I’ve never been one for artificially designing un-realistic switching nightmares into a track plan. The prototype offers up enough to keep you thinking as is and does so with relatively little track. Switching Sweetener Products is challenging on a few fronts. First, this is a car spot driven industry. Each tank car contains a […]
Category: Operations
Audio Props: TrainCrew
After my last post on audio props, Ed Kapuscinski dropped me a note announcing that he’s developed an app. that already does many of things on my wish list. Wow Ed, that was fast! Thanks! The app is called TrainCrew URL: http://traincrew.conrail1285.com/ I’ve been playing around with it and it’s a simple matter to carry your smartphone […]
Op. Session Design
I feel like I should track down all of the attendees of my early op. sessions and issue a formal apology for what I put them through. It’s a common mistake layout owners make when they get into the operations game and have their first several years of sessions. We feel obligated to […]
Audio “Props”
When it comes to simulating the multitude of tasks an actual switch crew performs, each modeler has to decide for themselves which methods add to the experience, which are simply mind numbingly boring, and which just feel moronic. These tasks, which include things like setting brake wheels, throwing out fusee’s, three step procedures, opening industry gates, […]
A Little Time Study
In the past few years, when planning a layout for myself, I’ve taken a more time oriented approach. How long do I want it to take me to reach the fifty or sixty per cent completion point? How long do I want an op. session to last? Will I be operating primarily solo? What work […]