Model Railroad Operations
With A Fixed Cycle.

Our Nottawasaga Model Railway Club NMRC takes its modular HO scale layout to train shows in our geograhpical region of Central Ontario. Instead of only running trains in a circle as most do at model train shows, we take a "hands on" approach to model railroad operations. We encourage youngsters (and adults) to try their hand at running the model trains. Club members act as instructors. We give the kids a signed certificate making them official model engineers on the NMRC layout.

We learned through experience that we had to have a fixed cycle of moves to simplify the switchlist operations. Even though we attend half a dozen shows a year we don't get bored. Although the number of trains is fixed and we use a 4-cycle schedule similar to 4-cycle car cards, it's difficult to remember from day-to-day and month-to-month what car went where. The cars are put onto the layout at the exact same starting point each weekend at the show. Over the course of two days we seldom complete all four cycles because we need to take time to explain to new operators what they have to do. There's sufficient down time to permit a leisurely pace to the model railroad operations at any show.

We use a slightly expanded switchlist and train schedule at the Club where we have additional modules and more freight cars and industries.

Passenger operations are more casual. It depends what members bring to the Club or show. The passenger trains simply complicate the operations because we have "to clear the main" to let them through.

Anatomy of a fixed schedule

What is a fixed schedule? Freight cars follow a pre-arranged switchlist. They always go to the same industries at the same point in the schedule. The operations are not random. Cars are always the same.

Here is the switchlist cycle for the cars that Martin Alborough worked out. It's a combination of deliveries and pickups:

Cycle 1 switchlist

Cycle 2 switchlist

Cycle 3 switchlist

Cycle 4 switchlist

On my HO scale Utopia Northern we use the typical 4-car rotation with Micromark car-cards. The cycle information on the cards does not change, but cars of a similar type can be substituted for variety between cycles. As we usually only have two to four operators we find it takes up to two months to complete all four rotations. The weekly model railroad operations on the Utopia Northern run 3 to 3 1/2 hours. It's hard to remember where the specific cars have been from week-to-week. We throw in some extra through freights and passenger trains where the consists don't change. Because cars are not switched out in these trains we can use whatever is left on the shelves. We also have some added rules to complicate the operations such as insisting that steam engines be turned at the end of their runs and clearances restrict movement on some tracks. For example, a van's cupola is too high to clear the door at 5-Star Manufacturing and that track is often used to make up a freight to leave North Point (See Utopia Northern RR).

If you haven't tried model railroad operations, this is a good method to learn about it in a more controlled environment. It really works at the train shows because our members have a "cheat sheet" to keep track of where they are while talking to visitors and inexperienced operators.

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