Rick provides more information regarding Train Dispatching building on his Monday evening presentation. He will also expand on topics where there were questions in his previous (Monday) presentation.
The clinic details modeling my fictional Oregon Coast Railroad to be believable as a prototype railroad.
The clinic shows how using a prototype's history as a reality check can bring life to a railroad that never was. Photos will show how water features and layers of textured scenery duplicate Oregon's forest landscape. Other topics will include building a region and era appropriate car roster and the good and bad of kits.
The layout appeared in Great Model Railroads 2014.
Train Control Systems will explain and demonstrate their revolutionary WOWSound Decoder. The only sound decoder with True CD Quality sound. Both Steam and Diesel versions will be demonstrated. Using features including Auto Adjusting BEMF, Audio Assist[tm], Keep Alive[tm] and others TCS will show how to make your locomotive sound and run just like the prototype.
The Pennsylvania Southern is a freelance layout set in 1980 in western Pennsylvania. Topics for discussion include layout philosophy, train scheduling, train operation, dispatching, and supporting paperwork.
This clinic looks at issues a modeler might wish to consider when designing a layout for operations. Topics include setting an era and location, designing a car fleet, developing a train schedule, and dispatching systems.
A discussion of the fundamental processes and steps necessary to design and build/install a successful layout railroad signaling system - basic to advanced.
Presentation will include the methods and hardware variations (options) needed to install and operate various prototype signaling systems. Included will be our experience and lessons learned having done/assisted/advised on several layouts in the Pacific Northwest and west coast. Time will be allotted for questions and answers during and following the presentation.
Understanding PFE involves far more than its refrigerator cars. The way the company did business, the ways it managed its many facilities, including shops and ice plants, and the ways refrigerator cars were built, serviced, repaired and operated, all form a complex and interesting story. Both for the historian and for the modeler, this presentation provides a detailed and inclusive view of these matters, along with some car fleet information.
Chuck and Seth will describe their experiences designing and implementing Model Railroad Signaling Systems and how they have used the cpNode system they developed, to streamline the process.
They will discuss power distribution and detection topologies, setting up signal locations, dividing the layout into blocks, cabling, cost optimization strategies and much more.
Seth Neumann will review the requirements for an operations communications system and take you through the design process and show you how to implement a reliable telephone system for dispatching any era from the 1870s through the 1980s using your choice of inexpensive telephones or period equipment. The emphasis this year is on low cost electronic replacements for hard-to-find vintage parts.
This clinic describes the layout, purpose, and operation of a truck-to-rail pulpwood transfer yard operated by International Paper during the 1990s in the US Southeast. This yard was one of many such yards in operation. Structures, machinery, trucks, and special-purpose railcars will be examined, and modeling suggestions will be presented.
