When I designed my current layout, one goal that I kept in mind was establishing operations. On my previous layout, I easily grew tired of just watching trains run around in a circle. As much as I enjoy watching trains running on the mainline, I also enjoy watching cars being switched at industries, trains being broken down/made up at yards, etc. To me, bringing operations to a model railroad would also give a sense of purpose to the trains themselves, giving a feeling to the observer and operator that they are watching an actual railroad at work.

Freight Operations

      Freight operations are probably what I have spent the most time on when drawing up operations on my layout. I had read a lot in both books and magazines on adding operations to layouts. Years ago on my previous layout, I had made an attempt at starting car card-waybill operations after an article that I had read in Model Railroader on the Midwest Railroad Modelers' club layout and the operations that they used. However, my previous layout had been poorly designed, and trying to type up the car cards on 3X5 index cards, making a pocket for the card out of a small rectangle of paper, and then cutting index cards down to size to fit in the pockets was cumbersome. Needless to say, it was hard to make up cards for each freight car as well as trying to write up the waybills, which I think I only made a few of before giving up on the system altogether.

      When I came up with the design of the current layout, I finally had a believable transportation system as the setting for the new layout. I chose Mansfield as the location to model since there is a small yard there in real life, and with the imagined Cleveland-Columbus route, it would be a good setting for the interchange with the former Pennsy line.

      While that solved where to locate my layout in the real world, there was the matter of choosing how to get operations started. About that time, Micro-Mark came out with their car routing system consisting of pre-printed car cards, "4-sided" waybills, locomotive cards, bad order slips, and even waybill boxes. They have also since come out with empty car request waybills. It was exactly what I'd been looking for to get my operations going.

      That's when I ran into another stumbling block: how to fill the shippers and receivers on all of the waybills. About that time, I got pointed to the Model Railroad Operations SIG website and downloaded their industry database. I saved the records into a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet and then sorted the information by product. I then went through the list and sorted the listings by what type of freight car the product would be shipped in, creating sub listings for products going by boxcar, gondola, etc. I was then able to go through and fill out the waybills, leaving one or two of the four sides as an empty going to a shipper.

      When filling out the waybills for each car, I used the map of my railroad as a guide as to where the cars would be routed, creating car routings for shipments that would be going through Mansfield and ignoring anything that would not, such as a Chicago-Columbus routing that would go through Dunkirk but not Mansfield. I also chose not to have cars routed in ways that would basically be an unrealistically long route for a car just so it would go through Mansfield, such as a car from either Toledo or Pittsburgh going to Cleveland. In such a case, the car would most likely instead go on another railroad with a shorter direct route.

      During the process of doing the waybills for all of my freight cars, an issue came up regarding how to handle piggyback trailers and containers. With the Triple Crown trailers configured for RoadRailer service, that was no problem since each one is basically treated as an individual car. With a car card and waybill for each piggyback car, I was not sure how to assign trailers/containers to the cars. I initially thought that each cycle on a waybill would tell how many trailers/containers the car holding that waybill would haul for each cycle. That would lead to two issues. First, I could end up hauling the same trailer/containers each time, and second, I could wind up with more trailers/containers moving in a certain direction, resulting in a backup of equipment at any of the end points. Both of those were situations I wanted to avoid. That is when I realized I was stuck in the mindset of keeping the car cards and waybills together and never separating them. I then figured out how to solve the trailer/container issue. Using a variation from the norm, my piggyback cars have their own car card but no waybill. Each trailer or container, however, has its own waybill. When a trailer or container needs to be routed, any empty intermodal car at that location is then used to forward the trailer or container to its destination. The car cards for each intermodal car have their pockets "enlarged" so that they can hold as many waybills as they need. Then with trailers/containers on a car and the waybills in the car card showing the next routing, they are then all treated like a conventional car card/waybill setup to the next end point.

      While filling out the waybills, I began coming up with a system of numbering trains to better represent an actual transportation system rather than just sending a train out onto the mainline whenever I wanted. I came up with a numbering scheme that uses a train symbol for the train type as well a train number that tells the routing. The two charts below show how the numbering system works.

Train Symbols
Symbol	Type
P	Passenger (uses Amtrak numbering)
I	Intermodal
T	Triple Crown
R	Autoracks
M	Manifest/Mixed Freight
C	Coal
S	Steel
G	Grain
Y	Yard Job

Train Numbers
Number		Between	Via	Notes
100	Even	Chicago-Pittsburgh	Dunkirk and Mansfield
	Odd	Pittsburgh-Chicago
200	Even	Toledo-Columbus	Dunkirk	Not used
	Odd	Columbus-Toledo		Not used
300	Even	Columbus-Cleveland	Mansfield
	Odd	Cleveland-Columbus
400	Even	Chicago-Columbus	Dunkirk	Not used
	Odd	Columbus-Chicago		Not used
500	Even	Toledo-Pittsburgh	Dunkirk and Mansfield
	Odd	Pittsburgh-Toledo
600	Even	Chicago-Cleveland	Dunkirk and Mansfield
	Odd	Cleveland-Chicago
700	Even	Columbus-Pittsburgh	Mansfield
	Odd	Pittsburgh-Columbus
800			Local freight covering one segment (ie. Dunkirk-Mansfield, Mansfield-Columbus, etc.)
900			Extra train

      Using the above numbering system, a mixed/manifest freight traveling from Cleveland to Chicago would have a number starting with an "M" and an odd 600-series number (M613, for example). It would receive a card for its packet of locomotive and car cards like the one to the left.

      Cabooses are the only freight equipment that the Micro-Mark system didn't cover. I could have used a regular freight car card, left out the waybill, and colored the top of the card red, which I initially did for some cabooses. However, I opted to make my own cards (see the example to the right) since the cards didn't need a pocket for a waybill or bad order slip (since they rarely need maintenance).

      Micro-Mark has also come out with a dispatcher's panel kit consisting of train markers that stick to the panel with magnets. I have purchased two panels and mounted them on a portable stand that I can put on a table, desk, etc. for dispatching trains. The two panels are mounted one above the other. The top panel has the track diagram of the layout while the other is divided into sections to store tags for trains that are to arrive on the layout or have left the layout.

Freight Car Routing
City	Color Code
Chicago
Toledo
Cleveland
Pittsburgh
Columbus
Mansfield

      As the waybills were filled, I began using them to determine car movements on the layout. However, some issues arose when I discovered that some cars were being misrouted. Once, I found a car in the Cleveland staging yard that was actually destined for Pittsburgh. While I still wanted to use the information on the waybills to order the cars, I needed to figure out an additional method to easily see the routing that a car was to take.

      That's when I came up with the idea of color-coding the waybills, using the color chart to the left.

      Looking at the Micro-Mark waybills, I saw that it would be possible to color the corners with an origin and destination color to help with routing cars. The reason I wanted the origin color on the car as well was for use in the Mansfield North Yard since it was not only the yard for Mansfield but also simulated staging for Pittsburgh and Chicago. If I was looking at a car's waybill the way I had them, I could see what direction the car was to be going, but I wouldn't be able to tell if the car if an eastbound car from Chicago to Cleveland was still in Chicago, was dropped off in the Mansfield yard to be forwarded to Cleveland, etc.

      By putting the origin color on the top left corner of the waybill and the destination color on the top right corner, an operator can easily tell at a glance the routing for a car. In the Mansfield North Yard, I also have added dividers for in the waybill boxes to show where blocks of cars in the yard are to be located (Chicago, Mansfield, or Pittsburgh).

      Below is an example of the four cycles of a typical waybill on the layout:

      In example A, the car is to be routed eastbound from Chicago to Pittsburgh.

      In example B, the car will be routed westbound to Mansfield from Pittsburgh. There, it will be dropped off at the Mansfield yard, or the entire train (if it is a Pittsburgh-Columbus train) will back around the interchange track at MF Tower to head south to Columbus. If the car is just dropped off, it will then be put on a Columbus train that will back around the interchange to head south or will be forwarded to the Cleveland staging yard. Once there, it will not be taken off the layout but will instead be routed south to the Columbus staging yard. Once the car arrives in Columbus, it is taken off the layout and put into storage under the staging yard.

      In example C, the car will be routed from Columbus to Cleveland, where it will then be taken off the layout again and placed in storage under the Cleveland staging yard.

      In example D, the car would be either placed on a Cleveland-Chicago train or would be routed to the Mansfield yard to be picked up by a westbound train to be forwarded to Chicago.

      With all of the waybills filled and color coded, operating the layout has become quite enjoyable.

Passenger Operations

      When I was working on the freight operations for my layout, I also wanted to come up with realistic operations for my passenger trains. While some people may argue that Amtrak trains all look the same, there are differences between different runs of a train.

      One of the first things I did when it came to passenger operations was to determine what trains I was going to run.

      The first choice for me was to restore the Broadway Limited to its original route as well as expand the Pennsylvanian west of Pittsburgh. Fortunately, I found the October 1990 Amtrak timetable for both the Broadway and Pennsylvanian prior to the route change that occurred.

      The first thing I did was to extend the Pennsylvanian's schedule west of Pittsburgh, using about the same running time between stops as the Broadway. I then adjusted the times of the trains since I didn't want to have trains running in the same direction running too closely (time wise) together, resulting in the schedule to the right.

      Once the Broadway and Pennsylvanian schedules were done, I focused my attention on the 3-C Corridor trains, where I ran into a bit of a snag.

      In Ohio, while it has been proposed, there is no Amtrak service on the 3-C Corridor. Also, between Columbus and Cleveland, my route does not even exist. As a result, I had to do some guesswork.

      First, I used the cities on my portion of the route between Columbus and Cleveland and used Google Maps to estimate the mileage between the cities. I then did the same thing with the cities between Columbus and Cincinnati, getting a total mileage of 268 miles between Cleveland and Cincinnati.

      To calculate the time between stops, I decided to use an average train speed of 70 miles per hour. From there I was able to calculate the time it would take to get between stops. I then added three minutes to the time for the station stop (ten minutes for the stop at Columbus). Once that was done, I had the time between stations for the entire route.

      Initially, I'd planned on just running three trains in each direction for the 3-C Corridor with trains leaving Cleveland and Cincinnati for the other end of the route about 7:00AM (Clevelander), 10:15AM (Buckeye Flyer), and 1:30PM (Cincinnatian). Using a string chart to plot the schedules of the trains (time across the X axis, cities down the Y axis), it just did not look right. While it would have worked operationally on the layout, it didn't look like what would be seen in the real world, especially with times that the trains were going through Columbus. A traveler leaving Columbus for either Cleveland or Cincinnati would have to wait until 9:00-9:30AM at the earliest and would not arrive in either Cleveland or Cincinnati until 11:30AM, which would not be good for anybody needing to be in those cities in the morning without staying overnight before.

      About that time, Model Railroader had an article on adding commuter operations to a layout. Needless to say, it was exactly what I needed.

      Looking at the string chart, I decided to adjust the schedules for the Buckeye Flyer and the Clevelander to a little later than originally planned.

      I then decided to add "shuttle" trains to the morning and late afternoon/evening schedules. At about the time the Clevelander leaves Cleveland southbound and Cincinnati northbound, I added a pair of shuttle trains to leave Columbus, one for Cleveland and one for Cincinnati. The shuttle trains would arrive around 9:00AM in those cities. Shortly after that, shuttle trains would leave those cities for Columbus, arriving before noon. I then basically did the same thing with four shuttle trains at the time the Cincinnatian would be running between Cleveland and Cincinnati. Looking at the revised string chart, I could tell that the revised schedule gave more coverage for morning and afternoon/evening commuters.

      From there, I tweaked the schedules as needed for where I wanted the trains to be meeting and to avoid having a 3-C corridor train stopping at Mansfield at about the same time as the Broadway or Pennsylvanian since only one train can be stopped at the platform at a time.


      With the schedules for my Amtrak trains finished, I was able to see when the trains would be coming through the area modeled by the layout. To add variety to the operating sessions, I decided that the shuttle trains would only be run during weekdays since the commuter traffic would be less on weekends.

Mansfield Amtrak Schedule
Train Name	Train #	Direction	Departure Time	Notes
Broadway Limited	41	Westbound	6:44 AM
Pennsylvanian	42	Eastbound	7:35 AM	Monday-Saturday
Shuttle Service	208	Northbound	7:46 AM	Monday-Friday
Pennsylvanian	44	Eastbound	8:05 AM	Sunday Only
Clevelander	203	Southbound	8:16 AM
Clevelander	202	Northbound	10:14 AM
Shuttle Service	211	Southbound	11:23 AM	Monday-Friday
Buckeye Flyer	205	Southbound	1:31 PM
Buckeye Flyer	204	Northbound	3:29 PM
Shuttle Service	212	Northbound	6:06PM	Monday-Friday
Cincinnatian	207	Southbound	6:46 PM
Pennsylvanian	43	Westbound	7:03 PM
Cincinnatian	206	Northbound	8:44 PM
Shuttle Service	215	Southbound	9:23 PM	Monday-Friday
Broadway Limited	40	Eastbound	11:53 PM

      With the schedules in place, it now came time to decide how to keep from running the same Amtrak trains all the time.

      Over the past several years, I have either received (for Christmas) or purchased several of Walthers' passenger cars, replacing my old Athearn cars that were shorter and not too prototypical. With the Walthers cars, not only are the cars the correct length, but I am also able to run a full 18-car Amtrak passenger train.

      While a full 18-car passenger train going around the layout might be impressive to see, I did not want to have the same train running every time. Also, trying to accommodate that long of a train would be a bit cumbersome with the freight traffic.

Car Type	Capacity
Amfleet I Coach	84 Coach Seats
Amfleet I Cafe	53 Coach Seats
Amfleet II Coach	59 Coach Seats
48-Seat Coach	48 Coach Seats
52-Seat Coach	52 Coach Seats
10-6 Sleeper	10 Double Roomettes, 6 Bedrooms
24-8 Sleeper	24 Single Roomettes, 8 Double Roomettes

Amtrak Train Capacities
	Long Distance	Short Distance
Coach	277	305
Double Roomettes	36	N/A
Single Roomettes	48	N/A
Bedrooms	12	N/A

      While trying to figure out how to add variety to my Amtrak trains, I remembered another article in Model Railroader on the Midwest Railroad Modelers' layout regarding demand cards for passenger trains. Looking at the interiors of the Heritage fleet cars and researching the capacity of the Amfleet cars, I was able to determine the capacity of each car that would run on my Amtrak trains (see chart at left).

      With that information, I was able to determine the full capacity of the trains that I planned to run (see chart at right). A full long distance train would have up to three MHC cars, three baggage cars, three Amfleet II coaches, two Heritage fleet coaches (one with 48 seats and one with 52), one diner, two lounge cars (one Heritage fleet and one Amfleet II), two 10-6 sleepers, and two 24-8 sleepers (slumbercoaches). A train on the 3-C Corridor (Cleveland-Columbus) could have up to three Amfleet I coaches as well as an Amfleet I food service car.

      Once I'd come up with the capacities for each passenger car, I created passenger car cards for each one (see example at left).

      For coming up with different consists for my Amtrak trains, I came up with making passenger train cards for not just each train but for each run. Each card would have on it how many MHC cars, baggage cars, roomettes, bedrooms, coach seats, etc. would be needed for that train for that run.

Sleeper Requirements
Double Roomettes	1-8	10-6 Sleeper or Slumbercoach
	9-18	1 10-6 Sleeper and 1 Slumbercoach
	19-26	1 10-6 Sleeper and 2 Slumbercoaches
	27-36	2 10-6 Sleepers and 2 Slumbercoaches
Single Roomettes	1-24	1 Slumbercoach
	25-48	2 Slumbercoaches
Bedrooms	1-6	1 10-6 Sleeper
	7-12	2 10-6 Sleepers

      Using an online random number generator for each field on the cards, I came up with the numbers to fill in the fields on the cards. For the Broadway I allowed for one to three MHC cars and one to three baggage cars. For the Pennsylvanian I allowed for either none or up to three MHC cars and one to three baggage cars. Both trains would need the diner and one of the two lounge cars for each run. For coaches, I used numbers that would allow for two to five coaches for each train.

      Coming up with numbers for the sleeper requirements was a bit more difficult. With two types of sleepers and different accommodations for both types, I decided to go by the types of accommodations to determine how many and which sleepers would be needed (see chart at right).

      With bedrooms and single roomettes, it was easy to determine how many cars would be needed. If six or less bedrooms are needed, the train will only need one of the 10-6 sleepers. If more than six bedrooms were needed, both of the 10-6 sleepers will be needed. With the single roomettes, if 24 or less are needed, one slumbercoach will be needed. Otherwise, both will be used.

      The double roomettes were handled a little differently. Since both the Broadway and Pennsylvanian will need at least one sleeper of either type, I chose to have the lower amount of double roomettes be eight or less. If nine to 18 double roomettes are needed, then one of both types of sleepers will be used. If 19 to 26 double roomettes are needed, one of the 10-6 sleepers and both slumbercoaches are used. If more than 26 double roomettes are needed, then all four sleepers are used.

      To see how the capacity demand works, we will look at two passenger train cards as examples.

      In the first example for train #40 to the left, we see a demand for ten double roomettes, fourteen single roomettes, and nine bedrooms. Since there are only six bedrooms in each 10-6 sleeper, we will need both of them. With twenty double roomettes available in the two 10-6 sleepers, that is more than enough for the demand for ten double roomettes. With fourteen single roomettes, we will also need one slumbercoach. Had the request for single roomettes been ten or less, we could have used just the two 10-6 sleepers, "upgrading" the single roomettes to doubles. Also for train #40, we have a demand for 229 coach seats, which can be met with all three Amfleet II coaches and the 52-seat Heritage fleet coach. The train would therefore consist of three MHC cars, two baggage cars, three Amfleet II coaches, one 52-seat Heritage fleet coach, one diner, one lounge (either Heritage fleet or Amfleet II), one 24-8 sleeper (slumbercoach), and two 10-6 sleepers, resulting in a train fourteen cars long.

      In the second example with train #43 to the left, we have a demand for six double roomettes, two single roomettes, and six bedrooms. The double roomettes and bedrooms can be handled by one 10-6 sleeper. By "upgrading" the two single roomettes to doubles, all sleeping car passengers can be handled by just one 10-6 sleeper. With a demand for 270 coach seats, all three Amfleet II coaches, the 52-seat Heritage fleet coach, and the 48-seat Heritage fleet coach would be needed. The train would consist of one MHC car, two baggage cars, three Amfleet II coaches, both Heritage fleet coaches, one diner, one lounge, and one 10-6 sleeper, resulting in a train eleven cars long.

      The passenger train cards for both the Broadway and Pennsylvanian are one-sided cards since the trains are put on the layout, run, and then are taken off after a while.

      With the 3-C Corridor trains, the trains are put on the layout at the Columbus staging yard and turned at Cleveland. Not wanting to have equipment backing up at Cleveland, I made the cards double-sided and paired up trains so that the number of cars used on a northbound train would be the same needed for the southbound train on the other side of the card. Here is what I came up with:

1. Train 208 (Shuttle Service) heads north to Cleveland where it is turned and later returns as train 211 (Shuttle Service) to Columbus.
2. Train 202 (Clevelander) heads north to Cleveland and is turned to later return to Columbus as train 205 (Buckeye Flyer).
3. Train 204 (Buckeye Flyer) heads north to Cleveland and is turned to later return as train 207 (Cincinnatian) to Columbus.
4. Train 212 (Shuttle Service) heads north to Cleveland and is turned to later return to Columbus as train 215 (Shuttle Service).
5. Train 206 (Cincinnatian) heads north to Cleveland where it is turned and returns in the next operating session as train 203 (Clevelander) to Columbus.

      With the above pairings, named trains are only paired with named trains and shuttle trains are only paired with shuttle trains. The advantage to this is that if I want to vary operations some, I can say that an operating session is taking place on a weekend when the shuttle trains do not operate.

      While operations are still in the early stages (and I am sure there will be some bugs to work out), giving my trains a purpose has been very rewarding. While it has taken a while to get everything going, by doing the work in my spare time, it really was not difficult and was fun to do.

      Below is the current listing of trains that I have come up with for on my layout. With the exception of passenger and Triple Crown trains, trains are operated as needed.

Train #	Origin	Destination	Cargo	Notes
P040	Chicago	New York City	Passenger	Broadway Limited
P041	New York City	Chicago	Passenger	Broadway Limited
P042/P044	Chicago	New York City	Passenger	Pennsylvanian
P043	New York City	Chicago	Passenger	Pennsylvanian
P202	Cincinnati	Cleveland	Passenger	Clevelander
P203	Cleveland	Cincinnati	Passenger	Clevelander
P204	Cincinnati	Cleveland	Passenger	Buckeye Flyer
P205	Cleveland	Cincinnati	Passenger	Buckeye Flyer
P206	Cincinnati	Cleveland	Passenger	Cincinnatian
P207	Cleveland	Cincinnati	Passenger	Cincinnatian
P208	Columbus	Cleveland	Passenger	Shuttle Service
P211	Cleveland	Columbus	Passenger	Shuttle Service
212	Columbus	Cleveland	Passenger	Shuttle Service
215	Cleveland	Columbus	Passenger	Shuttle Service
I100	Chicago	Pittsburgh	Intermodal
I101	Pittsburgh	Chicago	Intermodal
I130	Chicago	Pittsburgh	Intermodal
I131	Pittsburgh	Chicago	Intermodal
I340	Columbus	Cleveland	Intermodal
I341	Cleveland	Columbus	Intermodal
I530	Toledo	Pittsburgh	Intermodal
I531	Pittsburgh	Toledo	Intermodal
I670	Chicago	Cleveland	Intermodal
I671	Cleveland	Chicago	Intermodal
I780	Columbus	Pittsburgh	Intermodal
I781	Pittsburgh	Columbus	Intermodal
T102	Crestline	Pittsburgh	Triple Crown Trailers
T103	Pittsburgh	Crestline	Triple Crown Trailers
T300	Crestline	Cleveland	Triple Crown Trailers
T301	Cleveland	Crestline	Triple Crown Trailers
T302	Columbus	Crestline	Triple Crown Trailers
T303	Crestline	Columbus	Triple Crown Trailers
T304	Columbus	Cleveland	Triple Crown Trailers
T305	Cleveland	Columbus	Triple Crown Trailers
R110	Chicago	Pittsburgh	Autoracks
R111	Pittsburgh	Chicago	Autoracks
R150	Chicago	Pittsburgh	Autoracks
R151	Pittsburgh	Chicago	Autoracks
R327	Cleveland	Columbus	Autoracks
R328	Columbus	Cleveland	Autoracks
R372	Columbus	Cleveland	Autoracks
R373	Cleveland	Columbus	Autoracks
R519	Pittsburgh	Toledo	Autoracks
R520	Toledo	Pittsburgh	Autoracks
R647	Cleveland	Chicago	Autoracks
R648	Chicago	Cleveland	Autoracks
R690	Chicago	Cleveland	Autoracks
R691	Cleveland	Chicago	Autoracks
R749	Pittsburgh	Columbus	Autoracks
R750	Columbus	Pittsburgh	Autoracks
R760	Columbus	Pittsburgh	Autoracks
R761	Pittsburgh	Columbus	Autoracks
M119	Pittsburgh	Chicago	Manifest/Mixed Freight
M120	Chicago	Pittsburgh	Manifest/Mixed Freight
M346	Columbus	Cleveland	Manifest/Mixed Freight
M347	Cleveland	Columbus	Manifest/Mixed Freight
M522	Toledo	Pittsburgh	Manifest/Mixed Freight
M523	Pittsburgh	Toledo	Manifest/Mixed Freight
M613	Cleveland	Chicago	Manifest/Mixed Freight
M614	Chicago	Cleveland	Manifest/Mixed Freight
M731	Pittsburgh	Columbus	Manifest/Mixed Freight
M732	Columbus	Pittsburgh	Manifest/Mixed Freight
M813	Cleveland	Mansfield	Manifest/Mixed Freight
M814	Mansfield	Cleveland	Manifest/Mixed Freight
M821	Pittsburgh	Mansfield	Manifest/Mixed Freight
M822	Mansfield	Pittsburgh	Manifest/Mixed Freight
M834	Columbus	Mansfield	Manifest/Mixed Freight
M835	Mansfield	Columbus	Manifest/Mixed Freight
M846	Dunkirk	Mansfield	Manifest/Mixed Freight
M847	Mansfield	Dunkirk	Manifest/Mixed Freight
Y901	Mansfield	Mansfield	Manifest/Mixed Freight	Mansfield Yard Job

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