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Operations
on the WWV. . .
I only have spotty
information on how the WWV actually operated, and with my track
arrangement so different from the prototype—an issue to be corrected on
the next WWV layout, whenever that is—it really makes no sense to try to
emulate the prototype that closely. Currently, we operate the WWV
with two crews:
-
The UP
interchange crew (often the layout owner, who also plays WWV
Yardmaster/General Manager), which delivers cars to WWV around 8am and
switches Potlatch mill under a joint access agreement with the WWV; and
-
The WWV crew,
which goes on duty between 0630 and 0900, handling UP and NP interchange,
spotting and pulling industries as instructed, and delivering cars to
interchange connections ahead of published cut-off times.
WWV often calls a
second crew during peak season; with crews called at 700 and around 1100.
The crew which
handles the UP interchange job will often come back on duty as the second
WWV crew. The first WWV crew switches the cannery and work along "produce
row," while the later WWV job switches Potlatch and industries along the
alley, provides a last switch to the cannery and delivers interchange
cars. It's usually enough to keep two crews busy for an actual two ("fast
clock" eight) hours.
The
Timetable. . .
Any information
you can provide crews--about the layout, the railroad even to set an
era--is helpful, so II've created a
four-page timetable for the WWV in Word, which you can view
here. Note some of the additional
instructions for creating a "prototypical feel" in our model switching.
Creating an
operating session. . .
Operations are
currently conducted using hand-written switch lists. The car cards which
were used on the earlier WWT have been set aside for now to get a better
feel for operating with lists. The lists certainly have a
“railroady” feel to them, and they’re definitely easier to handle. My main
objection to car cards on a layout as small as the WWV is that all cars
are either going to or coming from the UP or the NP; there’s no large
number of destinations or origins to be concerned with, and lists provide
a much simpler solution. The downside of handwritten switch lists,
however, is the time it take to set up a session.
The operating
sessions are set up by the Yardmaster (usually me, the layout owner), by
drawing up a “will run” list showing the cars currently
on spot, and their destination. Next step is to create an “inbound
scenario” for traffic. This can be accomplished several ways:
-
just by “feel”
(the YM “feels like” 6 cars will come from the UP this day, three of them
reefers for the prune co-op, the rest RBL’s for the cannery) -- this is
the method I most often use;
-
by “orders for
cars” by shippers, as done by a modeler of the Yakima Valley, Ed Novit of
Chicago;
-
by a
spread-sheet traffic generator which will randomly generate inbound
traffic based on weighted values for each shipper and type of traffic;
-
or by attempting
duplicate the randomness of the
spread sheet program with a throw of a dice and drawing of cards, with am
assigned value relating to how many cars will be handled.
I have used a 20-sided
dice purchased at a "Dungeons and Dragons"-type gaming store. Each number on the dice matches
an entry on a written table representing how many cars are coming in off
interchange. The dice is rolled once for each railroad; table numbers off
the NP are weighed more heavily towards 6-7 cars per session; on the UP,
3-5 cars.
The number rolled
on the table will determine how many cards are pulled from a randomly
shuffled stack of cards. On the back of each card is written an industry
or car spot. On some cars, car types are specified. Some industries
receive cars only from NP or UP, and this is marked as well. The stack of
cards numbers around 150; all shippers or consignees have more than one
card; the larger shippers will have proportionally more cards. I’m still
tweaking with the card stack to ensure the random selection doesn’t
totally freeze out the largest, most important shippers during a session.
It’d not be good business during the busiest time of the year to not have
any cars for your largest shipper! Ideally, a mix of regular standing “car
orders” from large shippers and random rolls of the dice and card plucks
for smaller, less frequent shippers might be the best solution.
The number of
inbound cars and their destination now determined, the Yardmaster can
finish filling out the “will run” sheet to determine what inbound cars are
needed, then start “building” the trains in the respective staging yards.
The car drawers are rummaged through to provide an appropriate selection
of cars, then placed to the staging yards. The yardmaster then fills out
the switchlist, adding car number and type, car location, and destination,
for each car on the layout. Some cars are “pulls” or respots, and these
are so marked. The Northern Pacific interchange is set up on tracks 1 and
2 in Valley Yard; empties--generally boxcars, flats and RBL’s--held on
tracks 3 and 4 are to be used in filling outbound orders from WWV
shippers.
The Union Pacific
interchange is set up similarly, but information on the inbound UP cars is
included on a “turnover sheet” from the General Manager. This sheet (link)
is a synopsis of pertinent operating information such as track
restrictions, requests from shippers for time-sensitive or multiple
switches, mention of cars requiring special handling (multi-spots, holds,
or “stop” cars) and a listing of inbound UP interchange cars, their
contents, and destinations.
Using the
timetable and fascia maps for reference, and with switch list and
“turnover sheet” in hand, the WWV crew can hit the road ready for a day of
switching which usually flies by at a 4:1 ratio. |
The layout comes to life
during an operating session. Using switchlists, operators like Matt
Zebrowski emulate the car movements found on prototype railroads. Here
Matt switches the Potlatch mill while operating the UP Switcher. Paperwork used on the
WWV: A "will run" sheet, filled out to order inbound cars; a hand-written
switch list; timetable with operating information. |
