78 Miles to Yosemite

Author: jkdummler

El Portal First Plans

Posted on by jkdummler
El Portal, 1928, in 20×20. Lots of work to do, but a start.

Last year on Model Railroader Video Plus, a series on how to track plan, and the process that goes into track planning, a location in Illinois on the CNW walked viewers through the process of planning Crystal Lake and fitting the location into a confined layout space.  The gist of the series was that photos and maps are important resources for getting started, sketching ideas is a starting point, and actually drawing plans may take several tries to get things “right” for the space and modeler.

Those tips are valuable, and the series on MRVP is fun to watch as the plan for Crystal Lake comes together.  I’ve been working slowly on a plan for El Portal on the Yosemite Valley, and as I’ve been digging in, and learning more about the yard and locations at El Portal in the 1920’s, I’ve started to sketch ideas.

First and rough sketch of El Portal in my 1928 rendition.

The first sketch I did is just a rough one.  Working from maps like this one: http://www.memorableplaces.com/yvrr/Map.Base.DIR/Blind.Maps.html and maps from Trains to Yosemite, I began drawing.  The 1913 map from the link above would have been changed by 1928, with the large train shed having been added adjacent to the station and new tracks at the station added, from photographic evidence, as well.  In 1924, the logging company moved to other grounds at the YV station known as Incline.  However, this is a time of some lack of information and photographic documentation on the YV.  We have some things, but other things are a bit hazy.  

I decided to stretch, slightly, the logging company using the wye at El Portal and to use that as a way to generate some additional operational opportunities at this station.  I did include the Standard Oil facility that was built and serviced by the railroad, and I also included the barium bin at Rancheria Flat for some more things to do.

The first rough sketch gives you the starting spot for what I’m thinking about.  The logging wye is split into two parts, one where deliveries of oil for oil reload and logging supplies can be left along with picking up of loaded log cars, and the other end, near the station, with the empty log car storage and the wye lead.  I did not choose to connect the two legs of the wye, which makes accessing the rest of the yard easier.

With the first rough sketch done, I then set out to draw something in CAD.  I started with a space 20’ x 20’.  This gives me roughly a two car garage sized space to draw in.  We’re still early in the track planning here, There will be multiple iterations of this as I work toward making this something that I can build, not just something I could build.  A 2 car garage is a luxury I don’t have available to build something like this and leave it up in right now, but it’s also the maximum space I have available in a house that I can imagine living in, so it’s the best starting spot.

You can see from the CAD drawing that leads this post where I’ve gone.  The yard had to bend around the corner, online in my rough sketch, but I did get everything from my sketch into the drawing.  No fascia or benchwork is yet induced, but that will come.

A couple of things still need to be sorted out before I finalize a plan.  Benchwork needs to be drawn in with the sections I plan to use and the plan adjusted to allow for the limitations of my sectional layout style.  I still want to adjust to get the YV turn table into the plan, not just the lead.  I need to figure out the ability of a locomotive to navigate curves.  This plan is drawn with a minimum 48” radius, and if I can go smaller, but not too much smaller, I would in a few places.

This is, however, the right sport on the YV for me to model.  There is plenty of interest and operational possibility here to hold my interest in modeling it and operating it.  There is lots of equipment to build that I might have overlooked, along with full size models of the structures at El Portal.

Time to get back to the workbench.

-Jeremy

Scaling Expectations: A fresh look at what I’m modeling on the YV

Posted on by jkdummler
El Portal yard on the Yosemite Valley Railroad, modeled by Jack Burgess

If you’ve read any of my past posts on track planning for the Yosemite Valley, you might have noticed that I have been struggling with the idea of coming to grips with planning a layout that is not only in Proto48, but in reality the struggle is in planning a layout not in HO scale.  The break with trying to plan a whole railroad to fit in a space, or in my case, to fit on storable and manageable sections, is a mental hurdle that has caused some of my stagnation and inaction.

To give you some idea of the changes involved in scale-switching and learning to track plan in a new scale, check out this first deck track plan from a version of the YV that I started working on many years ago.  Designed to fit in a space slightly larger than a 2 car garage, this plan that I had assistance with from my friend Dennis, shows the area on the railroad from the SP interchange at Merced through Merced Falls on a single deck.  There is a lot of railroad on that deck, but in HO, this is possible.  

Now check out a plan I worked up for just Merced in O scale.  There are elements of the prototype that I’ve left out by choice and as you can see from the 6’ x 18” boxes I’ve drawn on this plan, I was working out how to build this as a portable layout, but the size of this end of the railroad, spread out in the valley, is somewhat daunting in O scale, and in reality is not, for me, a good location to start from to spite my thinking that starting “at the origination point” would be a good idea.

Jack Burgess has on his website a full page devoted to his track plan.  That can be found here: http://yosemitevalleyrr.com/modeling/layout-plans One thing you’ll see on this page is the wide-angle photo of the entrance to Jack’s layout space.  As you enter his layout, the first scene that you are met with is his rendition of the YV yard at the other end of the line from Merced, the yard at El Portal.

On one of my visits with Jack, I took the photo at the top of this post of his El Portal yard.  For anyone interested in the story of Jack’s rendition, the article “A More Prototypical Yard at El Portal” appeared in the 1998 edition of Model Railroad Planning.  Having stumbled back onto this article recently in reorganizing some magazines, I decided to give El Portal of the 1920’s another look to see if maybe it would be a better modeling solution.  This quote from Jack’s article got me really thinking about this:  

“The Yosemite Valley faced physical constrains similar to the ones that I – like most modelers – confronted during the design of my model railroad.  At El Portal, the eastern terminus of the railroad at the boundary of Yosemite National Park, the otherwise narrow Merced River canyon widened only slightly leaving little space or the yard and station.  Despite these limitations, the railroad managed to build a yard that served the like very well until it’s abandonment in 1945” – Jack Burgess, MRP 1998

I dug into two sources immediately.  Jack’s “Trains to Yosemite” and “Memories of El Portal” by James Law.  As I read parts of both of these sources, I began to realize that modeling El Portal solves some of my issues greatly.  The yard at El Portal in the 1920’s included lots of sports to switch, including the YV station for freight, the Government warehouse that may have been hosting a company making orange juice, a small ice house, Standard Oil, until the mid 1920’s, a logging incline, and the barium mines just to the west that were served by the railroad at a small ore bin.  That’s a really good amount of “work” to model and lots of “play value” in one spot.

Energized to do more research, and track plan, and build models, I’m getting going this weekend on finishing projects and starting to put together paper templates for turnouts to draw out my idea of what an El Portal in Proto48 might look like.

-Jeremy

Workshop and Model Builds Update

Posted on by jkdummler

It’s been a while since my last post.  Almost a year on from changing scale, I ran out of steam suddenly and got bogged down by a few projects.   I’ve been working on an ATSF Bx2 boxcar, and the end ladders have given me no end of grief.  There isn’t a casting or kit available, and I’ve been learning to assemble Chooch ladders by failing and breaking at least 4 sets, but I think I now have a way to adjust to this so we’ll see when the car comes out again.  

ATSF Bx2 with brake detail in place and grab irons finished. (Car from Rails Unlimited)

The other task bogging me down is finishing a pair of really finicky tank car rebuilds.  These cars started last San Juan cars that were stripped of details and had everything replaced.  The fact is, however, there isn’t really a good spot to grip these things that doesn’t have railings or other parts, and even though the decals have been here for over a month, and the cars have been on my to-do list almost daily, I haven’t gotten around to sitting down and putting lettering on the cars. 

I think I kind of locked myself up by starting too many projects, trying to have something to do, and then got overwhelmed by having too may open-ended ongoing builds.  

Getting out of the funk there takes some doing, but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel now.

For starters, the Bx2 ladders have been frustrating because I have been trying to build them off the car and then add them to the ends.  In reality, the easy way as suggested by a friend, and the way to fix some of those issues, is to build them on the car end.  The issue with doing that is my Bissey vacuum vise that I have used for years when building in HO scale does not open wide enough to properly hold an O scale boxcar vertically for me to work on the ends.  I had not replaced it, and now I’ve hit a frustration by not replacing it, so I’ve taken care of that.  A new, and surprising smaller, vacuum vise was delivered this week.  The new tool will replace the old one, and I should be able to get the end ladders on my boxcar projects without trying to figure out how to balance a car and work at the same time one handed.

The tool pictured below is a PanaVise 209 Vacuum Base Jr. The link is here: Amazon
One other new tool. A bright green (so I can find it more easily) ergonomic hobby knife. Spotting things on the table is frustrating sometimes, so the bright colors can help.

To address the stoppage with the tank cars, I’ve decided to power on and have all the materials ready.  I’ve set a date, and a reminder on my phone.  I also would kind of like to get things on track here, and as I feel the energy returning, I’m sure that the tank car lettering project will get done.

Today is the day…. 3/6/2020. I had to get up early before work, but the first side of these cars is now setting with setting solution.

Beyond those blocks, I’ve acquitted the tools to try and fix the warped R40-2 kit, and have tested the height ideas I have for the layout by setting the section I built last year up on a table and having not only me, but my wife, sit at it and reach in.  The height and leg debate is ongoing in my head.  We’ll see where that leads this year when it’s warm enough to set things back up in the garage to build the next layout section.

Layout height test. More on this soon.

I’ve also taken a step back from some things that have been taking little bits of time here and there that I can’t control.  A couple of volunteer positions that I have enjoyed, but that with the way life changes from time to time I don’t have the energy or time as a resource to fully commit to them at the moment, either have or will be ending soon.  Unblocking my small amounts of availability to work on projects feels like a good idea.

So, here we are, not much progress has been made, but the energy and time are now returning, and hopefully I will have more to share with you soon.

-Jeremy

Achievable Layouts – The Watsonville Branch (Shelf)

Posted on by jkdummler
A Southern Pacific Mogul like this one would be perfect motive power for either version of the Watsonville Branch in O scale.

So, the idea of fully removing his HO scale layout has been a roadblock for my friend and his dreams of modeling the area around Watsonville, CA in O scale.  However, a shelf in his layout space that was originally intended to be used as a second deck to the layout that never really fully materialized is available and continuing to draw inspiration from the same location, I sketched out a plan to fit that space.

The plan was roughly drawn, and then refined a bit.  It’s by no means as “whole” as the previous plan, but still offers some interesting challenges to a crew working at this location.

The beginnings of a shelf layout in O scale

The main focus here is the moving of reefers into and out of packing houses along with other equipment that would serve those, like boxcars full of crates, gondolas of scrap lumber, possibly inbound ice to the ice house and reefers for icing. There is room for another small industry to the lower-right hand side (near the front edge of the shelf) possibly a team track, and a larger industry on a switchback near the back.  As I drew this, I envisioned a town along a branch that has a train coming in, working, moving left to right and leaving or interchanging with another railroad on the right hand side where additional cars could come from or go to connect to the outside world.

Where things stand as of this writing. This is drawn with Atlas O scale (Ow5) track components)

Once he saw this plan, Bill excitedly named a couple of changes.  The large industry with the switchback was deemed to be a good location for yet more packing houses, and the track I had envisioned as an interchange was deemed to be perfect as a lead to a not-modeled sugar beet processor.  

If I was to continue working on this plan, it would certainly get some adjusting to the tracks for Sunkist.  The curves there are wonky and I was having trouble with the CAD to straighten them out.  A few other adjustments could be made, but this plan has a good deal of operation potential in a single town, and could easily keep a crew of two or three people busy for an evening.

-Jeremy

Achievable Layout Plan – The Watsonville Branch

Posted on by jkdummler

How big is your layout?  Do you have a monster empire?  Probably not.  Most folks, if they can manage it, probably are dreaming about building a layout in a spare bedroom, or for those truly lucky to live in a place where the weather allows, maybe a garage.  Not all of us have room for the basement empire that takes over vast expanses of space.  Some of us, like me, even live in spaces where the layouts must be portable and share space when in use with other functions of the house, meaning that they’re less than permanent, be it a temporary or long-term arrangement.

Trevor Marshall has a whole blog dedicated to what he terms “Achievable Layouts”.  I would encourage anyone interested in the concept to visit and read the posts there. http://themodelrailwayshow.com/LayoutDesign/  Trevor’s own Port Rowan layout in S scale is, in my opinion, a fantastic look at what can be done, and the kind of modeling that can be done, in a relatively small space.

From time to time I try and help friends with layout designs.  Within the last few months, I was chatting with one of my friends named Bill, (I have lots of friends named Bill suddenly these days which isn’t bad).  Bill has an HO scale layout but my switch to Proto48 last year made him think about tearing down his layout and making a scale change as well.  The first argument against doing so was that he’d have to rebuild his benchwork.  My statement to him was, send me your dimensions and let me see what I can draw in O scale for you.  He then said that the layout would have to be based on the area around Watsonville, CA, and I quickly found some resources for the area (being a fan of pre-depression modeling, the resources that I focused on are primarily 1920’s and earlier).  A few days later, I emerald him the track plan and information shared here. You can click on the photos and get larger versions of these.

The layout is designed for probably two crews of two and an agent who is acting as the industry managers and statin agent / dispatcher.  If operated at scale speeds and time for pumping air into brakes, filling out paperwork, and making switching moves, this layout likely would take those two crews multiple hours to switch the industries.  Movers would include things like getting reefers to the ice house, moving cars into and out of the packing houses, and some of the other industries along the way.  The plan is drawn for Ow5 using Atlas track components, and it includes s spot to park locomotives (likely a SP 2-6-0 and because my friend models slightly later than I do, some early diesel switchers).  

I think that sharing layout plans like this is important. I would consider this to be an “achievable layout” because it’s already known that a more complicated HO scale layout fits in the space, and that prior layout could provide what is essentially a quick-start by donating it’s existing benchwork to the new plan. 

Once I’d shared this plan with Bill, he informed me that he may or may not decide to exit HO, but above the existing HO scale layout, there is a shelf that could be used for an O scale switching layout.  I’ll share that plan in another post soon.

-Jeremy

The Ice House – Part 4

Posted on by jkdummler

I have made a couple of adjustments to plans for 2020 that will affect which projects that are started, and planned, so it’s important to document those changes and plans.

First, I’m not changing what is being built first.  I still plan to work from the furthest West on the YV and head to the East.  That plan I’ve been comfortable with for a long time, and it makes the most sense to me, starting with where the railroad connects to the outside world.  That means the first structure is still the Merced Ice & Cold Storage facility.  I had hoped to be well into building that by this point, but illness intervened and I was out of commission for almost two months and am just now getting the energy back to return to modeling work.  

What is changing is the positioning of the facility on the layout.  It’s been bothering me that in my plan the Ice House was directly across from the YV Merced station and freight house.  I understand compression for modeling, but I’m also coming to grips still with planning for Proto48, and when it feels wrong, it’s wrong, and if I’m unhappy with things, I’ll always be unhappy and I do this kind of thing to have fun and enjoy the results, so a change is necessary.

Looking at the maps of the YV in Merced and the area around the SP interchange and the Ice House (my friend Jack Burgess has drawn fantastic maps of the area that can be found here: http://yosemitevalleyrr.com/prototype/tracing  or the maps are also in his book, “Trains to Yosemite” on pages 96 and 97) the general track arrangement shows what I have roughly redrawn roughly here.

The YV / SP interchange is slightly North of the SP station.  The interchange track leads to a YV track that somewhat parallels the SP North/South direction.  To the North, the YV track curves to the East and enters the main yard facilities.  To the South, the YV line takes a switch that again parallels the SP, and then there is a second switch that diverts to the East and reaches the Ice House.

I pondered what the track between the Ice House and the SP station was for.  Not being able to sort that out myself, I asked Jack.  At one time that track was used for YV passengers to board trains headed for the National Park, but the spur was out of service and removed by 1935.  

I made the decision to move the Ice House from across the tracks from the YV station to a more prototypical location, and also to create more of the right location for the SP Interchange.  I am still going to keep the same slim 18” deep by 6’ layout section for the interchange area, which means I’ll have to compromise and locate the ice House on the wrong side of its spur.  That compromise is less offensive to me than having it directly opposite from the YV station, and is just part of layout planning and space considerations when compressing real world locations to the confines of benchwork.

I will be omitting the unused passenger track and it’s connection to the YV line.  It’s fortunate for me that it would mostly have been unused in 1928 so I feel justified in compressing it out to fit the space.  If it had been in regular use, I would have wanted to include it on the layout.

Here is the track plan for the Ice House and Interchange section.  This plan feels right to me.  When it’s right, put it on paper, stop working on replanning that, and move to the next item.

With the plan now ready, what you’re looking at in this track plan is my layout construction goal for 2020.  Finish the interchange and the Ice House.  I still plan to build the freight equipment associated with the ice and cold storage going on here, and now that I’m feeling better and have resolved my planning problem and visual problem with location for things, it’s time to get building.

I did learn an important lesson from this exercise.  Put the things on the layout where they belong as close to the prototype as possible and it will feel right.  Overly compressing things, especially in Proto48, does not feel right.  That lesson will help when it comes to the next steps.

-Jeremy

Thinking Things Out

Posted on by jkdummler

Tony Koester’s recent first installment in Model Railroader about his Proto48 layout has inspired some interesting review and rethinking of my layout plans.  I find this kind of thing to be important in the Fall and Winter allowing me to improve my plans for “construction season” when the weather improves.

In March, I made the decision to change scale because of my vision.  I hope you can tell from what I have been building how much I’ve enjoyed that change.  Now, closing in on a year later, with the experience of building the section of layout that I worked on last summer under my belt, I’m evaluating and making sure that my plans are solid and that I’ll be able to enjoy this layout plan for years to come.

My plans last summer set the layout height at 56” high.  That’s roughly shoulder height for me, and puts the trains right at eye level when viewing them.  That’s not uncommon in model railroading these days.  This height implies that the operator or viewer of the layout needs to be standing, and likely needs to be about my height (roughly in the 5’6-5’8” range) to be comfortable viewing the layout.  Not really a terrible issue, but I’ll come to why I’m rethinking this.

Last summer I designed a leg system that provided strength, light weight, and stability.  The catch was I hadn’t sorted completely out how to get the layout section onto the legs without assistance.  Setting up without the help of our oldest son was difficult to impossible.  It brought back not so fond memories of the rolling layout section of the N&W I had built the summer before that required 4 people to get upright, and even then, needed some adjusting.  On a good note, the triangle formed when the legs were attached provided stability.

As the winter set in here (and it was winter early, we barely had a fall), I moved the layout section into the house and into the closet where the layout will live.  Moving the layout section alines not easy.  The 3/4” plywood of the supports and deck mean that instead of being the sturdy and light weight layout I had hoped to be creating, I find that I’ve created a sturdy, but heavy layout section.  The overall weight for 6’ by 18” of this section is close to 70 lbs.  Maneuvering that by myself is not super easy as the section can be awkward (it’s bigger than I am).  

I had figured out late in the summer that the section of layout was heavy as I was moving it around the garage for painting and testing the mud.  To address that, I ordered a layout section of the same rough dimensions from Model Railway Solutions Ltd in England.  (https://modelrailwaysolutions.co.uk).  The layout section is much lighter, and I’m looking forward to test-building this section soon.  It arrived just as my preparations for RPM were really ramping up and I didn’t get a chance to do the construction before that event.  

This brings me to the whole reason I’m thinking about these things.  Tony Koester’s article about his P48 layout includes some really interesting tidbits of information .  He discusses how he planned to build his layout to be light, which will be discussed in a future article (looks like the MR that arrives at the end of December) and built out of foam and aluminum channel.  That would create a very light weight layout section indeed.  Those sections would be manageable by one person for sure.  Additionally, near the end of the article, there is some discussion about layout height.  Tony had planned to make pieces of PVC to increase the layout height because his plan was to display it on folding tables at train shows and events that he attends, and getting the layout higher was, he thought desirable.  Then he had an experience with a differently able individual who appreciated the fact that the PVC had not been made and the layout was at table height.

Funny how things percolate up at opportune times.  We have recently been discussing in our house the fact that standing for long periods is not desirable for some ongoing medical issues, and that the ability to sit next to a layout is something that might be an improvement, either in a rolling task chair or on a rolling stool.  That would make it easier to have longer operating sessions without causing pain and discomfort.  It also would be good for displaying a layout at RPM’s and elsewhere.  In reality, displaying this layout at those kinds of venues is going to be important. 

About the same time, I was moving some modeling books around and chanced again on Lance Mindheim’s “How To Build A Switching Layout”.  In the opening chapters there is a discussion about using hollow core doors as the benchwork for smaller layouts.  This got me thinking about my plans and materials.

There is a lot swirling above, so let me try and coalesce a coherent line of thinking from that.

  1. My testbed layout section is perfect for using as a photography or static display, but the weight of the construction, the difficulty in moving it and setting it up with one person, makes it less desireable to me because my layout is going to nave to be able to move often and be set up by one person most of the time.
  2. My chosen layout height of 56” from the ground, while providing excellent viewing for the equipment, does not provide comfort for some operators and viewers who may need to sit through an operating session due to joint or back issues.
  3. Resolving the height issue and the setup issue is easily accomplished if folding tables are used to set the layout on, which also solves one person setup issue.
  4. Resolving the weight issue can be done by using lighter, imported, model railroad “baseboards” or by using hollow core door benchwork.

The fact that I’m likely to have to move this layout around often, take it to train shows and set it up, and do that with little assistance is weighing heavily on me at the moment.  Getting that sorted out this winter will make achieving progress in layout building come Spring and better weather much easier and faster.

-Jeremy

Patience Pays Off

Posted on by jkdummler

Hunting for materials and models is part of the fun of prototype modeling.  While we’re now entering the early winter “holiday dead zone” for work in my workshop as family and other events surrounding the Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year holidays transpire and take time and energy, I am using this time to hunt for and plan for projects that will start once the Christmas tree retreats to storage again and the cold winter sets in and I once again begin construction projects.

One of the most exciting finds from recent hunting includes a kit I have been seeking since last March.  A Mullet River Model Works kit for Yosemite Valley Railroad caboose 15 was recently put up for auction and I was fortunate enough to be able to acquire the kit.  This will get slotted in early next year for construction.  It’s definitely time to have a YV piece of O scale equipment built.

My ongoing project to create car routings for industries on the layout and beyond the layout on the YV has lead me to some choice points in my hunting for kits and rolling stock in general.  I’ve been collecting information about kits that have been made in O scale that would be appropriate for the pre-depression era modeler.  My rough starting list will be a future post here.  I’m working through identifying cars that would be appropriate for me to hunt for, as the holidays usually bring listings online for cars, and the March Meet in Lombard, IL, will be taking place in the next few months.  Knowing what I’m looking for there will be important.

Hunting for a San Juan Car Co kit of this WP car is higher on my list than a SOO line saw tooth boxcar, even though the SOO car is a fantastic model, making choices in rolling stock that are plausible and justifiable in my modeling date and location is important to me.

The rest of the projects are waiting for parts.  I’m hunting for brick to use for the Merced Ice & Cold Storage project, brake wheels and grab iron bolt castings for car projects, and other details are in the process of being sourced, so come January (or maybe later this month) I’ll be ready to get going on the ongoing projects.  The punch list of things I want to do is long.  I’ll be looking forward to sharing projects with you as I get progress made.

In the mean time, there is an exciting (to me) new series starting in Model Railroader magazine with the January, 2020 issue.  Tony Koester’s P48 layout is being featured as the new MR Project Layout for the year.  It’s going to be really interesting to read these articles.  If you read MR, or if you might think about changing scales, or model in P48 or O scale, these will be worth reading.

-Jeremy

Playing With Operation Planning – Initial Thoughts

Posted on by jkdummler

Size of freight car fleets gets quite a lot of attention from people.  Some railroads require more than others, numbering into the thousands of cars sometimes depending on the size.  One of the things I really wanted to do when I converted to P48 from HO in the earlier part of the year was to shrink the number of cars that I need to build from about 200-250 to what I’ve quoted at various times as a guess of about 40 or 50” cars.  To finally start to figure out if my guess numbers were realistic, I thought it was time to start doing some operation planning.

As elsewhere I’m working on the Merced Ice & Cold Storage along with cars to service that industry on the layout, that made the logical place to start working.  I created a spreadsheet version of an On-Line Industry Planning form that Model Railroader Video Plus published a few years ago on their website when they did a series on operating their expanded Milwaukee Road Beer Line.  I started sorting out what would come into the ice house, and what would go out, and then realized that the answer was somewhat different than I was assuming.

The size of the Merced Ice & Cold Storage facility is rather limiting.  I could create a scenario where fruits, vegetables, meats, and dairy are all coming into the facility for distribution in Merced and for reloading for transit up the Yosemite Valley to points along the line but especially to El Portal for the hotel there and for use in the National Park.  Additionally the consumers ice would be shipped in other reefers.  Sounds fantastic, right?

Then I look at the size of the building.  The cold storage portion of the facility does not warrant all that traffic.  Fruits, vegetables, meats if they’re coming in, and all those other things have to be almost LCL service.  California having lots of agriculture and farming, I’m guessing that quite a lot of what I could send to the ice house didn’t go there.  

So, I decided to approach operational planning somewhat differently.  I decided that I would approach setting up operating by determine a “where” cars were on the layout, and a destination for those cars.  What this gave me was a chance to envision the moves, and to retain the idea that a car may only be moved by a train crew once, (but a second crew might move a car again if the required number of hours had passed between spotting and pulling moves for the car to unload.  I’ll demonstrate this in a moment.

What I wound up with is a car routing plan that sometimes leaves the facility empty, sometimes leaves it full, sometimes leaves the door to the ice storage occupied and sometimes leaves the cold storage and other goods door occupied.  The plan I created covers a 10 session cycle, meaning that even if I operated weekly, it would be more than two months before a repeat routing happened.

To make things interesting, I created one day where a car isn’t left at the ice house.  The directions for that day will include to spot a loaded reefer at the facility, which should be done early by the Merced crew.  Later in the day, as the El Portal Local arrives and switches their train, they’ll check the clock, and if 6 hours have passed between spotting and the current time, they’ll be instructed to pull the empty car and return it to the SP.  

With this idea now, I can work along through other industries in Merced, Merced Falls, and other points on the YV, to determine car routings.  Some industries might get the same 10 session cycle, but I could start them a different points in the cycle, so the ice house is on cycle 1, while the Freight House is on cycle 5 and the house track is on cycle 6.  This way I can vary the traffic.  The benefit here, too, is that I can determine if my construction plans for rolling stock are on-par with my needs, or if I should be adjusting my plans for rolling stock.

I’m also avoiding using car cards or other routing software.  When filling out the waybills for operating, I’ll be able to have some fun with what I fill in as the items shipped, and I get to find out where things were being shipped from in 1928, which will also be great fun to research and learn about.

-Jeremy