Operating Session 22

Operating session #22 took place on Saturday 5/24/2025.  The session started at 6:00 AM railroad time, and ended at 1:55 PM railroad time.  I had 6 crew, in addition to myself.  We ran at a 3:1 clock ratio.  This was a session for Amrail, and three of the six crew members were from out of town and were first-timers on the layout.

Here were the assignments for the session, morning of Monday 9/21/1959:

• Clock on at 6:00 AM
• 6:00 AM ATSF/P&E/C&IM/P&PU dispatcher on duty.  Dan J, all session job.
• 6:00 AM ATSF Pekin switcher on duty. Peter A.
• 6:00 AM PPU yard switcher on duty.  Mark W.
• 6:15 AM ATSF Eastward extra local freight from East Yard.  Steve R.
• 7:00 AM ATSF#14 Eastward passenger from Pekin.  Paul H.
• 7:30 AM PE #94 Eastward freight from East Peoria.  Dave H.
• 7:45 AM ATSF #47 Westward green fruit express from ATSF staging (Streator).  Rich S.
• 8:00 AM PE Corn Products switch job. (Unless we have larger crew)
• ~ 8:30 AM ATSF Westward extra local freight from Streator.  Paul H.
• 10:00 AM ATSF #48 Eastward through-freight from East Yard.  Dave H.
• 10:15 AM CIM #6 Northward freight from CIM staging.  Rich S.
• ~ 11:00 AM ATSF Eastward coal empty extra from East Yard to ATSF staging (Streator).  Rich S.
• ~ 11:30 AM ATSF coal extra from ATSF staging (Streator) to Pekin Jct.  Steve R.
• 12:05 AM PE #11 Westward passenger from PE staging (Bloomington).  Mark W.
• 12:20 AM ATSF #17 Westward mail and express from ATSF staging (Streator).  Peter A.
• 12:50 AM PE #95 Westward freight from PE staging (Bloomington).  Paul H.
• Clock off at 1:56 PM

ATSF train orders issued during this session, morning of Mon 9/21/1959:

Order #	To	Body	Complete
1	C+E ENG 2395 at East Yard	ENG 2395 RUN EXTRA EAST YARD TO STREATOR	5:57 AM
2	C+E No 14 at Pekin C+E No 47 at Streator	No 14 ENG 21L MEET No 47 ENG 300L IN ROANOKE No 47 TAKE SIDING	6:28 AM
3	C+E x2395 East at Morton C+E x715 West at Streator	EXTRA 2395 EAST MEET EXTRA 715 WEST IN ROANOKE EXTRA 2395 TAKE SIDING	8:09 AM
4	C+E Eng 715 at Streator	ENG 715 RUN EXTRA STREATOR TO EAST YARD	8:17 AM
5	C+E x715 West at Washington C+E x810 East at East Yard	EXTRA 715 WEST MEET EXTRA 810 EAST IN MORTON. EXTRA 715 WEST TAKE SIDING	10:09 AM
6	C+E Eng 810 at East Yard	ENG 810 RUN EXTRA EAST YARD TO STREATOR	10:15 AM
7	C+E x810 East at Washington C+E x2105 West at Streator	EXTRA 810 EAST MEET EXTRA 2105 WEST IN ROANOKE EXTRA 2105 TAKE SIDING	11:15 AM
8	C+E Eng 2105	ENG 2105 RUN EXTRA STREATOR TO EAST PEORIA VIA TPW AT PEKIN JCT	11:18 AM

No PE train orders issued during this session, morning of Mon 9/21/1959:

Order #	To	Body	Complete

No CIM train orders issued during this session, morning of Mon 9/21/1959:

Order #	To	Body	Complete

Final thoughts:

• The layout ran well.
• The expanded intro talk continues to get the crew to remember to sign the registers consistently and to fully ponder their train orders.
• Six crew is perfect for a session that takes place in the morning railroad time.
• This crew did a great job.
• I wrote more train order than usual, as there was a lot of extras.  I ran both an eastbound coal empty extra and a westbound coal extra, in addition to the usual AM eastbound and AM westbound local extras.

Operating Session 21

Operating session #21 took place on Sunday 5/4/2025.  The session started at 1:45 PM railroad time, and ended at 10:00 PM railroad time.  I had 6 crew, in addition to myself.  We ran at a 3:1 clock ratio.

Here were the assignments for the session, afternoon of Saturday 9/19/1959:

• Clock on at 1:45 PM
• 1:45 PM ATSF/P&E/C&IM/P&PU dispatcher on duty.  Dan J, all session job.
• 1:45 PMATSF x707 West (Order #7) at starting at Morton to East Yard.  Bob M.
• 1:45 PM ATSF Pekin switcher on duty.  Mike A.
• 1:45 PM PPU yard switcher on duty.  Will A.
• 1:45 PM PE #95 Westward freight from PE staging (Bloomington), running late.  Bill A.
• 2:00 PM PE Pekin switcher, along with Corn Products and American Distilling switch jobs.  Rich S.
• 2:00 PM PE #12 Eastward passenger from East Peoria.  Frank S.
• ~ 3:00 PM CIM Northbound extra from CIM staging.  Frank S.
• 3:15 PM ATSF #13 Westward passenger from ATSF staging (Streator).  Frank S.
• 3:30 PM ATSF #50 Eastward way-freight from East Yard.  Bill A.
• 4:30 PM PE #90 Eastward freight from East Peoria.  Bob M.
• 4:45 PM ATSF #49 Westward way-freight from ATSF staging (Streator).  Frank S.
• 5:30 PM ATSF Eastward extra local (x707 E) freight from East Yard.  Bill A.
• 3:05 PM ~ 5:30 PM CIM #7 Southward freight from East Peoria, run late.  Will A.
• 7:00 PM ATSF #18 Eastward mail and express from Pekin.  Frank S.
• ~ 7:45 PM ATSF Westward coal extra (x2105 W)Streator to East Yard.  Rich S.
• Clock off at 10:00 PM
• 1:20 AM PE #99 Westward freight from PE staging (Bloomington).  Did not run before end.

ATSF train orders issued during this session, afternoon of Sat 9/19/1959:

Order #	To	Body	Complete
8	C+E No 50 at East Yard C+E No 13 at Morton	No 50 MEET No 13 IN EAST YARD	3:20 PM
9	C+E ENG 707	ENG 707 RUN EXTRA EAST YARD TO STREATOR	4:38 PM
10	C+E x2105 West at Streator C+E x707 East at Washington	EXTRA 2105 WEST MEET EXTRA 707 EAST IN ROANOKE EXTRA 2105 WEST TAKE SIDING	6:46 PM
11	C+E ENG 2105 at Streator	ENG 2105 RUN EXTRA STREATOR TO EAST YARD	6:48 PM

PE train orders issued during this session, afternoon of Sat 9/19/1959:

Order #	To	Body	Complete
1	C+E No 95 at Tremont C+E No 12 at Peoria	No 95 MEET No 12 AT EAST YARD No 95 TAKE SIDING	1:19 PM

CIM train orders issued during this session, afternoon of Sat 9/19/1959:

Order #	To	Body	Complete
1	C+E ENG 54 at Havana	ENG 54 RUN EXTRA HAVANA TO EAST PEORIA	1:35 PM
2	C+E No 7 at East Peoria C+E x54 N at Havana	No 7 RUN TWO HOURS LATE	1:40 PM

Final thoughts:

• The layout ran well.
• The expanded intro talk helped get the crew to remember to sign the registers consistently and to fully ponder their train orders.
• Six crew works well for a session that takes place in the afternoon railroad time.  It could also work with five.
• As it gets into the evening railroad time there aren't enough trains to keep everyone busy, but I'm ok with that.

Operating Session 20

We're back!  It's been two years, and unfortunately no layout expansion took place.  Life got busy, and the expansion was put on hold.  I have however put the staging area back together, and operating sessions have started up again.

Operating session #20 took place on Thursday 4/17/2025.  The session started at 6:00 AM railroad time, and ended at 1:40 PM railroad time.  I had 8 crew, in addition to myself.  We ran at a 3:1 clock ratio.

Here were the assignments for the session, morning of Saturday 9/19/1959:

• Clock on at 6:00 AM
• 6:00 AM ATSF/P&E/C&IM/P&PU dispatcher on duty.  Dan J, all session job.
• 6:00 AM ATSF Pekin switcher on duty. Bob M, all session job.
• 6:00 AM PPU yard switcher on duty.  Mark V + Charlie S, all session job.
• 6:15 AM ATSF Eastward extra local freight from Pekin.  Mike H.
• 7:00 AM ATSF#14 Eastward passenger from Pekin.  Bill S.
• 7:30 AM PE #94 Eastward freight from East Peoria.  Kurt V.
• 7:45 AM ATSF #47 Westward green fruit express from ATSF staging (Streator).  Mitch R + Frank S.
• 8:45 AM ATSF Eastward coal empty extra from East Yard to ATSF staging (Streator).  Bill S.
• 10:00 AM ATSF #48 Eastward through-freight from East Yard.  Frank S.
• 10:15 AM CIM #6 Northward freight from CIM staging.  Bill S.
• 11:00 AM ATSF Westward extra local freight from Streator.  Mitch R.
• 11:43 AM ATSF coal extra from ATSF staging (Streator) to East Peoria via Pekin Jct.  Mike H.
• 12:05 PM PE #11 Westward passenger from PE staging (Bloomington).  Frank S.
• 12:20 PM ATSF #17 Westward mail and express from ATSF staging (Streator).  Bill S.
• 12:50 PM PE #95 Westward freight from PE staging (Bloomington).  Mike H
• Clock off at 1:40 PM

ATSF train orders issued during this session, morning of Sat 9/19/1959:

Order #	To	Body	Complete
1	C+E Eng 2395 at Pekin	Eng 2395 run extra Pekin to Streator	6:02 AM
2	C+E No 14 at Pekin C+E No 47 at Streator	No 14 eng 21 meet no 47 eng 300 in Roanoke No 47 take siding	6:30 AM
3	C+E x2395 East at Morton C+E x203C East at East Yard	x2395 East meet x203C East in Morton x2395 East take siding	8:30 AM
4	C+E Eng 203C at East Yard	Eng 203C run extra East Yard to Streator	8:33 AM
5	C+E x2395 East at Roanoke C+E x707 West at Streator	x2395 East meet x707 West in Roanoke x707 West take siding	10:01 AM
6	C+E Eng 707 at Streator	Eng 707 run extra Streator to East Yard	10:04 AM
7	C+E Eng 2105 at Streator	Eng 2105 run extra Streator to East Peoria via TPW at Pekin Jct	11:38 AM

No PE train orders were issued during this session, morning of Sat 9/19/1959:

Order #	To	Body	Complete

Final thoughts:

• The layout ran well overall.  Better than I expected after sitting for two years.
• The fast clock has been switched to 12 hr mode from 24 hr mode due to request from crews.
• Eight crew is a bit too many for the layout.  I had to double up crews a couple of times, which I realize not everyone loves.  The large crew also caused me to run more trains than I normally would have.
• One locomotive developed a mysterious motive failure during the session and had to be airlifted out.  DCC functions continued to work, but the engine would not move.  At this point I have too many failed engines and need to get around to fixing them and getting them back in service.
• When short occurs it is shutting down the whole layout.  It appears that the circuit breaker on the new command station is reacting faster than the old command station did.  It is cutting the power faster than the DCC Specialties PSX-1 circuit breakers can.  They have been configured to slow down a bit (20ms?) to let the Frog Juicers (10ms) do their job.  I need to talk to Digitrax to figure out the exact speed of the circuit breaker on the command station to know what speed to set the PSX-1s to, so that they can be faster than the command station.
• I'm liking the new Train Register books designed by Bob Hanmer.  I need to train the crew better to sign their entries on the correct side of the registers.  The new Dispatcher's Order Book is also nice.
• I need to have a more consistent intro talk to remind everyone of things like signing the registers, not leaving a station before their train is scheduled to, particularly when we have new operators.