Operations
The layout is basically point to point. The prototype had a division point at Stevens Point. This is represented by a staging yard on the "west" end of the modeled railroad. Also the division point at North Fond du Lac is represented by a staging yard on the "south" end of the modeled railroad. The Soo Line also had a branch line from Neenah to Manitowoc on Lake Michigan where a connection was made with the Lake Michigan car ferries of the Ann Arbor and Pere Marquette (later C&O). This is represented by a short run to staging at the "east" end of the modeled railroad. The Soo Line operated one of the last mixed trains in the country on the line from Neenah to Argonne. This is represented by a short run to staging at the "north" end of the modeled railroad.
In general through trains bring cars from staging to the Neenah yard and pickup up cars going to staging. The Neenah Yard crews classify the inbound cars into Way Freights, Locals, and pickups for other through trains. The Way Freights and Locals proceed to the various towns on the layout and spot the cars according to the directions on the waybill / spotting orders.
Time Table
The railroad operates using a timetable derived from several 1960/61 era Soo Line Timetables. Most trains operating on the modeled railroad are on the timetable, but there are a few that are run as "extras". The primary purpose of the timetable, besides giving a prototype flavor is to sequence the trains in and out of staging. Currently operating with TimeTable No. 64 and Bulletin Order No. 1. The timetable is designed to be printed two-sided and folded vertically into a 4 1/4" x 11" booklet.
Rules
Just as the prototype needs rules to ensure safe and efficient operation, so does the model. The "rules" in my Mini Rule Book have been adapted from a New Haven rule book that I happened to have on hand. [If anybody has a 1955-1965 era Soo Line Rule Book they would like to part with, let me know!] A considerably abbreviated version of the complete book. The rule book is designed to be printed two-sided and folded vertically into a 4 1/4" x 11" booklet.
Train Instructions
The prototype crews do the same or similar job day after day, week after week, ...,year after year and so they are very familar with how each "job" gets worked. Since we only operate once a month or so, we tend to forget the sequence of events associated with running of a particular "job". So I have developed "train instructions" to "pass on" the knowledge of the "old" conductor.
Train Insturctions for "Freight" #29
Train Instructions for "Way Freight" #48
Train Instructions for "Winnebago Local"
Station Diagrams
Each station on the layout has a schematic track diagram posted on the fasia. [Well it will be when I install the fasia!!!] The diagram shows the "main" track, "running" track(s) if any and each industry and the spots located at those industries. Spots are numbered in increasing order from the switch to the end of track.
Here's the station diagram for Van Dyne, one of the smaller towns on the layout:
This shows the MAIN track, the House Track with spots 1 and 2, Felt Lumber with spots 1, ..., 4 and Oshkosh Chemical with spots 1 and 2.
Car Cards
Not really a car card, but a No. 1 coin envelope cut down to 2 1/4" x 2 1/4" so that one-half of a 2" x 4" Avery label can be stuck on the BACK, seam side, of the envelope. Cars are idenified primarily by their Road Name and Road Number. Additional info such as car type, length, description, paint scheme, etc. is also shown.
Here's a sample of Car Envelopes :
NOTE: In the next iteration of the Car Envelopes I will put the car number on the line BELOW the Reporting Mark and the AAR car type and length on the next line left justified as follows:
D&H
3426
LO 55
Waybills
The waybills control the overall movement of the car. These are 2 " x 3 1/2" cards cut from 8 1/2" x 11" sheets of white card stock, printed 10 to a sheet using the Avery business card template. The top line shows the Routing of the car by major station/interchange points. The destination station and destination industry indicate where the car is going next. For the most part each car has two destinations: One on the layout and the other in staging. Waybills are "flipped" ONLY during the restaging/setup process between operating sessions. NOTE: These waybills go with the car envelopes shown above.
The left waybill shows a car coming from staging, CHI / Chicago, to the on layout yard at NNH / Neenah, and finally to the on layout town of VAN / Van Dyne. It's a loaded covered hopper carrying road salt going to Oshkosh Chemical at Van Dyne. See Station Diagram above. The second move takes the car back to CHI.
The middle waybill shows a car also coming from the east end staging, CHI, but going to Oshkosh Box at Van Dyne. This will be spotted on the house track. The second move takes this car to a staging yard at MSH / Menasha. [More below on this waybill set.]
The right waybill show a car coming from one of the west end staging yards, SUP / Superior, routed through NNH to Van Dyne. A bulkhead flat with a lumber load. When this car is unloaded it will be routed back to NNH and then to SUP.
Some cars have three destinations. For example, a Boston & Maine box car comes on the active layout from CHI, the east end staging yard, as a load of Zylonite to Superior, one of the west end staging yards another staging yard. As the car returns empty from Superior it is "captured" at the Neenah yard and diverted to Winnebago to pick up a load of flour. The car now continues east to the CHI staging yard as a load. And the cycle begins again.
Some cars have four destinations. Really just two different on layout destinations, but the same off layout destination. For example, gondolas with scrap loads can go to either Neenah Foundry or Waupaca Foundry.
The SOO gondola above moves from the staging yard at MKE [physically located in the same area as CHI] to NNH and on to the Neenah Foundry in the "town" of Snells. When unloaded it moves back to NNH and MKE. On the next cycle it goes to Waupaca Foundry in the on layout town of Waupaca. When unloaded it moves back to NNH and MKE. And the cycle begins again.
And sometimes SIX moves:
This the continuation of the UP box from above. Move #2 takes the car to a staging yard, MSH / Menasha, thence back to NNH and the on layout town of WEY / Weyauwega, back to NNH and out to the on layout town of WAU / Waupaca, then to the on layout "town" of SNL / Snells and final back to CHI to start the cycle over again. This is a special car built by my son, Sudro. It has a man inside with a couple of boxes. After the car is spotted at each station the door is opened and the car sits for one session before moving on to the next destination. Cute...
There are some "temporary" green waybills used for moving cars out of the ordinary sequence that the regular waybill would show. For example, "Emptry" [grain] covered hoppers are "captured" at the Neenah yard and sent to the Readfield grain loading facility for loading. After the car is loaded a temporary green waybill is inserted in front of the regular waybill. Since the temporary green waybill has the same destination as the regular waybill, when the car arrives at the destination, one of the staging yards, the temporary green waybill is removed and the car continues its movement as shown on the regualr waybill.
Here's a sample of "temporary" green waybills used for movement of cars out of the grain loading facility at Readfield. These are used in conjunction with an Empty Car Order described below.
The green waybills are also used to control the movement of most ice bunker reefers on the railroad.
Spotting Orders
Perhaps unique to the WCRY are the spotting orders. These Yellow 2" x 3 1/2" cards are placed in front of the waybill and show the exact spot at which the car will be placed. There is only ONE spotting order for each physical spot on the visible layout. These are added during the restaging/setup process to help balance traffic to/from the various industries on the layout and provide for some intra industry moves.
Here's the CCWB and Spotting Order just before "mating" during the restaging/setup process:
And just after the Spotting Order is inserted into the Car Envelope during the restaging/setup process:
The Car Envelope and Spotting Order combination is what the "Way Freight" and local crews see and work with.
Here's a sample of spotting orders for two of the industries at Van Dyne:
NOTE: The Spot locations are shown on the Station Diagram a couple of sections above.
The Spotting Order on the left is for any car except a bulkhead flat and can be spotted on either spot 1 or 2.
The Spotting Order in the middle is for a bulkhead flat and can be spotted on either spot 3 or 4.
The Spotting Order of the right is for a covered hopper and must be spotted on spot 2.
Empty Car Orders
There are also some "Empty Car Order" bills which have the same format and use as a "Spotting Order". These are used to divert an empty car for "on layout" loading. The difference is that when the car becomes "loaded" the "Empty Car Order" is removed and replaced with a green waybill appropriate to the destination of the car.
Here's a Car Envelope, original waybill, Empty Car Order and temporary green waybill for an empty car captured in the Neenah yard for loading at the Waupaca Foundry. After loading the car will be forwarded to the destination on the temporary green waybill which is in the same staging yard as the desitination on the permanent white waybill.
On the left is the car envelope and associated waybill for an EMPTY car in the Neenah yard. During the restaging process the yellow "Empty Car Order" is placed in front of the white waybill. The car is then routed to the Waupaca Foundry spot 2. When the car is "loaded" the yellow "Empty Car Order" is removed and the temporary green "waybill" is placed in front of the white waybill. When the car arrives in Chicago, a staging yard, the temporary green waybill is removed and the car continues on it's original routing.
Freight Train blocking
NOTE: This section is not important to normal operators of the layout but might be of some interest to those trying to set up their own operating schemes.
In the discussion which follows:
MSP / Minneapolis is the staging yard at the WEST end of the railroad.
NNH / Neenah is the on layout yard.
CHI / Chicago is the staging yard at the EAST end of railroad.
Each "Freight" train has an engine, five blocks and a caboose. A "Freight" train from Chicago to Minneapolis would have these blocks:
ENG || Reefer || NNH || CHI-1 || MSP-2 || TOFC || CAB
Where:
ENG is the engine
Reefer is a one car reefer block to be set out at NNH
NNH is a 7 car block to be set out at NNH
CHI-1 is a 7 car block from CHI to MSP
MSP-2 is a 7 car block from CHI to MSP
TOFC is a 1 car block that will be set out at NNH
CAB is the caboose
When the train arrives at NNH it will set out the Reefer, NNH and TOFC blocks and pick up a new 1 car Reefer block, a 7 car MSP block and a 1 car TOFC block. Upon arrival at Minneapolis the freight is now blocked as:
ENG || MSP || CHI-1 || MSP-2 || TOFC || CAB
During the restaging process the train is reversed and the:
MSP block becomes the MSP-1 block
CHI-1 block becomes the CHI-2 block
MSP-2 block becomes the NNH block
So the blocking now looks like this:
CAB || TOFC || MSP-1 || CHI-2 || NNH || Reefer || ENG
When the "freight" arrives at NNH it will set out the Reefer and NNH blocks and pick up a new 1 car Reefer block and a 7 car CHI block. Upon arrival at Chicago the freight is now blocked as:
CAB || TOFC || MSP-1 || CHI-2 || CHI || Reefer || ENG
During the restaging process the train is reversed and rearranged a bit so the:
MSP-1 block becomes the MSP-2 block
CHI-2 block become the NNH block
NNH block becomes the CHI-1 block
The next Chicago to Minneapolis train is now blocked as:
ENG || Reefer || NNH || CHI-1 || MSP-2 || TOFC || CAB
So what does all this have to do with an individual car as it moves across the layout? Suppose a car on spot 1 at the Van Dyne House Track is ready to move. That is, the spotting order has been removed and the white waybill is "flipped" to the next movement.
Sess#1: The "way freight" picks up this car and takes it to NNH.
Sess#2: The "freight" picks up the car and takes it to CHI as part of CHI block
Sess#3: The "freight" takes the car to MSP as part of the CHI-1 block
Sess#4: The "freight" takes the car to CHI as part of the CHI-2 block
Sess#5: The "freight" takes the car to NNH as part of the NNH block
Sess#6: The "way freight" takes the car toVan Dyne and spots it on the House Track
It is actually a bit more complicated since we run an AM session and a PM session. So the "freight" that picks up the car in Sess#2 doesn't actually move the car to MSP until Sess#4. A similar delay occurs in MSP and again in CHI. So there are three OpSess when the car doesn't move. Therefore, it is actually Sess#9 before the car is returned to Van Dyne and Sess#10, 11, 12... before it begins the cycle again. Since we operate once every four or five weeks, it takes a car 40-50 weeks to make a round trip on the layout.
I "randomly" select the cars to be picked up by the "way freight" during the restaging process based in part on the cars coming into the town/industry. I generally select 25% to 50% of the cars in a town for movement or on average about 1 of every 3 cars in a town.
Implications: 1) A single two-move waybill per car that stays with the car is quite adequate. 2) The car fleet needs about 7 - 10 cars for EACH spot on the layout.