Switch list Operation

Well a good part of August passed me by owing to illness. I was confined to the house and shuffled between rooms sleeping, drinking, watching TV and surfing the web.

A while back, a good friend of mine, let's call him Jason, had an operating night for us with switch lists to use. Well it was interesting and provided a fun night. There was lots of discussion on how to operate a railway in the model form.

I have always believed that no matter what, us as unique individuals, we do the same thing. That is we follow the same pathway. I look back at my model railway life and it can be abbreviated to; Clockwork, Electric, Trainset, N Scale, Layout 1, Layout 2, Layout 2.1, Girls, Layout 3, Layout 4, Dedicated Train Room, Layout 6, DCC, Operation, Layout 6.1 and Sound.

During the span of time I have been a member of some six groups. So I have been educated and molded by those around me. And yes I turned into one of them. There was a time I earnestly believed that DCC was not for me.  That operations were not for me. That sound was not for me. However, I have rolled over on all three fronts.

So whilst I was recovering, my mind wandered to the different types of operations available to the modeller. Everyone has their own version of what they believe is best for them and their railway. None of the operation strategies are wrong, certainly none are more correct than another. They are what they are for the owner of the railway.

Normally when you mention Operations, modellers normally think of fast clocks, way bills and timetables. Well I decided to follow my friend and try a Switchlist approach to an operating night with my other good friend Dennis. So last Tuesday night we did just that.

My research concluded that you do not need a lot of 'moves' to make the night fun. It does not matter how much rolling stock you have (you just put it away) and it does not need to be complicated.

The night went well. It did remind us both, that; cutting cars with a rixpick you need to be able to reach the car, see the coupling, be within the focal distance of your glasses, make sure there were no overhead canopies on the line side buildings obstructing the cut, that tall buildings/scenery items should not be placed at the front of the layout and lighting valances should allow you to get your head in to achieve all of the afore mentioned items.

Humans learn from mistakes. From the time of attempting to rollover as a baby, through to learning a new skill. The problems noted can be circum navigated by some lateral thinking during the setup of the layout for the session and the planning of the Switchlist.

If all this fails, well I (we) can just let the trains run and discuss the problems of the first world with my friends.

Until next time.

Noel