# operation help



## caferacer (Jul 22, 2010)

Hi caferacer here my plan is to build a large indoor railroad with a full operational railroad.

My question is what is the best way to coordirate this as a working railroad caferacer


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## East Broad Top (Dec 29, 2007)

Much depends on the "size" of the railroad. By that, I don't mean physical space the railroad occupies, but the volume of freight the railroad would move. There are many car forwarding systems used primarily by small-scalers that can be applied to large scale. _Model Railroader, Railroad Model Craftsman,_ and other small-scale centered magazines frequently run articles on various systems. There are also books you can get describing one system or another. These are usually more for large-volume operations, but may be able to be scaled down for smaller volumes. 

Specific to large scale, there's software called "TrainOps." I've not used it myself, but there's a discussion forum over on Large Scale Central devoted to it. http://www.largescalecentral.com/LSCForums/viewforum.php?id=26 I believe my dad uses something similar on his railroad. 

I do prototype operations, but my volume is rather light--between 10 to 15 cars total in play. I just built a spreadsheet in Excel that charts car movement over a week of operations. On any given operating session, I'm lucky to get through three days' worth of train movements. 

Later, 

K


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## toddalin (Jan 4, 2008)

This is how we do it. This is the control tower's set of instructions (1st page). Each of the three engineers gets their own set highlighting their own operations.


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## cape cod Todd (Jan 3, 2008)

I watched a dvd of the crystal springs RR awhile back and Jack Verducci runs freight back and forth on a schedule. If I remember right they put a slip in the caboose that has a removable roof and when it enters the next yard along the route cars are dropped and added. They had a fictional customer place an order for furniture, which sends the train to collect wood and haul it to the mill. It is then brought to the manufacturer and then boxed and sent on to the store. It is an interesting video and a neat way to run a RR with a purpose instead of jsut going round and round. All their equipment was also live steam including the donkey engines. The DVD can be found on Ebay for about 10$ 
Todd


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## caferacer (Jul 22, 2010)

Hi many thanks will look at these systems and make one of them work on mine caferacer


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