Operation! Remember when you were younger and you played the game where you were supposed to remove parts of the body from the game board without killing the patient? You had a metal pair of tweezers that you used to remove organs, bones, or whatever without touching the sides of the cavity and setting off the alarm.

Well, with train operations the difference is that you need to move all your rolling stock into the right position in a given amount of time so your railroad doesn’t lose revenue. Sounds like a pretty simple concept, doesn’t it? Hold on a minute, though. You need to remember that there may be other equipment located where you need to put your rolling stock, there may be other trains coming that won’t allow you to block the tracks, or any of a variety of other difficulties you need to overcome just to get your equipment to where it needs to be. And on time! Remember, time is money. Wait a minute. What about other freight that you have to pick up? Now not only do you have to drop off freight, you have to figure out how to pick up freight too. All of a sudden, things aren’t quite as simple as they first appeared.

Let’s see, drop off freight at various places, pick up freight from different places, go to the next delivery or pick up point, continue on until you get back to a yard somewhere where you can transfer all the incoming freight to some responsible entity for further movement. My head is beginning to spin. This wasn’t all that hard when I started. What happened? Why can’t this be simple? How do the real railroads do all this?

The answer, of course, is that they use modern equipment, programs, computers, and trained personnel to accomplish this seemingly simple task that has become a logistical nightmare. So, we too, can use the same modern equipment to do the same simple job. The difference is that we will have to accommodate our own railroad and develop the software and computers we need to run the operations on our railroad. This is what keeps model railroading interesting. Like to just watch trains run in a circle? Okay. Watch the passenger train that stops rarely and continues from point A to point B and back continuously. However, while the passenger train is running, the freight delivery must be accommodated and not interfere with the passenger train that has priority on the tracks. Your job now could be to move all those cars destined for delivery and pick up without holding up the passengers on the train trying to get to their destination on time. You also need to do your job in a timely fashion. The products you are delivering may be perishable or time sensitive so you cannot waste too much time or you will not only lose money, but business as well.

This is the concept of model railroad operations that has been epitomized by the model railroaders involved in RailRun in the Boston area.FUNTRAK members Lorenzo Franchi, John Fleming, Brian King, and fellow model railroader David King from Canada recently completed operations on four layouts during RailRun XXIV. FUNTRAK members have been fortunate enough to be involved in this extraordinary event since its inception and have enjoyed the camaraderie and excitement this provides each year. Now FUNTRAK is in the process of attempting to develop an operations schedule to use with the T-trak layouts created at shows. Come to our annual “Valley Rail Sights” show this month and see how we make out. Hope to see you there!

Brian

March is upon us and there is very little model railroad activity in the works. However, the future holds a lot of promise. The end of the month brings RailRun, an annual activity in the Boston area where many of the FUNTRAK club members have had the good fortune to be participants in the past. A number of the local model railroad layouts are opened up to a select group of modelers for operating sessions over a weekend at the end of the month. This year, Brian, along with club members Lorenzo Franchi and John Fleming, as well as our Canadian neighbor David King, have been invited to attend this event. This experience tends to excite the participants and often leads to many ideas about operating personal model railroads including club layouts. This makes for much more interesting train running when there is actually a purpose for the trains other than to just go in a circle.

FUNTRAK has attempted to incorporate this idea of operations into the T-trak displays. This has been a slow and arduous task, but progress is being made and hopefully will be more successful in the future. The RailRun experience should provide encouragement for club members to help develop more operational ideas to use in our club layouts when the opportunity arises. The idea of having a purpose has lead to the construction of specific modules that have particular industries on them to support railroad usage and encourage operations. With industry, schedules, and a purpose, it is easier to develop a plan for operations. DCC adds to the enjoyment of operations because this added feature allows trains to operate in a much more realistic fashion than having to accommodate conventional DC methods. It is more difficult to “block” a T-trak layout than to use DCC. The great advantage of T-trak is that no two setups ever have to be the same and the diversity of modules means operations will be ever changing to maintain more interest and challenge for operators.

With all of these things in mind, FUNTRAK has managed to keep ahead of the power curve by planning ahead in the design of many of the T-trak modules, anticipating the inclusion of the modules in a layout design to accommodate operations using the features mentioned. These considerations have made FUNTRAK‘s layouts both interesting and fun for both operators and viewers. The annual “Valley Rail Sights” club show coming up in April should prove to more fun than ever this year if many of these operational ideas are included when setting up the T-trak layout. Come on out and see how the club does in this endeavor.

Brian

Big Deal! Okay, maybe I’m a little cynical. I went to Springfield with Lorenzo, John, and my friend Wilbur on Saturday to see the largest train show in the East. Granted, this claim is most likely quite true. There were more people there than you can shake a stick at! Vendors were everywhere and layouts and trains were present in abundance. However, with everything so spread out, there seemed to be no order to anything. As large as this show is, it would seem that the people who set it up could find some common theme for each of the four buildings and arrange it so people could find things in a more organized fashion. How about by size? Say you put all the large scale stuff like G-scale, tinplate, Lionel, and S-gauge in one building. Put HO in another building along with the N-scalers. Then you could have scenery and electronic products in another building and finally, the miscellaneous items such as books and railroadiana in another building. At least this way, you wouldn’t have to travel to every building numerous times to find that one item that you knew you saw somewhere, just not where you remembered. After all, we model railroaders tend to be somewhat organized with our model railroads. We plan out routes, set up timetables, make switch lists, build benchwork to accommodate our track plan, and a myriad of other details that require relatively tight organization and order. Why not help us out with our shopping?

With organization in mind, FUNTRAK is preparing for this year’s upcoming railroad shows. The first big event will be in April when FUNTRAK hosts its annual “Valley Rail Sights” show at the Masonic Lodge in Ilion. Then comes the summer shows, many at Dave’s Diner in Schuyler, followed by the annual FUNTRAK PicNik, the Fonda Fair, Clayton, the annual awards banquet, Fulton, Syracuse, OCHS for Christmas, and other shows I am certain I have forgotten. At least we are planning to be organized and have some idea of where we are going.

So where has all my raving lead to? Less confusion makes for better model railroading for everyone. If you have a plan, you can reach your goal with perseverance and hard work. It will be much easier to achieve the success you are looking for if you are organized and it is a whole lot easier for others to help you when you need it if you have some idea of just exactly what it is you need help with. In spite of the lack of organization and order that I found in Springfield, I still managed to make to all four buildings and see most of the stuff that was there. Twice, anyway! I also find that I am much pickier than I used to be because I really don’t need many things anymore. I have most of the supplies I need, just not the time, ambition, or assistance I need to get started. It is my own fault, I realize, but recognizing that is a least a beginning for me. Now if I can just overcome these shortcomings, I’ll build the worlds greatest model railroad. Right! As the old Chinese proverb says, “The longest journey begins with the first step.” Let’s step on it!

Brian