Anyway...Aside from revising the industrial section in Quotidian I have been operating the AE portion of the track plan. It has been interesting and a great learning experience. I now understand completely why other model railroaders use some form of car routing system. Just swapping a car from the train to a siding tends to get confusing after a while. It would be nice to know what car was supposed to go where.
So despite not having a routing system in place trains are still running on the track plan. In this video an eastbound peddler freight is making it's way to East End. The first stop is Owertown, where a load must be picked up and empties set out. Coming out of Average, however, the locomotive must battle a 4.5% grade. While this is easy enough on a two dimensional track plan, it will definitely be an issue on the real thing. I have no idea on whether a Bachmann Consolidation, Spectrum or otherwise, can handle a train on such a slope. This could be a major deal breaker if it doesn't pan out.
Once the train reaches Owertown the first order of business is to pick up a load. The boxcar in question sets behind another car that will need to moved out of the way. The crew picks up both cars and leaves the boxcar on the passing siding. The other car gets put back where it belongs. The loco backs out of the siding and grabs the boxcar. It returns to the train and couples the boxcar to the front. The engine runs around the train and grabs the caboose and the last two cars. These are set out at the grain elevator. The loco returns the caboose to the end of the train and runs back to couple up to the headend and head east to Alpha
The train passes Alpha without stopping. The cement plant is usually switched by the westbound peddler because of the facing point turnout. Its a long lefthand curve and a right hand sweeper to arrive at Quotidian to await our next adventure...
Regards,
Frank Musick
Building a dream layout on a nightmare budget
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The Average Eastern Railroad
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