Experiment With Various Operations Methods
To Find The One You Like Best.

One of the most common techniques is to use Car Cards or some variation thereon.

Car Cards are just what they sound like: cards with information about what shippers are sending and what industry consignees have ordered that are put in a pocket or envelope with the car and its reporting marks on it. Every industry has a box attached to the layout's fascia to hold the cards and envelopes. Often a modeler adds a shelf where the cards can be sorted and trains blocked.

There is a terrific article in the February, 2009 issue of Model Railroader magazine by Bill Neale. The article presents an updated version of the car card and waybill system.

The big difference between the Ship It! computer-generated waybill program that I use and the Car Card system is that the former is automated and the latter is a more labor-intensive manual system.

Both have their strengths. You can export your database from Ship It! to Car Cards if you prefer to go that way.

Micro Mark also sells a kit of boxes and 4-cycle waybills. The cards have places for four destinations. You turn them over and upside down to complete the cycles. The last is usually an empty returning to a yard or interchange. At the end of the cycle you can replace the cards with a different ones to send the car somewhere else. You have to fill out the information by hand on the car cards and waybills.

A variation on this system is TIBS, or the Train and Industry Blocking System. This method was used on the Midwest Railroad Modelers' HO layout. There is an article in Model Railroader magazine by Dan Holbrook, July 1987. The idea here is that the car cards are blocked into a train in the order that the conductor will deliver them to the destinations down the line. As explained, the system is a scaled down version of real prototype paperwork.

This procedure, in turn, was based on the card-order system explained by Doug Smith in the December 1961 issue of MR that was later revamped by Steve King and Allen McClelland and explained in Model Railroad Craftsman in February 1978.

You see, model train operations is not new. It's just finally getting a lot more attention because it reduces boredom and introduces purpose into your model railroad.

My early exposure was to the DiGiT system of operation developed by Dr. Roy Dohn for his Montreal model train layout called the Victoria Northern. I was lucky enough to be a guest engineer on that layout. The system was designed as a practical way to eliminate written work and card handling. The method used celluloid strips with small clips that were attached to the cars or dropped into coal bunkers and such. His method is detailed in the May 1964 issue of Model Railroader . Roy had an earlier article in the December 1960 issue explaining how several operators could act as managers for a group of trackside industries.

See? It pays to keep all those old magazines even if you wife keeps threatening to throw them out!

Roy was also a musician and, to the disappointment of his crew, tore down the Victoria Northern and replaced it with a band shell in his basement. Tough decision. Glenn Miller or Casey Jones. We were all sad to see it go.

I recently saw a technique for keeping track of freight cars being moved during an operating session on the HO scale Terminal Model Railway of the Scarborough Model Railroaders in Toronto.

Car markers with staples

Freight cars marked for pick up

You can see a few of them on top of cars in this freight yard.

At a recent NMRA NER convention (2007) I had the pleasure of operating on one of the finest model railroads in the Northeast, Dick Elwell's Hoosac Valley. Dick opened his railroad to a number of attendees at the convention who had signed up for an operating session. If you ever have the chance to do so, don't hesitate. These are the forms that Dick developed for local and through trains.

Waybills on the Hoosac RR.

The cards used on Dick Elwell's Hoosac Valley made operations a snap. The waybill cards were filled in earlier by hand showing train numbers and the work to be done at each station or yard. Panels above the railroad detailed all industries by code and numbers and the electrical control panels worked flawlessly. Within minutes we novices were switching cars and passing trains through our territories.

Dick has an excellent website about the Hoosac Valley. You can also buy his books about the railroad. This site is worth bookmarking. (http://hoosacvalley.com)

That's me at the Hoosac RR

Joseph set to operate

And that's my friend, Joseph Levy, who joined me for the operations session. Our tutor, a regular operator, has just walked us through the procedures.

Dispatcher's office

The dispatcher sits under the stairs to control movement as operators call for permission to pass trains through their district.

Switching the yard

Switching the terminal and roundhouse kept us busy while waiting for the next train to arrive.

Crew lounge

This is the impressive entrance to the Hoosac Valley lines. The crew are fortunate to have a crew lounge like this. Most of us don't have room or don't set aside room for a lounge. Dick Elwell was a very gracious host.

To see more of the remodeled Hoosac Valley, look for a copy of Kalmbach Book's Great Model Railroads 2008. It's the cover story. The layout plan is on pages 12 and 13. Joseph and I were operating the Berkshire Junction yard in the center peninsula.

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