by brockwaythemusician
I'm in between the planning and building stages of my model railroad and thinking ahead to operations. The premise of my operations is the importance of shortlines to Class I railroads so mainline railroading is actually LESS important in my operations than that of the smaller roads. I have also been a subsrciber of 22 years to Model Railroader Magazine (since the age of 5) so I've done a lot of reading on how other operate their layouts. I have read, understand, and have used switchlsits and car cards on previous models to "portray realism", which has lead to my predicament:
It seems that whether the railroad be freelanced or prototypical, it is impossible to get away from a "utopian" operating scheme. There are always tons of businesses that need rail service, trains are long, yards are full, and operations are always at a "best case scenario". Some model railroaders operate "progressively" and retire equiptment and close business, but beacuse they chose to.
I too plan to "progressively" age my railroad, beginning in 1980 and working towards present day. My railroads centers around a junction with a Class I railroad where a Class II a Class III and a scenic railroad meet with a second Class III railroad spurning off the class II railroad in the middle of the line. The class II also has trackage rights on the Class I's tracks to a seperate industrial location. During that time several of the shortlines changed operators for a variety of reasons, lack of business, lawsuits, poor operations, bankruptcy, etc. This has left me with two choices, either accept the fact that certain lines change ownership (even with he utopian style shipments coming in and out) or find a way to model a lawsuit... the first which seems ridiculous, and the second which seems even more ridiculous.
--- Growing up with board games like Axis and Allies, Risk, and computer games like Civilization reminded me that what actually drives the shipments on railroads is competition: between other railroads, between buses and trucks, right down to the businesses in this country with those overseas. And since the people I will be operating are more "competition minded" than "railroad minded" I feel that that this is the way I should go. Therefore, each railroad will get its own operator which is competing for business against the others. I am working on computer generated consists that will use formulas to generate traffic to each railroad based on real data. Operators will not only be in charge of their deliveries and "typical model railroad operations", but also be in charge of keeping their line profitable, everything from keeping business by on time, quality shimpments to the amount of fuel used in delivering their goods.
I'd like to get your thoughts on my thoughts before I continue. This will make a difference in the way I set up my benchwork and track if this pans out. Once I get some feedback, I'll throw some more of my ideas out to you. Thanks.
It seems that whether the railroad be freelanced or prototypical, it is impossible to get away from a "utopian" operating scheme. There are always tons of businesses that need rail service, trains are long, yards are full, and operations are always at a "best case scenario". Some model railroaders operate "progressively" and retire equiptment and close business, but beacuse they chose to.
I too plan to "progressively" age my railroad, beginning in 1980 and working towards present day. My railroads centers around a junction with a Class I railroad where a Class II a Class III and a scenic railroad meet with a second Class III railroad spurning off the class II railroad in the middle of the line. The class II also has trackage rights on the Class I's tracks to a seperate industrial location. During that time several of the shortlines changed operators for a variety of reasons, lack of business, lawsuits, poor operations, bankruptcy, etc. This has left me with two choices, either accept the fact that certain lines change ownership (even with he utopian style shipments coming in and out) or find a way to model a lawsuit... the first which seems ridiculous, and the second which seems even more ridiculous.
--- Growing up with board games like Axis and Allies, Risk, and computer games like Civilization reminded me that what actually drives the shipments on railroads is competition: between other railroads, between buses and trucks, right down to the businesses in this country with those overseas. And since the people I will be operating are more "competition minded" than "railroad minded" I feel that that this is the way I should go. Therefore, each railroad will get its own operator which is competing for business against the others. I am working on computer generated consists that will use formulas to generate traffic to each railroad based on real data. Operators will not only be in charge of their deliveries and "typical model railroad operations", but also be in charge of keeping their line profitable, everything from keeping business by on time, quality shimpments to the amount of fuel used in delivering their goods.
I'd like to get your thoughts on my thoughts before I continue. This will make a difference in the way I set up my benchwork and track if this pans out. Once I get some feedback, I'll throw some more of my ideas out to you. Thanks.