Sungas Ops. Trial Run

Having made the trip down to the run around to get on the correct side of the train, the local has pulled the empties and is getting ready to cut off the loads and spot them. The two loaded cars are by the locomotive.

Since I hadn’t built out the structures for Sungas until recently, I’d never done much with it during op. sessions. Out of curiosity I decided to see how long it would take to switch it assuming a hypothetical but plausible situation where it’s the only industry being worked that day. Due to the orientation of Sungas’ turnouts, the train needs to run all of the way to the other end of the line, run around the train, and then head back to work the industry.

Without employing any props such as setting hand brakes, air tests, or unlocking the switch locks, it took a full half hour to work that industry alone. That’s a lot of play value for a case where only four turnouts were involved. Breaking things down: 10 minutes to get from staging to the end of the line and run around the train. 8 minutes to get back. 10 minutes to work the industry. 2 minutes to get to staging.

This would be a good session for when visitors are over and I just want to let them run the layout. It’s a good balance between cruising the layout and a fairly simple switching scenario.