July 2020 Journal

Tracklaying

One of my earliest projects was running track through my sump pump room to connect my staging yard with the rest of the railroad. As this was some of my earliest work, it wasn't great, especially since I had never done a liftout section. There were a number of issues with my first attempt:

• Using the Masonite guards to maintain alignment of the bridge section was not sufficiently tight and the track did not always line up.
• I overlapped track from the bridge section onto the fixed section, which led to derailments. 
• The wood support closest to the staging yard was slightly too high, so the track coming off the Homasote surface had to climb up an unnecessary grade, which led to uncoupling. 
• The staging yard is based on two entrance tracks but there was not a way to get from both tracks to all eight staging tracks. The lower staging yard is based on a single entrance track, eliminating this issue. 

As I'm getting ready to start the final phase of construction, I wanted to redo this work and eliminate all these issues. As part of this redo, I had found a code 83 double crossover at my old hobby shop in St. Paul when I was up there for MinnRail. This was exactly what I needed to resolve the access issues in the yard. The other issues were a matter of being a lot more careful in the benchwork design and tracklaying process. 

Fixing the bridge alignment took some effort, but I happened on an article talking about putting in alignment pins. It took a while to find them, but I finally found a hardware solution at Rockler with this product, called a table pin (Item #32334). They're generally used for creating removable table leafs, but they work perfectly in this application. I drilled four holes on the four corners of the removable section while the section was clamped in place. I put the male pin in the receiver section and the female section in the removable section. With these pins in place, the removable section stays exactly in place with zero wiggle at all. 

 

The complete view of the pin is here:

I also cut a new piece of 3/4" plywood to connect from the left support to the wall adjoining the staging yard, which now butts directly to the module in alignment to allow the track to go directly from the Homasote to the cork without any change in elevation. The previous piece let the track sit on the drywall instead of how it is now, with the wood piece pushed directly up against the Homasote surface. 

I arranged the double crossover on section U3 so that there would be room for the four Tortoise motors to go underneath and cut some connecting pieces of flex track to join it with the two parts of the staging yard. 

Now that the four turnouts are marked from the double crossover, the next step is to drill holes for the Tortoise throw arms to connect to the crossover. I'll also reinstall the flex track across the removable section. Once it's all dry (instead of using track nails, as I did the first time) I'll carefully cut the gaps to allow the section to be removed. Doing it this way will help ensure that the track remains aligned and eliminate those annoying derailments. 

7/11/2020 - I finished laying the track in the sump pump room and got all the track reconnected to the bus wires. Here's a tip -- make sure your wires are labeled. I had to trace wires around the room to figure out which was which, and quickly labeled them accordingly to avoid doing this again in the future. Once the track was done, I also cut the gaps for the removable section, did a little cleanup and was able to ensure that the section could be easily removed and replaced. Running some sensitive passenger cars through both sections of the track was also successful -- no derailments at all. 

7/12/2020 - I got the double crossover Tortoise motors wired up and successfully connected them to the Motorman board, which then let me control it from the computer. I also had mistakenly installed Tortoise drives under the layout without first wiring them, which meant I had to wire them under the layout. Not fun. However, I was able to get them connected with only a minor burn to my finger from the soldering iron. 

Within JMRI, I next step up track routes so that operators won't have to figure out how to throw up to four turnouts to get to each track. I set up routes 201-208 to connect tracks 1-8 to the outbound/eastbound main, and routes 211-218 to use the inbound/westbound main. Since the routes can be thrown from the Engine Driver app, this is far simpler than putting in a physical control panel. 

7/13/2020 - After getting the staging yard and sump pump room work done, my next task was to install the manual Tortoise controls on the Glenwood (U5-U6) district. I cut some Masonite fascia pieces at 5.5" tall. This gives me a small lip above the layout surface and a little bit of extra below to block the view of the wood supporting the section. 

Using my keyhole saw, I cut a 1" hole for the turnout control. I mounted the physical switch on a small piece of Masonite and then mounted that behind the hole. I like the effect and it protects the switch from being bumped. Flipping the switch up will switch to the spur and flipping it down will close the spur. After doing this one, I've got five more to do in the Glenwood district. 

7/18/2020 - I finished up the six local Tortoise controls over the past few nights. Those tiny DPDT switches are not the easiest things to solder. You need the smallest pencil tip for your soldering iron and I used a "helping hands" set of clamps to hold everything together. I'm planning to paint the fascia black but I'm happy with the installation design.

Operations

7/20/2020 - In a previous post, I talked about how I had backed off my computer-based switching system and had decided to use the Car Order System. After getting my initial three switching districts created and assigned car spots, I created car cards and completed the initial set of car card envelopes for them. The nice thing is that if I need to tweak a car card, it's easy to reprint. 

NMRA Achievement Program

7/6/2020 - I've earned the Author certificate already and submitted my paperwork for Chief Dispatcher last month. After updating my records, I determined that I had enough time units to submit my Volunteer achievement paperwork. I had to get some signatures from various people, but once those signed forms all arrived, I submitted them for review. Having that one done means I'm done with all the achievements that require you to track time. 

My next goal is the Electrical achievement. I'm almost done with the requirements already, with the exception of a reversing loop (item A3) and connecting up my circuit breakers (item A6). The nice thing about this achievement is that there's no judging involved. 

May 2020 Journal

Trackwork

5/14/2020 - I finally came up with a design for the industrial/switching district in section L5. After ordering a few more turnouts, I laid the track and I'm happy with the overall design.

This photo shows where the industries can fit into this track arrangement.

Based on a suggestion from my friend Brad, the siding at the top will actually enter the building that's going into that space, plus there will be room on the outside for a few more car spots. The bottom track towards the left is primarily space for pulling cars out of the siding to the right, but once I get some power on the track, we'll see how many cars I can reasonably pull at once without having to move the cars to the left.

5/18/2020 - After the glue dried, I finished the section by adding feeders into all the track segments and between the various turnouts. I hadn't soldered in a while and the first joints showed, but I got the hang of it after a few bad connections. Once all the wiring was done and tested, I grabbed some cars from the main yard and put them into place. It looks like I'll be able to fit 19-20 cars in the district without losing the maneuverability to hit all the tracks. Here are some photos of the finished area.

Wiring/DCC

5/19/2020 - After getting the industrial district done, I went back to the helix room to diagnose my detection issue. The helix will have a total of 12 detection blocks, 6 in each direction, starting at 300W/300E and going up the helix to 305W/305E. When I last worked on this, I was getting what seemed like false readings on 302 that wouldn't go away. I went down some rabbit holes about whether the coils were too close, the wires were crossed, etc. After disconnecting the bus wires from the terminal strip, I had an engine continue running even when its bus wire was disconnected. I then proceeded to remove the other side's bus wires one by one and found that I had mixed up one pair of feeders. After making that fix, the detection started working properly again. 

I managed to get both sides of blocks 301, 302, 303 wired up with detection coils and got them connected to the Watchman board. In addition, I happened upon the Indicator Track feature in Panel Pro and replaced the somewhat awkward icons/lights with indicator tracks. The panel looks so much better doing this. I also got a reminder of JMRI's web server feature, which is also accessible from the mobile application. This made it a lot easier to test the detection since I didn't have to keep running out to the computer.

Unfortunately, I ran out of red 20 gauge wire and I'm running low on 3M suitcase connectors, so I'll have to wait a few days to restock my supplies. That's the first spool of 500 feet that I've run through, not sure if I'll need another one after the second spool, but we'll see. I get all my wire from Del City since you can order a variety of colors individually. 

The next steps are:

• Split block 301 into two blocks -- block 300 will cover the track from the entry to the helix room around to the back wall of the helix.
• Add feeders to block 300W and 300E and connect up the detectors to the Watchman board, which will finish out the 8 connections on that board. 
• Program another Watchman board to accommodate blocks 304-305W/E and future blocks that will go into the peninsula. This board will be installed in the upper deck section prior to entering the helix, since that puts it in easy reach of peninsula blocks when I get those built. 

5/25/2020 - I spent today working on wiring for the lower deck. First, I extended the RR-Cirkits Simple Serial Bus (SSB) from the boards under the main yard around the corner to the staging yards on the north wall. I then extended the Tortoise power bus, since the RR-Cirkits Motorman boards require secondary power from a power supply. I added 22 gauge wires to each of the six Tortoise drives at my work bench, since that's far simpler than trying to solder under the deck.

After that, I was able to get the lower deck's Motorman board programmed and throwing the turnout that was previously installed under the first turnout in the throat. I installed a few more Tortoise drives and got those connected to the Motorman board. I still haven't figured out a good way to install Tortoise drives with only one pair of hands, but being able to throw the turnouts via the Engine Driver app is far easier than running back and forth to the computer.

In JMRI, I added those turnouts to the panel and after swapping the two power wires on the Tortoise drives, got them in sync with the panel. Since I've got three of the 7 turnouts wired now, I could try out the Routes feature of JMRI. This lets me create a route, say IR105 for staging track 5, and trigger it from the control panel or an Engine Driver throttle. This is simpler than having to throw all the turnouts individually. I still need to figure out how to put a button of some sort on the panel to trigger the route, but the basic logic works nicely.

The next step here is to finish the remaining four turnouts and get them wired into the Motorman board. In JMRI, I'll add routes for all eight staging tracks. After that, I'll wire up the Tortoise drives on the upper deck, although I first need to rework the yard entry using the double crossover I found in Minnesota last year. 

5/27/2020 - I wired up two additional Tortoise drives in the lower staging yard this evening. I also created the other routes so that I have one route per track in the lower yard. For the upper yard, since there will be a double crossover at the entrance, I'll end up with two sets of routes: one set to reach all eight tracks from the inbound/westbound main and one set to reach the tracks from the outbound/eastbound main. 

5/28/2020 - I finished wiring the last Tortoise drives in the lower staging yard and tested out all the JMRI routes. It's nice to have that work done. 

5/30/2020 - I finished wiring up the remaining Tortoise drives at the "west" end of the main yard and got them all connected up to JMRI. I can now control the entire yard from the dispatcher panel. I am planning to do a "proof-of-concept" with the push buttons to control the crossovers locally, as well. The idea is that the yardmasters will be able to use these controls as needed, but they're also available for the dispatcher to use. 

The lower deck JMRI control panel now looks like this, for now:

5/31/2020 - I soldered feeder wires onto six detection coils to be installed in the helix. I also "discovered" that I had a staple gun in my toolbox and replaced all the unreliable duct tape with staples to secure all the feeder wires. This cleans up the wiring quite a bit and lets the detection coils stay securely in place. 

Operations

5/26/2020 - I've been working on software that ties into my train management/inventory system that was showing promise in terms of random train generation, but after thinking how much computer interaction there would be, the ongoing tracking of car numbers, etc. I decided to give that up and switch to the car order system that Dan Hinel, Hank Tenwolde, Mike Wolf, and others are using. In this system, you deal with the type of car and focus on the car spots on industry tracks. The system is self-repairing and simpler since you are only looking at car types, not car numbers. While I'll still have a database of all my cars and locomotives, the computer won't be needed for car/train management during a session. 

I went through my three industry districts and identified 55 car spots and chose various types of cars to fill those spots. After the car is picked up at the location after loading/unloading, those cars will be sent out on either eastbound or westbound manifest freight trains. This simulates the load leaving the layout going to some other location and helps rotate car usage. 

I then ran trains to all three districts to adjust the cars on each of the industry spots and brought the remaining cars back to the main yard. The next step is to rotate the cards -- setouts become pickups, holds remain holds for one "turn" -- and then run local trains to pick up the cars that need to be moved. After that, I'll run manifest trains in either direction to pick those cars up and then I'll have a corrected car cycle to continue with. It'll be more interesting as I build out the peninsula and the additional twelve switching districts I'm anticipating, but this system lets me start operating on my own without having to constantly refer back to the computer. It's ironic that as a software developer that I'm choosing a manual system over a computerized one, but I'm looking more at the ongoing maintenance and choosing a simpler system. 

September 2019 Journal

Operations

9/5/2019 - I had a few friends over tonight to run trains, and I was pleasantly surprised how well everything ran. There are a few known issues on the layout, but they actually didn't find any additional ones. We did find that a few of the locomotives need to have their couplers switched to longer shank versions so that their walkways don't hit each other, but that's easy to take care of. We also ran into the somewhat obvious problem that you can't run all the trains out of one staging yard without taking an equal number from the other.

I have a few more sessions planned for the next few weeks where we'll do some more switching of trains/cars and I hope to have some more of my punch list items (especially Tortoise installation) done prior. It's good to have these sessions to keep up a little bit of healthy pressure to make progress on that list. 

Trackwork

9/5/2019 - As part of my punch list cleanup, I fixed a nasty kink that developed on the upper level of my helix. All the trains were derailing on it prior to the fix. I drilled some track nail-sized holes in the flex track, used a SweepStick to align the track, and put a bunch of track nails through the plastic ties. This got the track back into alignment and the derailments were no more. 

DCC/Electronics

9/3/2019 - I did a little bit of work tonight reinstalling the Digitrax UR92 wireless panel temporarily on the upper deck, where it will get less interference with people standing next to it. I also pulled out one of the standard Digitrax UP5 panels and investigated all the extra connections on it. While I didn't install the "keep alive" wire to it, I did add the track power indicator wires and connected it to my bus. Now when the power is on, the center light turns on. It's an easy way to tell that power is on if all the engine sounds are turned off. 

9/4/2019 - I knocked a few items off my punch list tonight -- connecting block 101 to the Watchman detector board, and fixing a crossover turnout wire that had gotten dislodged. I also decided to start running LocoNet wires so that I could install the remaining UP5 panels strategically around the layout. While I expect most people to use wireless throttles, certain things still work better with wired throttles, like switching yards and consisting/etc. locomotives. I installed a total of 6 panels on the lower deck and cut the connector cables between them. It took a little while to remember how you had to cut the wires to the 6 pin connectors, but once I got rolling, I got all the panels installed and wired to the layout. When I get the fascia cut and installed, the panels will be reinstalled on the fascia in their permanent locations, but the wires are long enough to allow me to move things around.

9/8/2019 - I was working on adding a new Tortoise drive to the upper deck mainline. In the process, I had turned on the power for the lights/DCC/etc. While I was working, I started smelling something strange, like burning plastic. I tracked the smell back to my Digitrax DT400 throttle and immediately turned everything off. Over the next few days, I worked with Digitrax support to determine that the command station and other hardware were OK, but the throttle got smoked. In addition, the computer interface seems to have gone south. Luckily the command station tested out OK, as did the UP5s and my Digitrax wireless UR92 device. Digitrax has great support and said they'd repair the throttle for $25, as opposed to buying a new one for almost $200.

The downside is that until I get the computer interface working, I can't really operate since all the turnouts are JMRI controlled. Hopefully I'll be back up and running in the next few weeks.

9/24/2019 - Got an email back from Digitrax acknowledging receipt of my throttle, but notifying me that it would be 60 days to get it back. They are blaming last year's hurricane for the delay. At least my LocoBuffer-USB will be back quicker, at which point I can turn on and off the layout without the big throttle. I'm borrowing one for now, but a lot of my punch list items are related to programming and wiring components to my RR-Cirkits components.

Givens and Druthers

If you've never heard the term before, the "givens and druthers" are the rules that you have made for how your railroad will be built and operated. It also describes what you're planning to model and perhaps even how you're planning to build the layout.

Setting

The Northstar Subdivision (NS Sub) is modeling the Canadian Pacific and BNSF mainlines from the Minneapolis/St. Paul area up to the northwest into North Dakota. While these two railroads have separate mainlines in reality, I have "merged" the two lines into a single mainline. Besides CP and BNSF, the railroad also interchanges with the Union Pacific and Canadian National railroads, as it does in real life. Pool power from other railroads will also make an appearance on the NS Sub. 

That said, when I first learned about operating sessions at the Purdue Railroad Club, each operating session would change the layout locations into a different railroad. As the scenery will be generic Midwest scenery, there's no reason that the destinations along the railroad could not be another region of the country. For instance, we might run from Chicago to Iowa on the Union Pacific, or somewhere on another railroad. The only real requirement is that there is enough motive power for the railroad to be realistic. 

Train Types

There will be both freight and passenger trains on the railroad. Amtrak's Empire Builder will traverse the route to and from Seattle. We'll also take some liberty with reality and have VIA Rail trains going from the Twin Cities to Winnipeg, as well as a Canadian Pacific "heritage" train that can make the rounds as a fan trip. I will also be hosting some truly foreign engines, as I'm a fan of German Rail (Deutsche Bundesbahn) trains. We'll ignore the pesky fact that those trains are electric and chalk it up to hidden third rail. This will be another fan train owned by a museum somewhere along the line. Passenger trains will get priority on the NS Sub, unlike in real life. 

I'm also planning to add some passenger stations to the railroad, although I don't think I have space for a large passenger terminal. Passenger train crews will be required to make station stops during their journeys. 

Freight trains will be broken into three categories:

• Run-through trains with no switching -- intermodal and unit coal trains for starters. 
• Manifest freight trains that will switch cars only at yards.
• Local trains that will work industries. 

Manifest freight trains do not work industries. They drop and pick up cars at yards only. Locals are responsible for moving those cars to and from the industry tracks. There will be far more rail-served industries than likely exist in real life, but as this is primarily an operations-focused railroad, that's to be expected. Freight trains arriving at the main yard will need to take their power to get serviced, as the yard represents a major stop on each train's trip. 

There may also be "special" trains that inject variety into the operating session, such as work trains that block a particular part of the line. 

Standards

• Atlas code 83 track - concrete color for mainlines, wood color for all other track
• Mainline turnouts - #8, all other turnouts
• Minimum radius on visible track: 30"
• Maximum train length is governed by staging yard track lengths, but 11-12' is roughly the maximum length. 
• Mainline track blocks are all detected through JMRI and RR-Cirkits products. 
• Mainline turnouts will be controlled both from dispatcher's panel (via JMRI) and with lineside pushbutton controls. The pushbutton controls will be considered out of service during operating sessions if a dispatcher is present. 
• All mainline turnouts and turnouts that are out of easy reach will be powered using Tortoise drives. 
• Layout will eventually be signaled through JMRI and RR-Cirkits products.
• Wiring Standards - See this article
• Benchwork Construction - See this article 
• Visual indicators will be added to the layout to help identify the block divisions. 

DCC

• Digitrax DCC is the command system in use on the layout. 
• JMRI is also installed, allowing for Wi-Fi throttles. 
• Yard operators will have wired utility throttles (UT4) for responsiveness. 
• UT4D throttles are already available for operators to use. 
• Command throttles (DT400, DT500, etc.) should be restricted to avoid programming issues during an operating session. 

Motive Power

• Each locomotive will be assigned an engine card with instructions on how the DCC functions work. Engines that are consisted will have their cards clipped together with the addressable engine card on top. 
• In general, locomotives will be assigned in pairs for manifest freight trains. Locals may use single engines if they don't have to traverse the helix or if the train is less than 10 cars. 
• Engines will all have reversing headlights, which helps determine if the locomotive is answering to DCC commands. 
• Engines with sound will have their sound turned down so that an engineer walking along side can hear it, but so that it can't be heard across the room. 
• Engines should be muted when they are not in use, either through the appropriate command function or through a kill switch on the track. 

Signals

• While hooded signals are more modern, ensure that they are easily visible from the engineer's point of view. May need to angle them slightly out towards the aisle, or install "repeaters" on the fascia. 
• We are not following a particular prototype for signals. Most signals in the Midwest use the colors and not positions for their indicators. Some Canadian signals use a single multicolored light, but the specific signals used on the layout will be dictated by what models are available for purchase. 

Operations Primer - Introduction to Traffic Control

If you’ve got a model railroad layout of any size, are you running your trains or are you operating them? This may sound like a stupid question, but there’s a difference between just running trains and operating them. In the real world, each time a locomotive moves on the railroad, it’s for a reason. The locomotive may be dropping cars at an industry, picking up cars that need to be delivered elsewhere, or it may be on the front of a train hauling passengers across the country. When your model trains move, are they moving with a purpose?

When we talk about operations, we are talking about simulating real world railroad traffic on a miniature scale. There are two primary aspects to operations that we simulate:

• How do trains move across from one point to another on the railroad?  
• How do we simulate moving goods and passengers between locations on (or off) the railroad?  

When I visit railroads during open houses, I love seeing trains running through the various scenes on the layout, as do most visitors. However, I find that running trains in a circle tends to get boring over time. By adding an operations model to your railroad, you can increase your enjoyment of your layout, no matter how big it is.

These articles are designed to introduce operations in an easy-to-follow, step-by-step fashion. Operations can get highly complex but you can start out simply and work up to the level that you’re comfortable with. In this article, we’ll start by talking about traffic control on a layout.

Traffic Control 

In the real world, trains don’t move without permission. How the engineer and conductor get this permission varies, and all of the methods can be used on a model railroad layout during an operating session. If you’re running a single train by yourself on your layout, this section may not be for you. The minute another operator is involved, you need to have some sort of traffic control system.

Line of Sight 

If you’re switching on a small layout where you and another operator are the only people on the layout, you simply need to coordinate with the other operator so that you don’t run into each other. You can add some realism to this. If you’re operating in the days before radio, you couldn’t just talk to each other. Even on a 4’ layout, that’s 348 feet in the real world, which is about the length of a football field. In this case, you can use hand signals to communicate with the other operator. I have been at operating sessions where hand signals were required between the engineer and conductor while switching cars, etc.

These hand signals are taken from the Consolidated Code of Operating Rules, 1967 Edition, hosted by the GN-NP Archive at www.gn-npjointarchive.org. This common set of rules were adopted by all the major railroads in the US at the time and the signals are still the same today, even though we have radios now.

Verbal Orders

In this system, a train crew asks permission from the dispatcher to take their train through a particular section of track. Without that permission, your train can’t move on the mainline. Trains within yards can do whatever they need without asking the dispatcher permission, as long as they stay within the boundaries of the yard, known as the yard limits. There may also be trains doing switching within towns/cities/districts on the layout where they are off the mainline, those trains are also not affected.

Verbal orders are also known as “Mother may I” operations, since you have to ask the dispatcher (you might not want to call them Mother, though) for permission to move. These are also the simplest to implement. You only need a few things:

A dispatcher who is accessible by voice, radio, or lineside telephone. Family radios are inexpensive and your guest operators probably have them already. If you use these, I’d recommend asking people to wear earpieces to cut down on the noise in the train room.

A diagram of the track plan and a way to mark where the trains are. This can be done on paper, a whiteboard, or some sort of magnet.

An engineer or conductor calls the dispatcher and asks for permission to move their train. The conversation might go something like this:

Engineer: UP 3546 (the lead engine number normally) to Dispatch.

Dispatch: Dispatcher, go ahead.

Engineer: UP 3546 requesting permission from <location> to <another location>.

Dispatch: (Dispatcher checks the board to ensure that the train can safely proceed) UP 3546 cleared from <location> to <another location>.

Engineer: UP 3546 cleared from <location> to <another location>. (Repeats the instruction for clarification)

Dispatch: Read back correct, dispatcher clear.

In the real world, there are a lot more rules on how the orders have to be recorded, numbered, etc. but we’re trying to keep this simple.

Timetable and Train Order 

In the days before signals, there was no way to contact a train that was underway except by sending orders to the stations along the way. There were no lineside signals that indicated whether a track was clear or occupied ahead of you. As a result, train crews had to rely on their timetables and train orders (abbreviated TT&TO) issued by the dispatcher through the stations along the way.

A timetable listed the trains that were scheduled to operate on a section of track. Each train was listed with its station stops, the arrival and departure time, and what priority the train got in relation to other trains. Passenger trains and other high priority trains got the highest priority, and every other train had to get out of the way. Other freight trains might be considered second or third class and be handled in that priority order.

For changes while the train was moving, the dispatcher would rely orders to station agents by telegraph or telephone. The station agent would record the orders on slips of paper and in a book, and then turn on a signal light indicating to the oncoming train that it needed to stop for orders. In some TT&TO layouts, the conductor is required to sign a book at the station. In cases where an oncoming train has to wait until another train has gone by, the oncoming train looks at the book to see if the other train has already passed.

TT&TO systems almost always use an accelerated clock, known as a fast clock, to simulate railroad time and allow trains (especially passenger trains) to run on a schedule. Since it won’t really take hours to get from point A to point B on a railroad, the fast clock speeds up time so that trains can still run on a schedule that might run at 3 or 4 times normal speed.

Modern timetables still exist, but they focus more on the routes that trains take, the rules and restrictions for sections of track, and so on. This is a link (at time of writing) to a Union Pacific timetable for around the Denver, Colorado area:

http://denversrailroads.com/Denver/Timetables/UP_Denver_TT4_11-16-09.pdf

Fast clocks are often used on modern railroads when passenger trains are worked into the operating scheme. The question is whether freight trains have to get out of the way or not. Amtrak, for instance, operates in lower priority to freight on the freight railroad tracks they use. You might choose to adopt the old school priority and make passenger trains still the highest priority traffic. Having to work around a passenger train that has to stay on schedule can add a degree of difficulty to your operations, if you choose.

There are entire books written on TT&TO operation, but I'll do an introductory article on this in the future, as well. If you're involved in the NMRA Achievement program, that program requires a timetable and train chart to be turn in as part of its requirements, even if you're not planning to use it on your layout.

Signals 

Signals are similar to traffic lights that you're used to when driving or riding on highways, with a few minor variations. Railroads like Union Pacific and BNSF have a single dispatch center for the entire country, where a dispatcher is responsible for a section of the railroad. The dispatcher is watching where trains are going and where they need to go and lining tracks accordingly. The engineer follows the signals along the track and they’ll know whether they can go, slow down, stop, or switch tracks. No radio communication is required for the most part unless the train needs to do something special, like occupy the main while doing switching. There are many variations on what signals look like within the US and outside the US, but the meaning of the signals is reasonably easy to find.

Model railroads with signals are fascinating to operate on, but putting functioning signals on the layout requires a lot of electronic hardware. If you want to build a completely automated system, the hardware has to know when trains are sitting on particular tracks, which direction the turnouts are thrown, and you need some sort of software to control the whole thing.

In the April 2017 issue of Model Railroader, Bruce Carpenter talks about his paper signal system. The dispatcher walks around during the operating session and puts up paper pictures of signals that the operators need to follow. Here’s a link to this article where you can download the templates:

http://mrr.trains.com/how-to/track-planning-operation/2017/02/paper-signal-templates-for-your-model-railroad

I eventually want to use signals on my layout, so I'll cover those in a future article.

Conclusion 

I hope this article gives you some ideas on how you can start to implement operations on your own layout. If you’ve got a layout that you would like help implementing operations on, please reach out to me at eric@northcomp.com. I love operations and would love to help get your layout operating, too.

Trimming the Fleet

One of the benefits of having a software solution to keep track of the car and locomotive fleet is that it gives you a better idea of what you have. In planning out trains for the layout, I realized a few things:

• Trains on the layout are less than 12' long
• I have 12 Amtrak Superliner cars.
• I have 16 Amtrak single-deck passenger cars. 
• I have 5 miscellaneous Amtrak freight cars - material handling cars (MHCs) and boxcars. 

Each Amtrak car is about a foot long, which means I had enough Amtrak equipment for more than 3 full trains. While I enjoy passenger trains, that's a lot of Amtrak traffic. In addition, I have an 8-car VIA Rail LRC consist that will be traveling the rails too.

The result? It's time to trim the fleet down. For the Superliners, I found a site that showed the typical Empire Builder consist, which includes 3 sleepers, a transition sleeper, a diner, a lounge, and four coaches. I don't have the lead baggage car that the consist typically includes, but that's something I can get later. This means that two of the excess coaches I had purchased are off to the sales floor.

In terms of the single deck Amfleet and Horizon cars, I decided to keep 6 Amfleet and 4 Horizon cars. This gives me some flexibility in running two short trains or one long train. Typical single-deck Amtrak trains are 4-5 cars long, but some are longer than that. Unfortunately, I don't have any of the Viewliner sleeper cars, which would work nicely with the short cars. I'll keep those on the watchlist.

As far as the freight cars, I decided to sell the MHCs and keep the two boxcars. While Amtrak has since gotten rid of these cars, I like them since they can provide some operational variety to running passenger trains.

From now on, unless I'm upgrading a car or adding missing cars (like a baggage car), I won't be buying any more Amtrak equipment. By making simple decisions like this, it's easier to look at for sale groups and not go crazy with purchases that you don't need.

Block Detection Hardware Comparisons

I frequently act as dispatcher when I do operating sessions and one of the things that makes it so much easier for both the dispatcher and the crews is to have functional block detection. Signaling is also a very nice touch; however, signals are relatively expensive to install. The expense is both in the signals themselves and the signaling hardware. In order to do signals in the future, I have to at least design the layout for block detection upfront.

Depending on who you listen to, mainline turnouts may need to be isolated from their surrounding blocks. Leaving out mainline turnouts, I estimate that I will have around 42 blocks. This assumes a few things:

• Trains will be no more than 10' long. Longer than this will cause the train to go through multiple scenes at the same time. 
• Block will be roughly 12-15' long, but shorter blocks are better
• Lower level will be mostly double-track main
• Helix will be double-track
• Upper level will be mostly single-track main with passing sidings
• Mainline passing sidings will be detected
• Industrial areas and sidings will not be detected
• Staging yards will not be detected

Any track that is not detected will be isolated but then connected to a common track bus. 

I'm quite happy with the Digitrax command station and throttles, including the duplex wireless features. However, for detection, I've got several options since everything is compatible. The three vendors that I've identified are Digitrax, RR-CirKits, and Team Digital. Each one of them has different wiring requirements in order to support block detection because each one does block detection differently. I realize there are places that explain how to build your own circuits and that NCE also sells these products, but these were the companies that were recommended to me.

Assumptions

A few assumptions go into this discussion. I'm using a 14 gauge bus wire and 20 gauge feeder wires, using Scotchlok 905 suitcase connectors. The layout will be broken into 4 or 5 power districts to help control short circuits. I will also be controlling/monitoring the layout by way of JMRI through a LocoBuffer-USB connected to the LocoNet network. 

Product prices are based on ModelTrainStuff.com and TrainWorld.com published prices. 

Digitrax Block Detection

Note: The full list of Digitrax detection/signaling products is available here. 

The BDL168 occupancy detector ($119) is the primary product for block detection. It requires a separate power adapter (PS14 - $9.97) This unit will manage 16 detection sections using the schematic below, located in the BDL168 instruction guide. 

Since a detection section will likely be 12-15' of track, the feeders from each piece of track need to be combined and then, using heavy gauge wire, run all the way back to the input port on the BDL168. The heavy gauge wire is required for the detection to work using the Digitrax product. This translates into a lot of wire going between blocks and the BDL168s.

Digitrax does offer a supplemental product called the RD2, which is a remote sensing diode. Using this product (which can detect two blocks), you can then use small gauge wire (think network cable) to transmit the detection information back to the BDL168. See the diagram below from the instruction sheet. 

Since a single CAT5 network cable actually has 4 pairs of wires, you can consolidate this detection wiring down nicely. However, this requires buying an RD2 for every two blocks. Each RD2 is listed at $7.65 at Tony's Train Xchange. The RD2 is powered through the track bus and does not require a separate power supply. 

Digitrax is well supported and is one of the major systems used for DCC control. The documentation is clear and they do offer e-mail and web-based support. Their warranty support is also outstanding. 

Pricing this out, you have these items to purchase for 16 detection blocks:

• BDL168 - 119.00
• PS14 - 9.97
• RD2 x 8 - 61.20

Total: 190.17, or 11.88 per block

RR-CirKits Block Detection

RR-CirKits is probably best known for the LocoBuffer product, as well as the new Layout Command Control (LCC) systems. The product prices are based on the RR-CirKits "4+" prices. They give this discount for NMRA members, as well as bulk discounts. 

The controller product is the TC Mark II product ($114.22), which supports 64 input/output lines. For block detection, you add a BOD-8 ($35.40) and a CT-Coil-Set-8 ($13.60) for each 8 detection sections you want to manage. The detection wire passes through the center of the coil. The coil is then connected using twisted pair wire back to the BOD-8 board. The detection coils can be placed near the actual track being detected, minimizing the amount of wire required. In addition, no special wire design is required. As long as the detection wires pass through the coil, they can then connect directly to the track bus wire. The diagram below includes a lot of extraneous items, but the basic block detection is easy to see on here. 

The TC Mark II connects to the LocoNet, but requires a separate power plug. 

While some of the documentation is a bit hard to understand, one bonus is that the owner of the company was more than happy to answer my beginner questions and provide some recommendations. 

Pricing this out, you have these items to purchase for 16 detection blocks:

• TC Mark II - 114.22
• BOD-8 - 35.40
• CT-Coil-Set-8 - 13.60
• PS-S-12-800 power supply - 9.30

Total: 7.90 per block, based on the TC Mark II + power supply supporting 64 blocks

Team Digital Block Detection

The BlocD8 product provides block detection using a system similar to both of the other systems. The DBD22 product can detect two blocks of track and the BlocD8 can detect eight blocks of track. However, the DBD22 product does not work on its own, while the BlocD8 includes LocoNet connections. It is powered via the track bus. Similar to RR-CirKits, the detection section wires go through the center of the coil. 

Tony's DCC Exchange has the BlocD8 product available for 84.95, which translates to 10.61 per block. 

Summary

Based on this research, the RR-CirKits product appears to be the best price-per-block for detection capabilities. A single TC Mark II will be able to provide all the detection needs for the entire layout as well as provide signaling capability down the road. 

Car and Locomotive Fleet

One of the non-construction things I've done recently is to build a web-based fleet manager application. This will let me manage the fleet when I'm out shopping at train shows, for one. The system also lets me track my media, such as books, magazines, digital issues, etc. so that I don't end up buying the same book twice.

After getting the app working, I found out that I had 40 locomotives and 161 cars. After creating sample engine pairings, it also appears that I can put one or two engines on each of 16 staging tracks. I also have a number of 4 axle units for use in switching and local trains originating from the yards.

Cars are a different story:
10 MOW cars
31 Amtrak passenger cars
10 intermodal (stack, spine cars that are either 3 or 5 units)

That reduces the 161 down to 110 cars for actual freight service. I need to spend some more time designing the industries around the layout, which will then drive the car purchases. Given the typical industries and cars that are in use, I can see buying a lot more covered hoppers, tank cars, and boxcars. Even though boxcars are less used now, I'm not planning on building an intermodal yard -- those cars will be passing through and not being switched.