More Mock Up Buildings and Some Track Realignment

Part of my overall track laying strategy was to temporarily lay track then revise after operating and fitting in buildings. This process continues on the stretch of track at the docks on the 6th and 7th Street piers.

I moved the switch back at 7th St to be able to get the two tracks into the pier headhouse. Of course, there are conflicting accounts in different maps about the exact arrangement - but I'm over that, and I am comfortable taking my best shot at the most prototypical and operationally optimal arrangement. 

Original configuration:

And here's the track with switch moved back and the warehouse with four 40' car capacity.

I also mocked up Campbell Stores at the adjacent 6th St pier to the left and the East Asiatic Import/Export Company (long warehouse) to the right. Some issues with viewing cars and such, of course, so some trial operating will need to be done. The East Asiatic warehouse is especially a problem, so some sort of cut away representation may be in order.

At Campbell Stores, dock doors provide a target spot for operators from the inside. An interesting view point as well as an opportunity to model the interior of the building. Not sure how to handle the section cut yet. 

Along River Road and Hudson Streets, there are several multistory rowhouses that will essentially provide a view block. Because of compression of space, these particular ones will probably represent different buildings on each side. 

Op session no.7

We had a great visiting crew last weekend for the largest operating session, yet. Nine operators put the railroad through their expert paces. Some minor hiccups, but nothing catastrophic, so I will count that as a success.

Most (all?!) played the Brakeman! game with the newly created action figures:

The Brakeman! game is about modeling the actions of the train crew. If there is an action like throwing a switch, uncoupling or coupling a car, unlocking a gate, etc., there must be one of the crew on the ground within an uncoupling tool's length in order to perform that action. In conjunction with momentum and braking in effect on the locomotive, this slows operations down a lot.

Following are some candid shots from the session:

Keith Jordan and Lance Mindheim debate the merits of something. I think we decided the world would survive.

Tom Pearson repairs several cars in place while Denny Taylor and Larry Sternberg switch the Docks Job. Jim Diaz and Kirk Baer work the Float job. 

Chuck Hitchcock and Tom Lawler figure out the HBS yard - the hardest job on the layout...?

Maneuvering the slip switch ladder in the middle of the HBS Yard. 

Kirk eyes the next move while Jim drops float cars in the float yard.

At Maxwell House Coffee Plant: "I'm pretty sure that car goes here." "Are you really sure?" "My brakeman doesn't want to walk all the way over there unless you are sure."

Denny guides Larry to the American Export docks.

"Maxwell House has too many outbound cars for this little 44-tonner." 

Paul Dolkos weighs in on the serious discussion. 

Later that same day... the yard crew at Tommy Holt's was Kirk, Keith and Paul. The GGM, AP, EXP trick in the schedule went really smoothly. No switching on Diner Siding (Tommy was looking), but eastbound trains did depart through there to keep the B Lead clear. It was a really smooth session and everyone left with all of their fingers and toes.

Op session No.6

A quick recap of op session no.6:

Mike Barrett at 27th Street clears the car float, then fills it up again.

The Harlem Station after Barrett's completion of work before he moved over to 27th St. 

Steve Jackobs heads out of the yard to switch the HBS industries.

David Petersen (left) and Steve Jackobs (right) dropping their pickups in the HBS Yard.

Barrett, Jackobs, Petersen were on shake down duty operating the new 27th Street Lehigh station, Erie Harlem and the HBS industry jobs, but no yard this time. This was a last minute gig that conflicted with a large train show an hour away, so I didn't expect to get a lot of takers, but I needed to have trains run to find some more problems before the next session. The original idea was to have a stress test since I can now handle 11 people, which is what I was gearing up for the following weekend.

No big surprises, and mostly it confirmed work load balancing and how much time it takes to complete jobs. After this is was back to work on converting another locomotive to battery power, adding a car float and a bunch of battery charging for the next session...

Viewer mail: Switch list generation

From a response I gave to a fellow industrial switching devotee's email question about how I handle generating switch lists on the PoNY. I thought some others may be interested as well:

For my switch lists, I simply walk around and make them up prior to a session. My railroad is small enough that there is no need to involve a computer or car cards. My mantra is "simplicity". I am a designer/architect and was by profession/am at heart an academic, and one of my favorites in that world is John Maeda who used to head MIT's design research lab and wrote about the Laws of Simplicity.

For my layout, I try to make everything as simple as possible. Battery power means no wiring, no track cleaning, no shorting, no etc. The prototype I chose means no signalling, CTC panels, telephones or radios, etc. Then, I am trying to be really rigorous by choosing no car cards and only using switch lists, not having a double deck, no hidden staging, no dcc, no plug in throttles, etc.

So for filling out the switch lists, I know which spots take what kind of car and how many. I have an idea of the traffic flow I want to create. My operator jobs are compartmentalized, and I don't use car cards, so the process takes only as long as it takes me to write the lists. Now the yard is something I have not quite worked out, yet. 

I don't want car cards, and unfortunately, those are very helpful in a yard as they are physical, self-correcting, and have a one-to-one relationship with the actual car, etc. I am trying to use wheel report sheets kept in real time by the Yardmaster who then makes up switch lists from there. I have the "staging" area, which is just Erie yard tracks that connect to the HBS, on one sheet by track with all the cars listed. Then as they are brought into the interchange yard, they are written on the sheet according to what track they get put on. Ideally, the cut of cars should come with its own switch list from the Erie operator. I'm still working this procedure out.

Wheel report sheet for the HBS (above).

Interchange wheel report sheet (above). The Erie tracks at the bottom are "staging" and the 4 tracks shown are the interchange yard. The idea is that the Erie operator and the HBS YM will jointly use this sheet to move cars back and forth between railroads.

Once in a track in the interchange yard, the YM can make up a drill order for his yard crews to sort the cars. Then they get put on a classification track for later, or in a track being made up for one of the local jobs. Once that is accomplished, the yard wheel report sheet is updated, and a switch list for the train is made up that the conductor will take with him on the job. When the car reaches ts destination, it sits until it happens to move according to my balancing the work of each operator job. 

As mentioned, jobs are compartmentalized, so traffic flow is first and foremost about a single operator's work. The consequences are felt in the yard, of course, but in a session, not too much can really go wrong, because there is enough room in the yard for the traffic, and we operate so slowly, that we have yet to really test the flow of cars on and off the railroad to the Erie. Crews are having enough to handle with the industry switching. I expect this to change as operators get more experience, but because operations are so slow, I doubt there will be problems.

I am having a session in September with lots of experienced operators visiting from all over, so that will be a good test. It will also be the most operators here at once - 11. So far I have only hosted 8 maximum. I do have another pocket terminal completed (pictures coming) that adds two operators without affecting the rest of the layout, so I am not anticipating any particular new problems...

Op Session No.3

Op session No.3 on the PoNY is in the books. Tom Pearson drove down from Fort Worth, and George Zapalac and Steve Jackobs (part of the South Austin cartel) attended. George and Steve handled the line jobs out in the Docks, the Float Yard, Bethlehem Steel Shipyard and Maxwell House. The session started with a brief introduction for the rookies.

In my briefing, I try to do three things: set the mies en scene using maps, images and descriptions of intent, provide practical information about taking care of crew necessities (where's the restroom, drinks and chairs), and set operating expectations. I explain my 'thesis' for the layout, which is the central organizing element for everything on the layout.

I want the operators to get a feel for the everydayness of this particular place. It is not about solving puzzles (although there are plenty of switching puzzles throughout), it is not about stress from timetables (we essentially have a 1:1 clock), external expectations or conflicting movement, it is not about finishing first. In fact, I state tongue in cheek that the first person to finish their assignments 'loses'. In other words, slow down and become intimate with what is happening on the layout, your locomotive, and your fellow operators.


It is a game, but we are not moving abstract pieces around a two-dimensional game board, we are re-enacting / recreating the people who actually lived and worked here and their activities that actually happened in order to understand them both better. The culmination of these three goals of the briefing is to offer several ways of playing the game to best fit the skill level and interests of the participants.

Each locomotive is set up to have momentum and braking, and we use switch lists (no car cards anywhere), which becomes a baseline of playing. Beyond that, the individual can choose how prototypically they play they wish to play the game. The next level up from the base line is to use horn and bell properly. Then employing brakemen like wargaming miniatures to further immerse the operator into the people and pace of the place we are simulating. There are certain rules being developed for this part.

To start with, all switch and coupler actions must occur with a brakeman on the ground at that location. A brakeman may ride on cars or locomotive, and they can perform tasks within the radius of a long bamboo skewer uncoupling tool. They may also walk, but their movement is decidedly slow, and they get grumpy if continually asked to do this. I leave it up to the individual and their conscience on how to treat their crew. At this time, we use yellow wire nuts, but later these will be scale figures with accommodating bases and handles to be able to move them around easily.


The next level up on the operating realism scale includes pauses for brake hose connections, interactions with customers, etc. At this point, ,whatever the crew decides, but later a more detailed and explained menu of items will be provided. Another layer will be layout-provided as I get around to implementing ideas. These will include gate locks, perhaps customer interactions, loading and unloading timing, the car float movement, weighing cars at the scale, refueling locomotives, etc.

Employing an entire prix fix menu of all of these items would increase 'play density' by at least double in my projection. At this point it becomes clear that there are more things modeled about the railway operations beyond moving the cars than the actual movement of the cars themselves. Again, the point of all of this is to feel what it was like to be a railroader at this particular place - not just to complete a puzzle as fast as possible. And time plus the 'play density' equation should yield much more satisfaction of quality of experience over a quantified satisfaction of moving "x" number of cars and finishing fast. I understand that this is tantamount to a treasonous, un-American way of thinking these days, but it is all about 'how' the railway is operated, not about the amount of cars moved.

The line jobs took about 45 minutes each making 5-6 drops and 5-6 car pick ups. That's spending about 4.5 minutes moving each car and moving 20 cars a session. The reason for the extended play time with so few car movements is the braking and momentum settings on the locomotives at this point, but will be considerable extended when more menu items are added. If memory serves, Tommy Holt and David Barrow have talked about an operator moving 4 times as many cars in one of their sessions. I'll need to double check this figure. David is slowly introducing momentum and braking to his locomotives with varying degrees of acceptance by crew, but the effect will be to lengthen an operating session while moving the same amount of traffic.

In the yard, Tom serviced the 14th Street industries first, then fiddled the Erie and interchange yards. He employed the line engineers on occasion in the yard to help make moves before sending them back out on their way. On the HBS, I am encouraging this amongst the assigned jobs, so it is not about the jobs, but it is about the cooperation and the teamwork involved in keeping a busy short line moving their customers' goods quickly and efficiently. This approach is informed by how the railroad actually operated as told by employees.

From interviews by others, I have learned that there were some pretty interesting moves made in the yards with two switchers working together. Known as Broadway Yard (the HBS tracks) and Delaware Yard (the Erie tracks), the interchange between the two railroads involved some interesting moves made possible by the interstitial double slip spring switch ladder found in the HBS yard. There are also descriptions of pole switching in tight quarters on some short run around sections. I have yet to dig into it to figure out where this occurred. I wonder how one would model pole switching. Surely someone has done this already. Let me know who!

In the de-briefing session, I asked for anything that annoyed or disrupted the quality of the experience. Aside from a shockingly small number of technical issues, there were no complaints. It was noted that the slower pace was decidedly different than other local operating session styles, and that this was welcomed. The locomotives performed amazingly well, and at one point Steve asked how I kept my track so clean since he had experienced no stalls. He actually caught himself before saying this out loud realizing that the locomotives were battery powered, but he asked it anyway for a good laugh line.

The trailing battery car did not bother anyone, and all agreed that when they become enclosed and prototypical cars, it won't be any issue at all. Even now, everyone says they stop seeing the exposed wires and battery in very short order.

I deem this session a success. Lots more on the horizon, but I am totally comfortable and

satisfied at this point. I'll discuss more about the actual jobs and train movements in a future post. 

Tsunami Braking Settings

Around here, we have been getting into using the braking function of our decoders. This is mainly a result of our operating session experience in Kansas City with Chuck Hitchcock and Kevin Lyerle who, along with Keith Robinson, have been playing around with this for a while now. 

My first locomotive to use braking functions was HBS 701, which I input CV values in manually using my CVP AirWire throttle. Consequently, I have poor records of that set up, but I like it. Since then, I purchased a booster board from SoundTraxx so I can read the settings off of the Micro Tsunami going through a Digitrax Zephyr command station.

In the meantime, I have spent a couple of hours dialing the HBS 601 (an HH660 by Atlas) using the greatest gift to DCC since, well, DCC was invented, the JMRI programming application. I've now got no. 601 dialed in with a not-too-annoying momentum and braking setup that shouldn't bug operators who are not used to it. I've posted the settings below in case anyone is interested. I still have some tweaking to do once the locomotive gets broken in, and we operate with it some to get a real feel for how it responds under actual operating conditions.

Let me know what you like - I'm interested in the range of likes and dislikes having to do with braking, momentum and the accompanying sounds.

HBS Yard Change

Plan showing areas of reconsideration

Proposed changes in track arrangement

Sometimes you have to kill ideas that you hold near and dear. When I started this project, the Erie Railroad held a large portion of the focus with Croxton Yard's being the generator of all the traffic on the layout. The latest plan called for only the Weehawken Yard to provide traffic to the HBS, and in a previous version, I was thinking about replacing Croxton with Jersey City (maybe an expansion over the desk area later?). I've been researching the Erie for several years now, and it still garners a lot of my research efforts, but it may be time for it to go from the main part of my layout. (I still will have Erie and other pocket yards.)

Operating areas

While looking at the space dedicated to each operating job, I noticed that there was going to be an overlap in space if two people were to try to operate the HBS yard. While the Erie Weehawken Yard would have enough space, I am eliminating it in this iteration to concentrate the layout on the HBS. This will allow me to keep the closet, which I can't decide is appealing because I am lazy or because it seems like a good idea to have a closet. Losing the Erie operation is a difficult decision, but the difficulty actually indicates it is the right choice. I will still have an Erie switcher at the interchange.

At this point, I can have 5 operating spots on the layout that are pretty well out of the way of the others. There are two in the yard and three out on the main line. These jobs can be handled by 4-6 operators (two yard and two main line trains of 1 or 2 man crews). I also plan to have one pocket yard just outside the main room with 1-2 operators there. Max 8 spots, but optimal number is 5 operators. From recent experience, finding 5-6 operators is really the most that can be comfortably found on any given night in Austin.

The job duties:

Yard Master - In charge of the railroad. Dispatches industry jobs and assigns duties to Yard Switcher. Handles interchange with Erie, makes up inbound and outbound traffic on east side of the yard.

Yard Switcher - Helps Yard Master as needed, switches 14th Street industries and piers.

Industry Switchers - Load and unload Lackawanna car float as well as serve Bethlehem Steel, Maxwell House and the Docks as needed. I am thinking there will probably be two trips to each area during each session by different people.

Pocket terminal - Operates car float to and from yard. Possibly two trips per session. Pocket terminal will rotate from session to session.

So, with Erie dreams scaled back (at best postponed), I've got some odds and ends to do on the bench work before I can start laying track on the HBS "soon."

Erie in New York Harbor 1929

PoNY Marine Shops Deliver Carfloater™ Prototype

In July of 2012 the PoNY RR Marine Shops proposed an operating carfloat service for interchange operations between pocket terminals. Today the Shops delivered the first working prototype for sea trials in the Port of New York.

Built using an old Metro Shelving TV cart, this first prototype of the Carfloater™ is manual drive with 4 large diameter swiveling rubber casters. The top portion that holds the car floats is constructed of lightweight pine 1x4s and oak 2x2 uprights, and it is affixed to the metal cart top with clamps. The upper portion is adjustable at the moment while the marine standards for the layout are being developed. The temporary float bridge at 149th (the white foam core) will be replaced with a Frenchman River float bridge that is to be installed "soon."

The large cart casters allow the float to easily navigate the carpet, and it is smooth enough that there is no fear of toppling the cars during careful movements at this point. A system for securing the cars on board needs to be developed. Later, the float carrier portion will be wider and modeled as harbor water, which will provide a place for sideways toppling cars to land instead of falling all the way to the floor. This prototype is designed to allow for up to a 36" long car float, and a locking mechanism will be developed during the testing period securing it for transfers.

All I need is a place for the Carfloater™ to sail back and forth to. In the operating scheme, traffic will be dispatched from Jersey City (this is a recent change from the originally planned modeling of Croxton yard) where there will be three lift bridges - no waiting! Jersey City could be thought of as a working staging yard, as this will be the main connection to the rest of the Erie and the United States. Until that is built, this gives me some push to start on the next pocket yard.

Sea trials are scheduled to begin later in the week and continue throughout the summer months.

Existing 149th car float slip.

An old Metro Shelving TV cart, some scrap lumber, screws and a few clamps are the only ingredients.

The temporary foam core float bridge is the only grade at the 1-4-9. A rail on the near track popped up from the ties shortly after installing and has been a rather rude bump while servicing floats. I'm looking forward to the new float bridge as much for eliminating the bump as for getting rid of the white foam core.

The existing car float landing is a piece of 1x4 cantilevered from the bench work providing a precarious perch for a wooden car float model. This 5 minute Jerry-rigged solution has actually worked pretty well.

The upside down float stand being drilled and screwed.

Two oak upright posts with a 1x4 serving as a car float pad. Clamps secure the posts allowing for height adjustment during sea trials and to the cart since this won't be a permanent member of the marine roster. The stand actually made a pretty good work bench while constructing the float carriage, so it may be re-purposed afterward.

There is a little warpage on the top piece simulating how the harbor can get a little choppy on windy days...

The existing float bridge track is laid to match the first float I acquired. You guessed it, this doesn't match the Frenchman River models' standards. Not sure if I simply can't use this nice scratch-built float anymore or if I try to modify it. My fear is that the eBay gods will be getting an offering at some point.

View from downstream. There is plenty of length for a three foot float.

Looking down the sights.

Overhead view of the 6-car scratch-built (by others) float. This is actually a pretty good size for the 149th street operations. Having 2-4 more cars to unload and load on a larger float might get tricky due to track lengths in on shore.