) towards the Washington, IL lumber yard, elevator, and depot.

Operating Session 10

Operating Session #10 took place on Thursday 8/1/2019.  This time I had 7 operators in addition to myself.  While things still run fine with 7 operators, the P&E Pekin switcher ends up overloaded, due to not being able to call spare crews to run the P&E American Distilling job or the P&E Corn Products job.  I may end up trying to still call crews to run these two industrial jobs and have them abandon those switch jobs when they get called for scheduled trains.  Since both the American Distilling job and the Corn Products job are out of the way in their own switching area, abandoning those jobs in place for a while and returning to complete it shouldn't be a problem.

The Digitrax duplex radio throttles continued to work well for the most part, although I'm planning on moving the radio receiver to a more central location to try to get rid of an occasional dead spot on the east end of Pekin.

Many crews forgot to sign the ATSF train registers in ATSF staging and at Pekin East Yard.  This is problematic when operating using TT&TO.  I plan to modify all of the ATSF train instruction sheets to remind people to sign the registers.

We ran into the Digitrax Zephyr "FULL" error message once and had to run the slot clearing procedure.  All signs point towards it being a good idea to upgrade to a more capable command station soon.

Here were the assignments for the session, Saturday 9/12/1959:

• 6:45am ATSF/P&E/C&IM/P&PU Dispatcher on duty.  Dan J, all day job.
• 6:45am ATSF Pekin switcher on duty. Greg B, all day job.
• 7:00am PPU yard switcher on duty.  Frank S, all day job.
• 7:00am PE switcher on duty.  Mike A, all day job.
• 7:00am ATSF#14 Eastward passenger from Pekin.  Charlie S.
• 7:15am ATSF Eastward extra local freight from East Yard. Bob H.
• 7:45am ATSF First #47 Westward green fruit express from ATSF staging (Streator).  Bill S.
• 8:15am ATSF Second #47 Westward through freight from ATSF staging (Streator).  Bob M.
• 10:00am ATSF #48 Eastward through-freight from East Yard.  Charlie S.
• 10:15am CIM #6 Northward freight from CIM staging.  Bill S.
• 11:00am ATSF #17 Westward mail and express from ATSF staging (Streator).  Bob M.
• ~ 11:30am ATSF Westward extra local freight from ATSF staging (Streator).   Bill S.
• 12:05pm PE #11 Westward passenger from PE staging (Bloomington).  Charlie S.
• 12:50pm PE #95 Westward freight from PE staging (Bloomington).  Bob M.
• 1:00pm ATSF #18 Eastward mail and express from Pekin.  Charlie S.
• Afternoon TPW Eastward coal empty extra from TPW staging (East Peoria).  Extra train did not run.
• 2:15pm PE #12 Eastward passenger from Pekin.  Bob M.
• 3:05pm CIM #7 Southward freight from East Peoria.  Dan J.
• 3:15pm ATSF #13 Westward passenger from ATSF staging (Streator).  Bob M.
• 3:30pm ATSF #50 Eastward way-freight from East Yard.  Charlie S.
• 4:30pm PE #90 Eastward freight from East Peoria.  Train did not run before end of session.
• 4:45pm ATSF #49 Westward way-freight from ATSF staging (Streator).  Train did not run before end of session.

Train orders issued during the session:

1.  To: C+E Eng 203L.  Body:  Eng 203L display signals and run as first 47 Streator to East Yard.  Complete: 6:00A.
2.  To:  C+E Eng 715.  Body:  Eng 715 run as second 47 Streator to East Yard.  Complete: 6:10A.
3.  To:  C+E No 14, C+E First 47.  Body: No 14 meet First 47 in Roanoke.  First 47 take siding in Roanoke.  Complete: 6:15A.
4.  To:  C+E Eng 707.  Body:  After No 14 departs East Yard Eng 707 run extra East Yard to Streator.  Complete: 6:50A.
5.  To:  C+E X721 West, C+E X707 East.  Body:  X721 West meet X707 East in Roanoke.  X707 East take siding.  Complete:  11:29A.
6.  To:  C+E Eng 721.  Body:  Eng 721 run extra Streator to East Yard.  Complete:  11:32A.
7.  To:  C+E No 7.  Body:  No 7 run 1 HR early.  Complete:  1:55P.