Model Railroading

Model Railroading

Because of the holiday, My brother was unable to come over this week and I really did not get to do much of anything in the train room.

Sunday, we talked trains while we were working wood.

Our discussion was on how the railroad should be operated. We explored nearly a couple dozen ways to move the cars around the layout, and even where on the map the different sidings should be, which would effect the operations of the layout.

WE came to one big conclusion. We have one well designed track plan (layout). It fit every operation option we explored and there are more we could come up with if we put our minds to it, or were willing to go more complicated.

Our track plan is based on moving and placing cars, switching, and not just seeing trains run around the track in circles. We can do that, but that is not what our layout was really designed for.

Watching or listening to trains run laps is soothing and calming, but it does not keep you interacting with the railroad. The trick to keep a model railroad layout alive is to get you constantly interacting with it when you are around it. That is where switching comes in handy. You are not watching trains run, you are actually part of the action, making decisions, dealing with simple problems. It becomes challenging.

One can look at a model railroad like a game, where you design and build the game board (the track plan) and you then make up the rules at which the game can be played.
What we found to make things minimum interesting, was to choose a start point on your railroad, and make up your train. Write on a piece of paper where each car will be dropped off on the layout. Then look over the layout and write down which cars will be picked up. then run your train, swapping the cars as you go. You make sure other cars you are not taking, go back to the spot they were at.
You will find yourself with a challenging game. Cars will not be where you want them to be, and you might have to stop and figure out which car is going where.

One can get complicated on the switching, where you have trains running by, following clock time, having trains meet to exchange passengers and cars, have cards made that tell each car a destination and then where to go from there. We could change the order that our sidings are visited, how many laps one does between stops, Whether we run one train with one of us as the engineer and the other as the conductor making the decisions on the moves or each running separate trains.
A well designed track plan allows one to explore every one of these decisions as they come to you.

I have explored many hobbies over the years. Except for Woodworking, in which sales pays for the tools, model railroading is the cheapest hobby when one divides the costs over the pleasurable hours and years the materials will last.
I have a saying for every other hobby I have been involved in. "I need to get into something cheaper like diamond or gold collecting.”