More ATSF staging tracks built

I ripped up part of the ATSF staging yard ladder and added two more tracks.  One of them is only half length due to benchwork limitations.  At this point with six tracks in the ATSF staging yard I can adjust the schedule to include more trains.

Evolving the time table and operating scheme

So far most of the action on my time table is concentrated between 7am and 6pm.  Operating sessions generally start with the clock at 6:45am and tend to go until 4pm - 5pm railroad time, with the fast clock running at a 4-1 ratio.  This makes means each session is about 2:30 - 3 real hours.  This seems to be about the natural point where operators start to fizzle.  Most of my sessions take place on weeknight evenings, which adds to the early fizzle factor for most people.

In operating on other layouts I've grown to like the variety when operating sessions pick up at whatever layout time that the last operating session ended.  This type of continuous ops makes each session feel a bit different.  I'm hoping to evolve my time table and operating scheme a bit more in this direction.  As a bonus, by spreading out the scheduled trains a bit there will be more room to fit in extras.

The first change on the ATSF will be to change the scheduled departure of the westbound ATSF #17, the Pekin Fast Mail from staging to depart at 12:30pm instead of 11:00am.  This also allows it to receive a sleeper from the LA to Chicago eastbound Super Chief, which will have stopped off-layout at Streator at 11:40am.

The next change is #18, the Ft. Madison Fast Mail from Pekin, will depart at 7:00pm instead of 1:00pm.  This will open up the schedule quite a bit in the afternoons, to allow for extra locals in both directions to work the industries, as well as coal hauls from ATSF staging to TP&W East Peoria staging.  The eastbound Fast Mail will also carry a connecting sleeper header to the westbound Chicago to LA Super Chief, which stops in Streator at 8:40pm.  This connect sleeper cannot miss the connection or heads will roll.

On the C&IM I will plan on running an evening freight extra in both directions if crew availability and traffic allows.

On the P&E I will move to a more realistic schedule with all four daily scheduled freights, by adding #99 and #94.  The will require an additional staging track be built for the P&E. 

The next change will to try out a 3-1 clock ratio instead of the previous 4-1 ratio.  My hope is that this gives the yard operators a less rushed experience, and the locals more time to do their work.  Hopefully this still works for the scheduled through freights and passenger trains.  We'll see.  Operating sessions will switch to one covering the early shift and the next covering the late shift.  The first will be from 6:30 AM - 2:30 PM or 3:30 PM railroad time.  The second will be from ~ 3:00 PM - ~ 11:00 PM railroad time.  There will be no night shift operating session due to low traffic.

I still need to figure out if the crew sizing for an early and late op session will need to be the same, or if the late shift works better with a smaller crew.

New proposed time tables below, with changes highlighted in red.

Proposed new Santa Fe time table

Proposed new Peoria and Eastern time table

Never skimp on staging tracks

When I built the layout I figured that a single staging track for the Peoria & Eastern would be plenty, based on the one freight and one passenger train I planned on run each direction in sequence.  I was smart enough to make the path into the P&E staging wide enough for two tracks, but sadly didn't lay a turnout and a second track.  The reasoning at the time was that the P&E played a minor role on my layout.  Now that I'm hoping to make the operations on the P&E more realistic I'm really regretting not laying that additional turnout and second track.  Now I need to plan to rip it up and lay two staging tracks in a rather narrow and hard to get at space.

The ATSF staging yard was built as a temporary staging yard, with four tracks.  Luckily some of the tracks are long enough to hold two locals.  Now it's been in place for a while, and four tracks is proving to be constraining as the ops plan for the layout has evolved.  I'm planning on trying to squeeze a fifth track into the yard.

Changes to car card boxes

Up until now my card card boxes at each station have had a slot for each major industry, or a slot per two or three minor industries.  Cards facing outward were considered ready for pickup, and cards facing inward were holds.  Delievered cards went into the slots facing inward.  Locals working the town would have to inspect each card ready for pickup, to figure out if it was headed in their direction.  This has proven to be tricky, particularly for newer operators who may not be familiar with all of the stations on the layout.

In an effort to simplify things for operators I have relabeled the car card boxes with slots for Eastbound Pickups, Westbound Pickups, and one (or two) for Deliveries / Holds / Off-Spots.  The plan is for holds and deliveries to go facing in into the Deveries / Holds / Off-Spots box, with the off-spot cars facing outwards.  The direction of cards in the pickup boxes doesn't matter.  Hopefully this will make things easier for those working the towns.

Which setup do you prefer?

Old box labels.  With a slot for every two industries.

New box labels.  With an Eastbound Pickups slot, Deliveries / Holds / Off-Spots slot, Westbound Pickups slot.

Improvements to station signage

In an effort to make the layout more operator friendly I've been working on improvements to station signage.  Hopefully this will make things easier on new and old operators.  The new signs include:

• Station name
• Milepost
• Direction arrows
• Name of next station to the East and West
• Track map, colorized for each railroad involved
• Industry names
• Spot identifiers

Pekin Junction (MP 36.7 on the ATSF), where the Santa Fe leaves trackage rights on the Toledo Peoria & Western to head to Pekin.  Next station on the Santa Fe is Washington IL.  The TP&W heads into East Peoria staging here.

Roanoke IL (MP 24.5 on the ATSF)