Operations Road Show

A New Outlook

The Operations Road Show is a project to build a large portable HO scale layout to demonstrate and teach prototypical timetable and train order operation in a friendly, low-pressure environment. We have taken it to the NMRA National Conventions in Toronto in 2003 and Cincinnati in 2005 and brought out guests from the Great Lakes Express convention in Detroit in 2007. At each Convention we held a number of three-hour operating sessions for its attendees. When not being shown at conventions, we hold operating sessions near Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Over a period of several years, three members of Rails on Wheels developed a particularly strong interest in prototypical operation. This interest was intensified by the participation of these members in operating sessions sponsored by the Operations Special Interest Group, and by attending operating sessions held by Jack Ozanich on his indoor Atlantic Great Eastern railroad, and his 7.5" gauge outdoor Sandy Ridge & Clear Lake Railway. These railroads feature operation based on prototype rules, utilizing timetables and train orders, such as Will Tajibnapis described in his article "Timetable and Train Order Operation", in the August, 1999 issue of Model Railroader magazine. During an operating session on the AGE, OpSIG coordinator Bill Jewett suggested that with our experience in building and setting up modules, we might consider arranging operating sessions on a modular layout, so that sessions could be offered at a convention site. We thought that this was such a good idea that we picked up the ball and ran with it.

A New Layout

In the past, we have attempted to apply a timetable and train order operating scheme to layouts made up of our existing modules (the "display layout"), but have found the physical plant to be limiting. Our existing modules were not built with the idea of single-track operation in mind. Particularly lacking were the relatively frequent passing sidings that would be required by the layout we envisioned.

With this in mind, three Rails on Wheels members conceived of the "Operations Road Show" project. Our core group agreed to develop, finance and construct a layout that would meet our operational interests as a side project. This is neither a formal Rails on Wheels project, nor is it specifically a project of Operations SIG, though members of both groups are participating. Our plan was to have this new layout operational in time for the Gateway 2001 NMRA National Convention, held during July, 2001 in St. Louis, Missouri, but we came up short on time and manpower. In July, 2003, the layout had its public debut at the Maple Leaf 2003 NMRA National Convention in Toronto.

The construction techniques we used on this layout are influenced in some part by ideas published by Free-mo and Bend Track.

Our core group has grown to five members: Jeff Fryman, Bob Milhaupt, Fritz Milhaupt, Al Robertson and John Young.

The Givens and Druthers of the 'Operations Road Show' layout

1. We will use modular, portable construction
    
2. In addition to its role as a layout based in the Ann Arbor-Saline area, it will be designed to be operated by attendees of conventions for entertainment and as a teaching tool
    
3. Mechanical reliability will be the primary concern, the quality of scenery will be secondary
    
4. The layout will be optimized for timetable and train order (TT&TO) style operation
    
5. We will use a fast clock running at a 3:1 ratio
    
6. Car Cards will be used for freight forwarding
    
7. The scenery and general design will be generic enough to allow prototype themes that would occur anywhere within a 400 mile radius of Chicago
    
8. The permanent layout scene will be adjustable to look right for any era from 1930's to most modern
    
9. Control will be Digitrax DCC with radio throttles
    
10. To hold costs down and simplify wiring, no allowance will be made for multi cab analog block control
     
11. Turnouts will be locally and manually controlled, except for a few turnouts at Lafayette Junction which the Fiddle Yardmaster will need to control remotely
     
12. The layout will be designed for 'sincere' scenery in that the mainline passes through a scene only once
     
13. Staging will be accomplished using an active fiddle yard
     
14. Our design standards will call for 30-inch minimum radius curves, number 8 turnouts for mainline crossovers, number 6 turnouts for other mainline uses, number 4's in some industrial situations
     
15. Operating semaphores will be used at stations for train orders, with repeater lights mounted on the fascia
     
16. There will be multiple junctions with other railroads with active interchange
     
17. An open-line telephone system will be used for communication between station agents and the dispatcher
     
18. The running distance between towns will be long enough to give the feel of going somewhere, ~24 feet on average
     
19. Train lengths will range from 10 to 16 cars
     
20. The compass direction will remain constant throughout the modeled scene, i.e. east is always to the right when looking at the railroad
     
21. Backdrop skyboards will frame the scenes
     
22. The layout will be built at a 48-inch height for comfortable operation
     
23. Crews will operate their trains only on the scenicked portion of the layout
     
24. The prototype chosen should have sufficient traffic volume to occupy as many as ten crews, simultaneously
     

"Givens & Druthers" for this layout

1. Prototype: Wabash RR
    
2. Era: Fall 1964
    
3. Location: Mainline from Peru to Lafayette, Indiana
    
4. Interchange with NYC, NKP and MONON at Lafayette Jct.; PRR at Logansport; MONON at Delphi; C&O and NKP at Peru
    
5. Working signals at junctions
    
6. Scheduled trains are two first class passenger trains each way, each day; six second and third class freights each way, each day; other 'arranged' extras
    
7. Local switch jobs for East Yard/ Lafayette; interchange work with other railroads; the stone job to the quarries; a daily local originating at Tilton (unmodeled, off line) to Peru; grain work on line
    
8. 'Foreign road job' to handle Monon work in Delphi. Transfer jobs from the NYC, Monon and NKP into East Yard at Lafayette.
    
9. Overhead traffic heavy with automobiles and their parts, general merchandise, TOFC, expedited reefer traffic from the west coast
    
10. On line traffic: grain, general merchandise, ALCOA plant, quarries, Anheuser-Busch
     
11. No unit trains, no solid blocks of coal traffic or ore
     
12. No modeled class yard or division yard, East Yard is the local city yard
     
13. During clinics, all jobs on the layout are to be handled by guests, with only coaching from the Road Show crew
     
14. Operations are self-staging, other than servicing car cards between sessions
     

We exercise modelers' license with restraint. For example, the modeled portion of the Wabash was actually controlled by CTC during the era modeled. However, in order to operate using our preferred timetable and train order system, we choose to overlook that inconvenient fact. Some locations are being modeled as precisely as is possible, while others are being simplified or rearranged if necessary to fit within our space constraints.

There were three major factors that contributed to our choice of the Wabash as a prototype for this project. The first was that the Wabash is a road that two of the core planners were interested in modeling in other projects (Jeff Fryman even worked, briefly, for the Wabash in the 1960s). The second was the ready availability of locomotives and rolling stock appropriate for modeling the Wabash. The third was that the Wabash is the only railroad with a direct route between our base in the greater Detroit area and the 2001 NMRA convention site in St. Louis, where we'd originally planned to debut the layout.

Through conversations with other modelers, we discovered a wealth of resources on the Wabash in Indiana, especially the portion of the Second District of the Wabash's Montpelier Division between Peru and Lafayette. This stretch, at about 55 miles in length, appeared to be of a length we could model on a layout occupying the space provided by a standard 30 by 50 foot hotel conference room.

Initial Implementation

The Operations Road Show: Wabash Edition features modular construction with a 390 foot long mainline and a 22.5 by 51 foot size. The basic modules are 24 by 72 inches; some modules are as wide as 36 inches.

A unique aspect of these modules is that they are double-sided in a manner similar to the modules Bend Track uses in N scale. A backdrop runs down the middle of each module with a mainline scene on each side. Most of the layout has about one foot of depth to the modeled scene. We have tried to be generous with aisle space, providing about five feet of width in most areas.

Our track plan is now available for viewing online, as are photos of the layout under construction and reports on our progress.

While this layout is designed so that we can take it out of the basement to public events, doing so requires a considerably greater effort than moving Rails on Wheels' display layout. For this reason, we only plan to take the Operations Road Show layout out every few years to major events, such as the NMRA National convention. Otherwise, it will remain in the basement in Saline, where we plan to hold operating sessions at least monthly. Rails on Wheels' display layout is the one designed to be taken out to train shows and one- or two-day public events.