A BNSF yard job pauses at the blind intersection of Leonis Blvd. in this Snuffy Cat Productions video.
There are some interesting prototype switching procedures that we can copy that add interest to an op. session without being gimmicky or tiresome. One fascinating example, still employed today, is crossing a busy intersection where the crew’s view is totally blocked and they don’t have the benefit of crossing flashers to stop traffic. The switchback crossing of 12th Avenue on the Downtown Spur is one example (and I model it).
Another example is crossing Leonis Blvd. to get to the team yard on BNSF’s Harbor Sub. Legendary SoCal videographer Snuffy’s Cat Productions produced a great clip of the process. Notice the crew’s communication with the engineer. Note that they have two crew members in addition to the engineer (same for CSX in the Miami example). It’s pretty cool watching the crew stop traffic, throw out the fusee’s, and then signal the engineer that he’s clear.
Fully operational model fusee’s are available from Logic Rail, are easy to install, and allow you copy the practice pretty realistically. Just hit your on/off switch, and the fusee comes on. Procedures like this add time to a session, effectively “stretching” even a small layout.
Here’s the location of Snuffy’s video so you can get oriented. The move is a simple one. They’re just taking a car from Malabar and running it the few blocks to the team yard. Given how busy the team yard has become, and how much traffic there is on Leonis Blvd., it’s surprising they don’t have grade crossing flashers, all the better for us from a modeling standpoint.
I made a short YouTube video showing how this works out in model form.