Train Spotting

Craig's Running Session - 31 Dec 2016

This afternoon I ventured to Craig's place for a running session on his layout, Cassino.  I must say, this is the best session I have attended.  There were hardly any derailments, train break-aways, and other frustrations.
It really was a very enjoyable afternoon.  I had the pleasure of using the tiny 73 class loco to do some shunting at South Brisbane Interstate.  That was a real joy to complete.  Another job was to take the shunt train from Murwillumbah to Grafton, and shunt at various locations, picking up wagons on the way, including at Lismore and Old Casino.  Not thinking, I nearly picked up the wrong consist at Lismore and then left one wagon behind at Old Casino - I think that wagon was red-carded anyway due to coupling issues.

The best run came later, with a triple header consisting of a 48-45-48 class lashup.  This train originated at Fishermans Island and then continued south through Acacia Ridge, then to the final location of Grafton.
I had a very good run by Train Control all the way to Glenapp Loop where I was told I would be crossing a north bound freighter and what a cross it was! - As I was pulling into the loop, Barry was coming the other way with brakes on full and we crossed beautifully - with some paint coming off some of the container wagons as Barry's brakes were working on over-drive and just managed to screech to a stop!  As Anthony put it -  it was "the Cross of the century"

Afterwards, I had another cross after several nice runs through some more towns and loops.  This time I crossed Anthony on his paper train heading North at Fairy Hill.  After the cross I then brought the train down to Cassino and noticing the staff had been taken for the section ahead I had a nice break at Cassino.  This allowed me to take some snaps at the station.  I could hear the ALcos idling away as I waited line clear.  Then, the green stick (LED) was shown, meaning the section ahead was clear, notching the three beasts up to gain speed, I took the staff for the next section, slowly making my way towards our destination, Grafton.

And what a lovely experience that was - a truly wonderful experience on Cassino.  When things go right, it truly is a joy to operate on Cassino.

The above two photos show the shunting at South Brisbane Interstate using the small 73 class loco.

421 class is the motive power for the Shunt Train - here at Lismore to pick up some wagons for Grafton.

Lovely 421 class loco begins shunting at Lismore.

Triple Header for the Container Train which will head South.

Container train waiting at the Loop at Fairy Hill waiting to Cross Anthony on his Paper Train.

Waiting at Cassino for line clear as traffic is on the section ahead (Cassino - Rappville)

Session With Iain - 28 Dec 2016

Iain, whom I met at Anthony's running session, was kind enough to spend some of his time with me to run a session on my layout.
We began at about 13:30 hours and three hours later, we had completed the morning session of the timetable.

The first movement is a Light Engine from Serviceton which will provide the motive power for the Passenger ex "Dinboola".  We can see the X class positioned at the station.  The Y class shunt engine will back the passenger cars onto the X.  The passenger cars had been stabled "overnight"

With the X on road one and waiting departure time, we see the next movement arrive in the form of train No. 59 - a FAST goods from Melbourne.

The VLX box cars and wheat wagons will be shunted to the Flour Mill sidings, for the unloading of grain and loading of palletised flour.  The JX cement to the cement siding.  The other wagons will also be placed appropriately.  The shunt of this train will take up to 30 mins to complete.  (Craig will probably do in under 3 mins)

The time has come for the departure of the passenger and we see X35 leave for destinations east (Melbourne).

At about the same time, roadside goods no. 81 needs to be made up.  On this day, we have a small loading with two GYs in the consist and old Flat Top T333 doing the honours.

In the workshops, we find a SAR Guards Van (which belongs to Iain).  This created an interesting movement with the Y and Van just fitting onto the turntable.

Next on the scene, we see train no. 86, Through goods originating at Dinboola and bound for Ararat.  This is a sweeper service, collecting anything not required.

Following No. 86 we see no. 62 arrive from the west and terminate here at Dinboola.  Some loading will later continue heading east on train no. 142 Goods.

The Ararat to Serviceton Through Goods is next on the scene, today headed by a X class.  Usually, this freighter doesn't require much in the way of shunting, maybe dropping off a wagon or two.

We concluded the session with Goods No. 142, Dinboola to Ararat.  Unfortunately, the TW had left for the day so no photo was taken.

Iain did a very good job being his first time.  This morning session can be completed in about 1 hour 30 mins.

On Reflection...

On reflection, the session I had with Craig actually highlighted a few drawbacks with the Metropolitan theme and as such, I have abandoned that idea.  So it was back to thinking of what I could do with the layout I have now built.  At this point previously I would go about ripping up the layout and starting again.  However, I looked back and remembered the sessions I had with Anthony and looking back at my notes on why I had ripped up previous layouts, I had commented on the 'Dinboola" plan that staging was too short and  there was no long main line run.

Well, I thought, now I have these two short-comings rectified, why don't I go out and run the session again. I had kept the timetable in a plastic sleeve folder and begin with the first movement - a Light Engine from Serviceton to "Dinboola".  Two hours later and I couldn't bring myself out of the shed!  I was so engaged with the varied movements, and the mainline run with the odd shunting - I was having a ball!

I even found space for a turntable and a few roads.  Now, since I have staging on the lower deck, which is the longer run from top to bottom.  This is the run from "Dinboola" to Serviceton, with the much shorter run going the other way to Ararat.

So far this theme seems to be what I enjoy most so hope to stick to this concept.

This Afternoon

This afternoon, Craig joined me in running the sequence of events that constituted the operating session I had posted the previous time.

This part will look at the morning interstate freight arriving into the yard.  Then the yard pilot will make up a train consisting of the empty VLXs which will be shunted on a pilot run to Sadliers.

Initial view of yard before operating session begins

Below photo shows the oil pots at Shell which are currently being loaded and will be picked up later in the session.

Below we see the Pilot arrive at the yard for duties with the interstate goods from Adelaide arriving on road 3.

The Yard Pilot is ready to break up the train.

Below we see the first wagon to come off is the Guards van and the VLXs behind will be placed in front of the Van before proceeding to Sadliers to be loaded for the afternoon interstate run back to Adelaide.

The below shots shows the Van coming off and will be shuffled and placed at the rear of the VLXs.

A trip down the main line and we arrive at Sadliers for the shunt of the empties.  

Below we see the shunt into Sadlier take place with the Van on the Main road whilst shunting the empties back into Sadliers to be loaded.  The Y will need to hook up onto the van and bring it into road 2 then run around it.  Then it will proceed back to the yard.   

In the next blog post, we return to the yard, where the session will continue as per the sequence outlined in the previous post.

Thoughts on a Shunting Session

Below is a depiction of the layout with some industries which can be shunted on local Pilot jobs. In real life, these pilots would leave from Tottenham Yard in Western Melbourne and shunt some of the industries. Tottenham Yard was huge and many trains would terminate and be made up there.  It was only 1 station away from where I used to live in Sunshine, Victoria.

Anyway, last Sunday I was fully immersed and quite enjoyed executing the session outlined below.
The trains are obviously made up but it doesn't really deviate that much from what happened in real life, obviously all happened on a much larger scale.

Now before I start any scenery I need to make the decision - do I model the country or do I go for an industrial layout.  Both have their positives and minuses.

Below is what I executed on Sunday which took about 2.5 to 3 hours to complete.  I would like to get a couple of chaps over to execute the session to see what they think and get some feedback.  Craig, Darren, Geoff, Anthony and Mark are good candidates!

Two, possibly three operators - each outlined with the colour code below (Pilot Working and Shunt could be combined)

1. Freighter arrives this morning - Road 3 (Longest Road)
2. VLXs come off and go to Sadliers
3. Whence Return - Road 4 or Road 5 holds train for Geelong, hence empty JXs from (1) come off to be placed for Geelong Loading
4. From Road 4 or Road 5,  shunt off ELX (later to be used for Arc Eng) and place in spare road  - Geelong Goods departs
5. Grain or Jet
6. Ex staging, from Geelong with JXs in consist - arr. Road 4 - Loaded JXs to be shunted on evening freighter, other JX to be shunted to Boral with ELX as Pilot (step 7)
7. Trip train to Boral and ARC Eng.
8. Whence return Arrival from North - onto Road 2 - Any TWs to be off-loaded - split train keeping road 2 free.
9. Arrival from South - onto Road 2- Any TWs to be off loaded - keep Road 2 free - utilise stub-ended sidings.
10. Pilot to work Caltex with empties TWs from (8) and (9) - Need to take wagon to place in between Engine and Tank car- Bring back Sadliers and Loaded TWs
11. Whence return, make up Northbound goods with TW/s in loading then departs
12. Sadliers loading to be on Express Freighter then departs
13. Other TWs to be loaded on Southbound Goods then departs

Depicts Main Line Run

Depicts Pilot Working

Depicts Shunting

The following shows the schematic of the layout.

Layout Schematic

Got there at Last.

Well I am pretty happy with the track plan and layout as it currently is.  I got there at last!  It was a long journey.  How many times I built up and ripped up the layout, never satisifed or happy with what I had achieved.

Another modification I made last month was to move staging to now be behind and near the side wall rather than the front.  I thought why waste such a large area with a generous curve to staging and instead make this area a smallish town with its appropriately sized yard and station area such as Buangor in Western Victoria.  The added benefit with this is that I have another crossing loop which takes the number of loops to two.  The loss is the smaller alise space near the side wall - that will keep me motiviated to keep an eye on the waist line!

I still have the "main" town with shunting opportunities however since I have had this layout, I have simply enjoyed seeing trains run and crossing them and haven't really been inclined to shunt at all!
As I told you in an earlier post, this layout gives me a nice main line run.  I can even have distant / automatice signals at an accepatable range between the crossing loops and station areas.  It also gives me the enjoyment of different viewpoints and angles on the subject from dead straight on to 45Degrees to concave and convex.  This is a major departure from that straight side-on viewpoint I use to have.

Now I can work on this layout adding the extra details such as the station buildings, houses, track weathering, scenery etc, etc rather than rip up and rebuild yet another layout.
Some shots show the changes that were made during last month.

Above: Initially this was going to be staging

But staging now moved to the side/back - A waist check will be performed before entry to this area -  better watch the waist line! 

Below: Goods Shed moved to make way for a couple of industries shown lower.

Before we had staging :

and now with staging:

Some industries - still seems little too crowded?

Below: Branch Line on the right - forms the upper loop to watch them roll round:

Below: Former staging area now and previously:

Foam added to get away from that plywood flat look - playing with the idea

Below: previously staging here.