Model Railroad Blog

No Skills, No Problem

Post author By Lmind1
Post date December 18, 2012
Categories In Construction, Model Railroad Design, Operations

Many view me as a champion of small model railroads. I’m really not. They’re just a means to an end. What I am is a strong believer in is finding ways to get those not actively engaged in the hobby actually in the game. Small, easy to achieve, layouts are just the most practical way of doing so.

I am a steadfast believer in the increased quality of life that comes from creating something by hand. While buying ‘stuff’ may give a short term high, much like a candy bar buzz, it quickly wears off leaving you where you started. The satisfaction that comes from creating something, however, is long lasting and therapeutic. For those that don’t have layouts, you owe it to yourself to find a way to do so. Small, simple, it doesn’t matter and is probably better for a first go around.

If most people acknowledge they would find having a small layout satisfying why don’t they build one? The first issue is that they don’t know how to go about it. I’ve addressed that at length in my books.

An equally large reason is that they don’t think they have the skills and are somewhat embarrassed at the prospect of putting something up that doesn’t measure up to their self imposed standards. I’m going to address the skill issue here. No skills? No problem. You can still have a decent looking layout and if you follow along could have one by the New Year.

How could that be? We all see the ‘magic bullet’ commercials on television that promise weight loss, instant riches etc. with no expenditure of effort. We also know its so much hogwash. What makes model railroading different?Model railroading is different because we can compensate for entry level skills by careful selection of materials and color. The big three in producing a great looking model railroad are: scene composition, color selection, and material selection.

Follow along and I’ll show you how to have a surprisingly sharp looking layout in a few weekends. As I go through this I want to emphasize that, since the ultimate appearance is driven by material and color selection, it is very important that you use the exact items I discuss. No substituting! No freelancing! Use the specific colors and materials I suggest. Let’s get started. Here’s a step by step breakdown.

Design: For our basic plan let’s stick with the tried and true shelf style industrial switching layout. Operation potential is secured by selecting an industry that requires multiple car spots.

Bench work: Pick up an eight foot long by ten inch wide pine board from the hardware store. Mount this on the wall shelf style.

Front trim strip: This is extremely important and will go a long ways towards getting buy in from your spouse. Pick up some floor molding and tack it to the front of the shelf with panel board nails. Paint the front trim strip a semi-gloss dark olive. Actually, do this even if you don’t have a spouse.

Bench work surface: For this project we are going to skip any form of scenery surface. No foam base. No cork sub-roadbed. Paint the surface of the shelf your soil color. You want a very pale, muddy, light gray. If you can find it, Delta Ceramcoat “Mudstone” is a good color. I believe AC Moore has it. If not, it should be easy to find something close.

Track: Micro engineering code 70 flex track and turnouts. Not Atlas, not Walthers, Micro Engineering. Paint the track Rustoleum Brown Camouflage paint. Most hardware stores carry it. Do NOT substitute other colors! After painting, lay the track directly on the painted wood shelf surface. There is no cork sub-roadbed. Secure it with a few drops of white glue spaced six inches apart.

Soil base: For now we won’t worry about ballast or soils.

Grass: For the grass and brush pick up Heki 1576 Pasture Green Wildgrass grass fiber. Again, No substituting of products or colors! Use this exact product. Don’t even glue the grass down. Stretch it out, rip off patches and pat it loosely in place on the layout surface.

Structures: Pick up some of the Jefferson Street Radical flats from King Mill and place them along the back of the layout as your primary industry as well to serve as a backdrop.

Things to avoid: For now I suggest skipping a painted backdrop. If you feel compelled to do so, just paint an 18 inch tall pale blue band on the wall. No painted clouds, no painted trees, no painted hills. No photo murals.

All done! I think you’ll be surprised how good this looks. At his point you can finally say that you “have a layout” and a professional looking one at that. To say that it doesn’t count because it doesn’t meet some arbitrary square footage bench mark is the epitome of flawed thinking. It does count. The design also lends itself to fairly sophisticated operating sessions. After you’ve been up and running awhile you can go back and start refining the project with ballast, soil, and details. If there’s enough interest, and a few people actually take this to heart I’ll follow up with a future blog. Time to put down that iPad, get off the chat forums and hit the hardware store!

Operations

Here’s some ideas on how the layout could be operated. For lack of a better term the lead to the right that curves down to the fascia is the “main”. The term main would more likely mean the primary track through an industrial area as opposed to a class one main line for multi-unit, full blown freights. The arrangement with the main taking the diverging route through the turnout is not that common but does occur in the field. In terms of industries, keep in mind that many structures see a turnover in tenants over the years. A traditional brick structure may be a warehouse for awhile, then a plastics business, then a furniture business etc. The point being that within reason you could have the structure represent whatever industry you want. It’s very common for industries to locate their internal storage tanks inside the structure itself. This is handy for us modelers because we can simply represent the tanks with a hose out front. Examples of internal holding tanks taking rail cars include: chemicals, paint, corn syrup, and vegetable oil to name a few.

This plain Jane structure could house any number of industries. At the present the tenant is a paint manufacturer. The paint chemicals are unloaded into tanks located inside the structure. If the paint business vacated the site a totally different, rail served business could move in. Note the hoses next to the wall for unloading. Solder, painted with gray primer, is good for representing the hoses.

In the ‘No Skills’ track plan above the industry is multi-spot meaning specific cars go to specific locations (or spots). Boxcars go to one set of doors, tank cars next to the unloading hoses etc. Cars can be ‘double parked’ on the parallel track with unloading via car to car bridge ramps. Sorting and re-shuffling cars can be done on the section of the main that curves down towards the fascia. Add a gravel drive near the entrance to one of the spurs and the location can double as team track unloading.

Keep in mind though that the point of the ‘No Skills’ layout is not to be an intellectual exercise. Its sole purpose is to mobilize folks to get something, anything up on the wall. That ‘anything on the wall’ would also look pretty decent if the modeler follows the techniques and uses the materials and colors outlined in the first installment.

Picking a Theme For Your Layout

Post author By Lmind1
Post date December 2, 2012
Categories In Model Railroad Design, Opinion

Although there is no right or wrong way to participate in model railroading, there is, without question, a measuring stick of how successful we are at it. Success is measured by how much enjoyment and satisfaction we get from our involvement. To that extent the guy with the Lionel set that is on cloud nine is highly successful, period. Success isn’t measured by the quality of our assembly and painting skills, how often we’ve been published, or how accurately we copy a given element in miniature. There is however the barometer of enjoyment and satisfaction that can’t be ignored. Typically it’s not so cut and dried though. A modeler may be somewhat content while, at the same time, have the subtle feeling that boredom is creeping in without really knowing why.

Having established there is no right or wrong way to pursue the hobby, if your enjoyment level is a six out of ten then why not explore ways to get it to an eight or nine, whatever path that takes?

This takes me to the point of the discussion, selecting the theme for your layout. Personally, I feel modelers limit themselves by being way too quick to settle on a totally generic, themeless model railroad. This approach is often driven by randomly accumulating whatever freight car or structure catches the eye on a particular day and then bending the layout to incorporate said purchases. This isn’t so important on a first layout where the goal should be skills development. However, by the time you’re on layout two it’s an important enough subject to give more than lip service to. The second factor that drives this malaise is a lack of self awareness as to what we find satisfying (or perhaps having the self awareness but not accepting it).

With three and a half decades in the hobby, my fly on the wall perspective is that those modelers that base their layouts on a specific place get more enjoyment and a deeper satisfaction out of the hobby. This isn’t a prototype vs. freelance discussion. Note that I said theme ‘based’ upon a place that they draw inspiration from. You can have a quasi freelance layout that is still tied closely to a specific town. Also I want to be crystal clear that I said ‘get more enjoyment and satisfaction’ from the hobby. I didn’t say they were superior, better modelers, or higher and mightier, just more content as a group.

A major part of the payoff comes from the fact that once you pick a specific place to model, you open up a second world totally separate from model building, the thrill of discovery associated with exploring and learning about the town(s) you are modeling. You get as much satisfaction from delving into the details and culture of the town as you do the modeling. Every month seems to unveil an ‘aha’ moment of “I didn’t know that about town X, even if it’s your own home town’.

Let’s face it, model railroader’s are odd ducks in terms of what they find fascinating. They are blissfully content exploring the back roads of Livingston, MT, Altoona, PA, North Little Rock, AR or Compton, CA. Given the choice between Disneyworld or being trackside watching a Los Angeles Junction switcher working a ratty industry in our twisted minds we’d pick the LAJ trip every time.

That being the case, have the self awareness to recognize and acknowledge our fascination with these places that the tour buses deliberately avoid. Model a specific location and delve into it as deeply as your time and resources allow. Visit the town. Talk to the locals at the diner. Track down the employees that work or worked there. Go beyond the tracks and learn what makes the town tick. Continually re-visit. Immerse yourself and enjoy the thrill of discovery. The more you learn, the more fascinating the place becomes and the more satisfying it becomes having a miniature version of it in your basement.

How do you pick a location? First, you need to know what aspects of the hobby you enjoy most. If you enjoy switching operations, certainly you want a spot that has that activity. If your interest is more in tune with modeling scenes and less so on operations, factor that in. How much of the line still exists? The more that still exists, the more interesting in my view. That’s why I enjoy modeling the modern era so much. The location has to be something that pushes your buttons, a place that produces an emotional response, regardless of what others think. Finally, given the limitations of space and time we all have it’s unrealistic to think we can model much of even a mid-size town. Modeling a small portion of it well will hit the spot.

Not a month goes by where somebody doesn’t email me a fascinating industrial park that I didn’t even know existed. Sadly I know most of these deserving themes will never be modeled. At the same time every time we open a model railroad magazine there’s another generic layout, built by a modeler that is ‘pretty happy’. Maybe that’s you, you’re pretty happy, fairly satisfied. Don’t you owe it to yourself to at least consider the possibility that there is another approach to the hobby that would make you even happier and more satisfied? Food for thought when your current layout has run its course and you’re faced with a clean piece of paper and ready to start anew.

Using Likely Op. Session Length To Determine The Best Size for Your Layout

Post author By Lmind1
Post date November 19, 2012
Categories In Model Railroad Design, Operations

Topic: Model Railroad Layout Design

How much layout do you need to do accomplish what’s important to you? I mean, realistically, how much model railroad do you REALLY need to be satisfied? Most newcomers, and many veterans, grossly over estimate their requirements and by doing so create a lot of unnecessary expense and angst for themselves. Certainly there are many factors that could go into determining how large of a layout you design for yourself. My hunch however is that, as a hobby, we are so petrified that our layout will be too small that we pursue the subject with blinders on. With no basis in reality, many begin the design process from the negative viewpoint that they don’t have enough space. Every decision is based on the shoehorn strategy. How do I shoehorn in “one more industry, one more turnout”. This panic driven approach to layout design often results in model railroads that are too large for the individual’s lifestyle and frequently never get built. In those cases where the layout does get built the owner may find they designed in far, far more operational capacity than they could ever hope to utilize. The visual result is a model railroad packed with overly compressed, unrealistic scenes.

Unlike the hobby as a whole, the majority of the followers of this website are interested in operations. Many are just starting, or are about to start, construction of their first layout. A fair number of folks have a generous amount of space available. (They may not realize it yet but they do.)

So, if your primary interest is operations and space is adequate, how much capacity do you design in? How many industries or car spots do you need to get the satisfaction you want from the layout? If you had a thousand square foot basement would you design a layout to use all of it? Of course not, you’d never be able to utilize that much capacity.

To start we need to know a few things: How often will we operate alone, how often will we operate with guests, and finally, how long do we want an operating session to last. I’m going to divide op. sessions into two types. The first is the full blown session with guests. Outside feedback continues to confirm that most guests start getting burned out at the three hour mark. Three hours (or a bit less) is generally the ideal session length when guests are over. However, this is the upper end of session length. The frequency of these sessions with guests should also be taken into account. Despite the best of intentions, for most people these full blown/guest operator sessions don’t happen nearly as often as they initially thought, perhaps three or four times a year max.

By far the most common op. session scenario is the layout owner running by himself, or it least it should be. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that a session has to be the full three hour deal with guests vs. nothing at all. For planning purposes assume that when you’re running by yourself that you go for twenty minutes to an hour at most. Let’s say you do this once or twice a week (ideally more).

At this point we know the lay of the land. If the maximum load on our layout is when we have guest operators over, we only need enough capacity for, at most, a three hour session.

Now we get to the design part. The key question is this, how much layout does it take to create a three operating hour session? How many industries, or to be more accurate, how many car spots do we need? This is where people get into trouble. It takes far less layout than you would think because the individual operational tasks take far longer than you’d think.

It takes about eight industries. Eight industries will give you a three hour session. Certainly there will be some variation in this number depending on the type of industry but this is a good starting point. It certainly isn’t fifteen or twenty (or fifty).

If you have the space, it doesn’t hurt to put in a few extra to allow for some variety from session to session. If you had a dozen industries that would give you enough cushion so each session wouldn’t be identical. I don’t view this as being critical though because in the real world there IS a fair amount of repetition from week to week. The larger, more active customers, are often switched every session. Remember also that the full blown, three hour session is the exception not the rule.

Of those eight industries I’d shoot for:

1 or 2 industries that have three or more car spots each.
4 or 5 that have just one or two car spots.
A couple of team track locations on the main for unloading into the street or a parking lot.

This is just a guide though. A basic two track corn syrup facility could take two or three hours by itself to be switched (which by the way is the design solution if you don’t room for eight industries).

If your design starts running to more than a dozen industries, you may be designing in and building in more capacity than you can utilize.

There may be other reasons beyond operational variety for having a larger layout but, you have to start asking yourself some very pointed questions as to what you are accomplishing with the extra capacity and square footage.

The diagram above shows the tasks from my last op. session. I had a guest over and it took about three hours. There were no tricks or complexities, the guest made no operational errors, and we worked at a realistic but relaxed pace. The work at the two scrap yards was about as simple as it gets, swapping loads for empties. Even so the first 55 minutes of the session were spent here. It took about 20 minutes to swap out a load for an empty at Trujillo and about 25 minutes working the two industries on the switchback (which required particularly slow speed running and the use of fusee’s for the grade crossings). The rest of the time was spent on the remaining industries, running down the main, brake tests, and pausing to review the paperwork. Note that there were many industries that were NOT worked. The two scrap yards, Trujillo Foods, and Family & Son would be switched every session.

Why We Should Create In Miniature

Post author By Lmind1
Post date October 18, 2012
Categories In Opinion

I’ve always been curious about the psychology of model building. Why do we do it? What is the underlying compulsion that drives us to create in miniature? Yesterday I stumbled on an interesting perspective on the subject by author Martha Beck. Her article starts by addressing the subject of long term satisfaction versus euphoric highs but about half way in she zeroes in on how it applies to us. She writes:

“People started telling me to “be here now” when I was about 20. “Great!” I responded. “How?” Be still, they said. Breathe. Well, fine. I started dutifully practicing meditation, by which I mean I tried to be still while compulsively planning my next billion-watt wow. But one day, while reading up on the latest research in positive psychology, I discovered a two-word instruction that reliably ushered me onto the plains of peace when I couldn’t force my brain to just “be still.” Here it is: Make something.

You see, creative work causes us to secrete dopamine, a hormone that can make us feel absorbed and fulfilled without feeling manic. This is in sharp contrast to the fight-or-flight mechanism, which is associated with hysteria hormones like adrenaline and cortisol. Research indicates that we’re most creative when we’re happy and relaxed, and conversely, that we can steer our brains into this state by undertaking a creative task.

To get a dopamine “hit,” make something that pushes you to the furthest edge of your ability, where you’re not only focused but learning and perfecting skills. Cooking an unfamiliar dish will do the trick, as will perfecting a new clogging routine. At first, depending on how addicted to mania you happen to be, the excitement-grubbing part of your brain won’t want to stop obsessing about over-the-top experiences. It will cling to its fantasies about the next huge thrill, its fears of Suicide Tuesday. Keep creating.

As you persist, your brain will eventually yield to the state psychologists call mindfulness. Your emotions will calm, even if you’re physically and mentally active. You won’t notice happiness when it first appears, because in true presence, the mind’s frantic searching stops. In its place arises a fascination with what’s occurring here and now. Though this feeling is subtle, it’s the opposite of dull. It’s infinitely varied and exquisite.

Ultimately, reaching a state of mindfulness can be achieved in several different ways. For example, one of my friends has found that using a yoni egg while meditating has helped her to re-energize and focus her thoughts. Moreover, in case you were not already aware, a yoni egg is a specially designed crystal or gemstone that can be inserted into the vagina and used to strengthen pelvic floor muscles.

Apparently proponents of this new age practice claim that it helps them to tap into a source of power unlike any other. I suppose what I am trying to say is that mindfulness is all about finding what works for you.

Additionally, the aftermath of a creative surge, especially one that involves a new skill, is a sense of accomplishment and increased self-efficacy which psychologists recognize as an important counter to depression. Instead of a Suicide Tuesday crash, you’re left with the happy fatigue of someone who is building strength.

Pay attention to this process, and you’ll see that the motivation to be here now will gradually grow stronger than the cultural pressure to seek excitement. You’ll find yourself increasingly able to tune in to the delights of the present even when you’re not actively creating. When this happens, you’ll be on your way to genuine happiness: abundant, sustainable delight in the beautiful moments of ordinary life.”

You can read the full article HERE.

Of course for this philosophy to work you actual do have make something. Surfing the net, chattering on forums, and shopping online doesn’t count.

How To Play With Trains

Post author By Lmind1
Post date September 30, 2012
Categories In Model Railroad Design, Most Popular, Operations

How to Use Your Layout and Use it Often

How do we ‘play’ with our layouts? It’s an important question because it ultimately determines how much we enjoy our railroad or whether we enjoy it all. Fewer people than you’d expect can answer the question accurately. The result is layouts that sit idle, never serving their intended purpose of providing recreation and relaxation. In many cases layouts are never built because the modeler doesn’t feel he has the space for something that will be satisfying. In other situations layouts are so overbuilt in an attempt to ensure satisfaction that they suffer from overly dense scene composition, a toy like appearance, and un-necessary cost. How we plan to use and interact with our layout should be the first question we ask, and answer, when designing a layout. My guess is it is rarely asked or answered. If we don’t know how we plan to operate our model railroad, or how long our typical operating session will be, how can come up with a design that satisfies us?

It’s an important issue. If we can teach modelers how to interact with their layouts in a manner that is both fulfilling and easily attainable, the end result will be a more vital hobby as they learn to extract more satisfaction from them. This evolves into becoming more passionate about the hobby as a whole. It can also entice those outside of the hobby, or on the fringes, to jump in. Frankly, as things stand now there aren’t many compelling arguments being communicated to entice people to dive into model railroading or delve in deeper than they are now. It’s an issue of communication and marketing the hobby.

The key is to get people operating their layouts more frequently and in a way they find extremely interesting. I’m talking about frequent sessions that are easy to set up and can be run on a moment’s notice, 15 to 45 minutes at a time, and doing so three, four, five times a week. Such mini sessions are a wind down after work, after the kids are in bed, whenever you need to relax type of thing. Most people can find that amount of time several times a week. The more frequently we operate, the more we stoke our interest level and the better the layout runs. Operating this frequently (even if it’s only ten minutes) transforms the modeler from an observer of the hobby to an active participant. (Side note. Kids are much more interested in operations than model building. You’d be surprised to find how many of your kids and their friends would be interested in occasionally participating in these mini sessions from time to time).

When it comes to operating session length somewhere the notion crept into our culture that the sessions had to be several hours long and involve multiple operators. Not so. In theory it would be nice to have this capability on occasion. In the real world, however, even if our layouts could provide sessions this long, the reality is that most folks would only run such full blown sessions once or twice a year, if that. Sub-consciously modelers tell themselves that if they can’t do the full three hour session then they just won’t run until they can. It never happens. Layouts sit idle and the owner begins to wonder why he built the darn thing in the first place.

There is a direct relationship between the desired length of our operating sessions and layout design. If we don’t feel the design will provide enough operational interest or a long enough session, we compensate by adding more turnouts…..and more…..and more. Generally the problem isn’t a lack of opportunity for operational interest but rather a lack of information. As we learn more about how the prototype does it, additional tasks and interest are added. The more we know, the more tasks we have to model, the longer and more interesting the session becomes. By default, the longer it takes to switch a given industry, the fewer industries and less track we need in our designs. This means smaller and simpler layouts are needed to entertain us and it opens up the door to a broader spectrum of people that can enter and actively engage in the hobby.

To be clear I’m strongly against artificially induced complexity to make a task longer. Such an approach is totally counter to the way a real railroad is run. Artificial complexity equates to frustration., not enjoyment. Rather, I’m suggesting that we avail ourselves of the knowledge of how a crew actually goes about their work, modify it as necessary for model railroad use, and copy the work in our sessions. Railroading is hard and often tedious work. Each individual has to make their own decision as to where to draw the line in terms of what adds to the experience and what detracts. One person may want to simulate the full ten minutes it takes for a brake test, another may represent it with a several minute pause.

Pictured above is a rail served food producer typical of those found throughout the U.S. Track consists of a simple, single turnout. A bit of a wrinkle is thrown in by virtue of being hemmed in by two city streets, one of which has very high traffic volume. Rail traffic consists of incoming loads only, oil in tank cars (vegetable or olive oil) and boxcars probably containing rice. The oil tanks need to be placed adjacent to the unloading hoses and receiving tanks. The boxcars are spotted by freight doors. Looking at the picture above it appears the following happened: an incoming train arrived with two loads of oil and a boxcar. It couldn’t spot the incoming cars because two oil tanks were still being unloaded at the receiving tanks so there was no room or the incoming cars. It would make no sense to take the incoming cars back to the yard so they were temporarily parked nearby (called ‘off spot’) until the two oil tankers were unloaded and could be pulled to create room. This situation makes for a simple and relaxing ops. ‘mini session’. Here’s how it might unfold. In other words, here is an example of how you can occupy yourself for a full thirty minutes on a moment’s notice with very little track or equipment. The moves and tasks are simple, it’s just that there are a lot of them. Follow along.

Step 1: You’ve just arrived at the industry. Your task is to pull the two oil tanks that just finished unloading and put them in your train. In addition you need to take the three ‘off spot’ cars that were left earlier for placement and move them into position at the oil tank unloading hoses and appropriate freight car door. Pull your train up towards the busy street, stopping four or five car lengths shy of the crossing. You’ll be cutting the engine off of the train and rules dictate you need to secure what will now be the engineless train left on the main. The conductor will dismount, walk to the train and secure the handbrakes on two or three of the cars. I model this hand brake operation with props (previous blog) but you could represent it with a pause. With the hand brakes secured the conductor gets on board the locomotive. Even with crossing gate protection it’s common practice to stop the loco prior to the street and then lay on the horn before crossing. The point is you want to get out of the typical model railroad habit of screeching to a halt, uncoupling and then blasting onwards in the span of a few seconds.

Step 2: The next task is to pull up to the industry switch and drop the conductor off at the switch. Once the conductor is on the ground the engine pulls forward to clear the switch. At this point the conductor needs to unlock the switch (a task which can be modeled as per a previous blog) and throw it. Rules dictate that after the switch is thrown the conductor must perform a visual to make sure the points did move across, a good idea on model railroads as well.

Step 3: Back the engine up to the three off spot cars with the conductor calling out car length distance. Once coupled, the hand brakes must be released before you can move them.

Step 4: Back down to couple onto the two empty oil tank cars. The hand brakes on the oil tankers must be released. Have the oil tank unloading hoses been un-hooked? Also, the ‘three step’ procedure must be employed while the conductor is between the cars lacing up the brake line air hoses. Last week a professional railroader contacted me and stated that since these cars had been ‘sitting’ an air test would have to be performed prior to pulling them. The test consists of pumping up the air line, applying a 20lb release, and making sure the brakes applied. Assuming they did, the brakes would be released. Even on a model railroad you should allow a few minutes for this. Take a break and refill your drink and make sure the kids are doing their homework.

Step 5: Now, we need to get those two empty tankers back to the train. Pull forward to clear the switch. The conductor will throw the switch and then get on board the locomotive. Allow time for him to perform the logical walking path. He can’t fly!

Step 6: Back the entire cut back to your train. As you get close to the cut the conductor will need to dismount and call out car length distances until the couple is made.

Step 7: Let’s put those three off spot cars in their final position. Pull forward and repeat the steps of dropping off the conductor so he can throw the switch.

Step 8: The conductor will need to walk back to the position where the cars will be spotted so that he can radio distances to the engineer. Note that his move may be being done at night. Back the cut down to the oil unloading hoses. The conductor calls for three step protection before reaching between the cars. He’ll secure the hand brakes on the tankers and prepare to uncouple.

Step 9: The conductor will walk up to the door where the boxcar will be spotted and call out distance. Once in place it’s three step again and setting the hand brake on the boxcar.

Step 10: Pull forward to clear the switch. Throw the switch, lock it, and mount the locomotive.

Step 11: Back the locomotive back towards the train. The conductor will dismount beforehand and call out distance to the couple. Three step and hook up the hoses. Remember that you tied hand brakes on the train so those need to be released. Even though we did a brief air test previously, we now have a ‘new’ train with ‘new’ cars in it. Perform another air test.

All done, off you go to the next industry. That should have taken you at least thirty minutes. The entire session should be performed at an efficient but measured pace with loco. speeds between four and ten miles per hour. Try to avoid the habit of having your crew on one end of the layout and flipping your turnout toggles a scale 1000 feet from where the crew would be. If you don’t get the entire move done before you need to stop the session just kill the layout power walk away. There is nothing that says you have to finish it. Car spotting scenarios such as this are quick to set up and easy to run several times per week. Getting in the habit of this will keep the rails shiny and you engaged in the hobby.

Addendum

After reading the “Playing With Trains” blog, professional railroader Barry S. contacted me with the following edits. This is coming from a guy that does this for a living.

Barry writes:

Second diagram, the conductor has just cut the engine off from the train and the light engine pulls ahead to the industry turnout. Having just cut off from the train, the conductor would most likely be on the rear of the engine so the engineer could pull the engine past the industry turnout before stopping to let the conductor off to throw the switch. Why stop before clearing the switch? If the engineer needed the conductor to assist in getting the engine across the busy street the conductor would have walked ahead of the engine when it stopped before crossing the busy street, flagged the crossing, then mounted the rear of the engine after it had crossed the street.Flagging busy street crossings is one of the most dangerous activities the conductor must perform. Putting ones body out on the pavement, even with reflective vests, flags, lanterns, and even fusees, especially at night, is dangerous as you never know what motorists are going to do!2. Fifth diagram. “Now, we need to get those two empty tankers back to the train. Pull forward to clear the switch. The conductor will throw the switch and then get on board the REAR TANK CAR”. On reverse moves, the point of the train (the leading part) must be protected. Also, you may not want to back all the way to the train standing on the main track because you will have to first cross the busy street, and two, in your diagram you will have the busy street blocked until the conductor can walk ahead and cut off the engine and three cars. It might be better to leave the two pulled tankers between the quiet street and the busy street while you go spot the three remaining cars. Don’t forget to set a hand brake on one of them. The conductor will ride the rear of the train and let the engineer know when they clear the switch. After spotting the three cars, you return to the main with the engine, back down and couple to the two tank cars, release the hand brake, the conductor rides the point (the rear tank car) as you back up across the busy street (if he can’t find a break in the traffic he will have to flag the crossing), couple into the train, and the busy street is not blocked while the conductor releases hand brakes and does a set and release, walks to the front of the train, and with both engineer and conductor on the engine, horn blowing and bell ringing, crosses the busy street on your way to the next industry to be switched (or make sure the kids are in bed).PS Some railroads allow the conductor to mount and dismount moving equipment, others require the train to stop before mounting or dismounting cars or engines.