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.
