Progress Report 06.25.11

I have re-staged the layout with the new waybills.  It should be interesting to see how it operates now.  I quickly noticed a change as the CNW and N&W locals coming into Davenport now have 10 cars each!  Now, time to give it a trial run!  I'm looking forward to it.

Progress Report 06.21.11

Last year at this time I was moving along at a lightning pace.  Laying track does that to you.  This summer has been a much slower pace, but I'm not complaining.

It has been quiet on the progress front, but we have been working on a behind the scenes project.  I have found in operating that I'm already seeing a trend with the same cars servicing the same customers.  Plus, with changes over time since the original waybills were created, there were a lot of errors and not a good distribution of rolling stock across all the various lines.

I opted not to purchase the Shenandoah software that I used originally to create the waybills because a) I'm cheap and b) while it's ok, it has some quarks that I didn't like.  So, I decided to design my own in Word and use a mail merge from Excel.  Keying the data in Excel made for really fast data entry.  I have changed the waybill process.  Now, each waybill is a single cycle vs. 4-cycle as before.  Once the car arrives at the location, it will receive a new waybill.  It will either go back out with a load or quite possibly could return to one of the individual railroad agents as empty.  This will make it highly unlikely that the same cars continue to the same customers.  I've also added better routing of cars.  Traffic will certainly increase on the NW Peoria, CNW Davenport and AT&SF Joliet lines. 

I have also found when re-staging the layout, many times I tend to ship all the cars except for one.  This makes it too predictable.  I have always used a spreadsheet to track how many spots were available and how many cars I had enroute to a destination to ensure balance when re-staging.  I took this spreadsheet and added the Excel RandBetween (Random Between) function that randomly selects the number of pickups.  From the remaining available spots, the system will generate a random number of loads to send to that location.  As I'm re-staging the layout I simply use my spreadsheet printout as a guide as to how many cars to send en route to a location.  I'm really excited about this.  It now takes me out of the equation creating a much more random (and hopefully interesting) world. 

A sample of the new waybill is below:
The new format is much easier to read and understand. 
- Freight Train East/West
- Local or Return to Agent location
- Industry Name
- Town Name
- Commodity / Mty
- Not seen: Car Type
- Omitted Shipper



Owning a medium size railroad has been quite the learning experience for me.  I have found that in the beginning you need to expect a lot of change.  Many times what you *think* will work doesn't play out in reality.  This could be due to the various operating styles of members or simply reality doesn't work out like you thought.  I have not been afraid to make changes.  I'm dedicated to making the railroad run well, provide ongoing interest, and most of all for everyone to have fun.

I have been pleased with my success so far.  I hope that it continues....

Solo Op Session Notes 06.13.11

This evening I finished up the solo op session.  I'm quite pleased with the operational changes at Davenport.  Very smooth now.  Working on re-staging the layout.

I also made a minor change to the Consumers Ice & Fuel facility in Davenport.  The coal hoppers and LP tank will share the same track now.  The spur has been straightened to accommodate unloading of both commodities.  This will eliminate the coal hoppers blocking access to the often switched GE plant.

Solo Op Session Notes 06.08.11

Continued the solo op session this morning.  The grain train that rusted to the rails at Rock Island finally bust free.  Yarded the train at Davenport using the new #3 through track.  The train was yarded efficiently.

While the power moved to the fueling pad, the yard job quickly moved in and sorted the cars.  A cut of east cars were shoved down to West Davenport for the XtrFE2 to run later in the afternoon. 

Ran the Peoria Local.  The yard job shoved the train out to the west yard.  The crew picked up their power from the ready track and headed out.  It made a huge difference having the yard crew block the local.  Even with the blocking, the local still takes time to run at prototypical speeds. 

Yarded the train after performing my work at East Davenport Industrial Park by pulling into West Davenport and backing into the yard.  

I'm really liking the new Davenport terminal design.  Ops are greatly improved.

A snapped a few photos this evening.

 

The West Pig Train stops at Davenport Station for a crew change passing the eastbound loaded coal train.

 

A telephoto view from the railfan overlook at the far east end of Davenport Yard.

 

A view of the crew change from the yard tower.

 

Another view of the crew change from the industrial park road.

 

Look at that shiny new "Boom Time" blue caboose!

The New Carrie Ave Shops

ROCK Management is happy to report that the newly rebuilt Carrie Ave Shops are open for business!  After a seemingly long work schedule, crews were able to complete the remaining trackwork this evening.  Work remaining includes slide switch installation along with dropping feeders on all the newly laid track.

 

The new Carrie Ave Shops
I cut one of the former shop buildings nearly in half.

 

Overlook of the facility. 
(Front to Back) Caboose Track, Thoroughfare, Sand+Fuel / Ready Track, Sand+Fuel / Back Shop

 

The facility already has numerous power sets on site.

 

Numerous changes to West Davenport.
Crossover reversed, new mainline added to the left, two industries added,

yard ladder is now off the siding track, west entrance for Carrie Ave Shops,
switching of the Continental Grain Co and Iowa Ready Mix swapped spots.

 

Another view of the revised yard ladder

 

New scrap metal facility along the Mississippi River

 

New Interstate Chemical Facility and New Mainline 

 

A view of the new Carrie Ave Shops from atop the Continental Grain Co.

 

Another aerial view of Carrie Ave Shops from atop the Iowa Ready Mix.

Progress Report 06.01.11

Added the sand/fuel track at Carrie Ave Shops.  Crews removed the existing crossover at West Davenport.  A reverse crossover will be relaid in the same area.  Also, the yard ladder is changing where all tracks for staging will be accessed off the siding track. 

The company photographer was out roaming the line today.  He grabbed a few shots:

 

West End of Carrie Ave Shops

 

Thoroughfare from Carrie Ave Shops behind the class tracks
Take note that #3 class track now connects to the thoroughfare.  This will be used for yarding the Peoria and Grain Locals.

 

West Davenport Staging Yard
The yard ladder will be realigned to the siding.  The thoroughfare from the yard now connects to the former #5 staging track.

 

West Davenport Yard - the crossover has been removed.  The alignment will now go from main to siding looking west.

 

The new sand/fuel supply track at Carrie Ave Shops

 

East End Carrie Ave Shops.  Two long tracks which can hold 16 locomotives or so.
The run around and caboose tracks still haven't been installed.

 

The Extra Grain local has been rusting to the rails over at Rock Island waiting for the destruction/construction to be completed so the crew can yard the train.

Progress Report 05.31.11

This morning I was too lazy to do anything.  This evening though, I cut in another switch for the sand/fuel track (nearly forgot about this).  Glued this portion down along with the tracks cut on the 05.28.11 report.  I still have to cut and glue the caboose track, but that should be pretty easy.  I only spent about 20-25 minutes in the layout room this evening.  The swimming pool was calling due to the excessive heat!