Operating Session 15

Operating session #15 took place on Thursday 9/15/2022.  Usually for operating sessions I re-stage the layout and start the sessions at ~ 6:30am railroad time.  This time I decided to try out continuing the day where the previous session left off.  We started off with the clock at 4:15pm.  The afternoon and evening schedule of trains is a bit mellower, and is optimal for 5 people.  This time I had 4 operators in addition to myself.

The session started at 4:15pm railroad time, and ended at 9:00pm railroad time.  I decided to run the clock at a slightly slower than usual 3:1 ratio.  I felt like this worked well, but one person commented that they thought the 4:1 ratio might work better for an afternoon/evening session, while perhaps the busier morning/afternoon sessions might benefit from the 3:1 ratio.  I'll try that next time and we'll see how it turns out.

Here were the assignments for the session, afternoon/evening of Wednesday 9/16/1959:

• Clock on at 4:15pm
• 4:15pm ATSF/P&E/C&IM/P&PU Dispatcher on duty.  Dan J, all day job.
• 4:15pm ATSF Pekin switcher on duty, all day job.  Dan J, doing double-duty.
• 4:25pm ATSF Eastward extra local freight from East Yard.  Frank S.
• 4:30pm PE #90 Eastward freight from East Peoria.  Mike A.
• 4:45pm ATSF #49 Westward way-freight from ATSF staging (Streator).  Bill S.
• 4:50pm PPU Transfer from East Peoria yard to ATSF East Yard.  Charlie S.
• 5:30pm (delayed from 3:30pm) ATSF #50 Eastward way-freight from East Yard.  Charlie S.
• 5:30pm PE Pekin switch job, including American Distilling job.  Mike A.
• 7:00pm ATSF #18 Eastward Fort Madison Fast Mail from Pekin.  Bill S.
• 8:05pm ATSF Westward coal extra from ATSF staging (Streator) to PPU East Peoria Yard.  Bill S. + Charlie S.
• Clock off at 9:00pm
• 1:20am PE #99 Westward freight from PE staging (Bloomington).  Did not run before end of session.

Train orders issued earlier in the day during the previous session:

• 1.  To: C+E x707 West at Streator, C+E x2395 East at East Yard.  Body:  Extra 707 West meet extra 2395 East in Morton.  Complete: 6:15am.
• 2.  To: C+E Eng 707 at Streator.  Body: Eng 707 run extra Streator to East Yard.  Complete: 6:17am.
• 3.  To: C+E Eng 2395 at East Yard.  Body: Eng 2395 run extra East Yard to Streator.  Complete: 6:19am.

Train orders issued during this session:

• 4.  To: C+E No 50 at East Yard, C+E No 49 at Streator, C+E x707 East at East Yard.  Body: Train no 50 run 2 hours late.  Complete: 3:25pm.
• 5.  To: C+E Eng 707 at East Yard.  Body: Eng 707 run extra East Yard to Streator.  Complete: 4:20pm.
• 6.  To: C+E x707E at Roanoke, C+E x2101W at Streator.  Body: Extra 707 East meet Extra 2101 West in Roanoke.  Extra 707 East take siding.  Complete: 7:28 pm.
• 7.  To: C+E Eng 2101 at Streator.  Body:  Eng 2101 run extra Streator to East Yard.  Complete: 8:05pm.

Thoughts on how the session ran:

• Overall the session ran well, with no track or power problems.  5 people in addition to myself dispatching would be the right number of people for an afternoon/evening session.  We made do with 4, but me running the ATSF Pekin job in addition to dispatching lead to a lot of unsorted cars in ATSF Pekin East Yard by the end of the session.
• The 3:1 clock ratio worked, but next time I might try 4:1 for an afternoon/evening session, and try 3:1 for a morning/afternoon session.
• The new-ish UR93 radio receiver continued to work well.  All operators used radio throttles and there were no reports of radio problems.
• The new-ish UT6D throttle continued to run well.  I like that it works well off of rechargeable Eneloop NIMH AA batteries.  I should probably get one or two more of these throttles.
• I haven't been able to get the LogicRail loconet clocks to sync their time with the Digitrax command station without having a computer with JMRI running as clock master.  I have concluded that I just need to continue having the computer clock master involved.  It appears that people using older Digitrax command stations have more luck with the LogicRail clocks working correctly.