An Ops Moment

On Thursday night this week I took a break from layout work to attend the August Operations Night at the Central Railway Model and Historical Society Layout in Central, SC. They have a large double deck HO scale layout that runs through an old house in Central (open to the public 9-2 on Saturdays). Because it is a club layout open tot he public, the layout is designed as a large loop, and so operations must fit within the display parameters of the layout. Therefore, the club has developed a set of scenario cards that define jobs. These jobs typical become like for like replacement operations, but they do mean that cars do systematically move around the layout over time so that the layout is not entirely static.

The Crescent Approaches.

The layout is based on the operations around the town of Central in the late 1950s. My job last night was operations around a large paper mill complex off the mainline. The job was enjoyable, but the layout was not its most cooperative. Electrical gremlins were afoot. I even learned that there is a combination of switches that you can throw in the paper mill that leads to a short that will shut down the layout. Of course, I did just that.

The first paper mill switcher sidelined due to electrical gremlins.

The Paper Yard.

The replacement switcher.

The complex is very neatly detailed, and posed a solid challenge to operate. Gremlins are never fun, but part of the hobby some nights. It did remind me that I want to make sure I do not have any long reaches to turnouts - a couple in the paper mill exceeded 36". But even a single major industry can provide an interesting evening of switching.

Cameron Turner