o we got a second session out of the local HO club, who are currently trying to build up their own operations. Tom (their rep and Superintendent) asked us to come over and give it another go. I was very gratified that the boys were excited to get a second session at this very huge HO effort. (Seriously, those modern generation engines feel like bricks to my delicate N-Scale hands. I might have gotten a hernia lifting the power into place).

So, not to beat a dead Superintendent  but the first session was… well… a first session. Tom was doing his best to manage an opening attempt AND dispatch. And here’s the thing (and I hope the Orlando Society of Model Railroaders recognize this) – Tom actually came to our clubhouse and asked for a truthful and critical debrief about their first attempt. And he took notes. And he incorporated those notes into his next attempt.

And, to everyone’s delight, everything was much improved. I picked up a loaded coal train (I’m not sure which direction I was going). The other boys grabbed jobs and got out to run. And Tom’s dispatching was much faster this time. The only waits I really had were waiting for opposing trains – and that’s railroading, not the DS’s fault. I really got a good run out of this (and I would have signed up for another but I’d been up way early and my caffeine was turning to sludge).

With the ONT HO layout down and dead, Pete gets to run zoom-zoom again, with a big smile on his mug (Photo: Smiling mug)

This time, since I wasn’t waiting for slow orders and moving a bit more briskly, I was able to realize just how long OSMR’s mainline is. I haven’t quite gotten the locations down yet (working on it) but I did seem to go  a good distance with a train. I’m going to suggest that, rather than a big top-down map of the layout, perhaps a stylized west-to-east (pocket-sized) schematic would be better. Just write the station names on folded index cards on the layout and we’ll figure out where we’re going and what we’re doing.

Overall, I’d figure out what the average time it takes to run the layout end-to-end is. Then, figure out how long you wish your session to be, and subtract out the run-time from this – this gives you your last-train-out time.

My own coal train rounding the corner, my tape marker flapping in the breeze (Photo: Pete, Pete, always Pete)

Next, figure how many trains you wish to run. Make sure two of them launch (opposing) right off the bat. The others, give them start times between session-start and last-train-out time. This way, everyone is running off a sorta timetable (at least as far as start-times go). Once it feels right, a timetable can be added in with meet points detailed. And if you get more people, throw extras into the mix.

Hint hint: Coal trains make good extras. In fact, just thinking ahead, running maybe two coal trains down to some sort of marshalling yard would be interesting. He just shuffles coal down to maybe Acca Station or somewhere. Then someone puts them all together into a massive coal train to run home to the big yard (Marshal? Something like that?).

Yeah, you’ve got a long way to go you’ve made a massive improvement with your changes so far. The boys really liked it. Sorry we fed you into the furnace at ONT that night, but HO modelers burn so brightly.

Good work, Tom! And thanks to all the ONT guys who came out. See you next time!

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