Instant operation

[TommyDodd]

We had an excellent steamup on Friday- nice weather apart from rain at 0430 (yes, that is NOT a typo) and 0900, an excellent turnout with a lovely atmosphere and good running all-round.

For me, the highlight of the day came around 1700 when DolwyddelanLightRail and Lawrence703 looked up and asked "Can we do some real operating?". This was both exciting and worrying, as I'm into prototype operations, and designed the Horncastle Branch with prototype operations in mind, to both look and work like a real railway. However, to my embarassment it must be admitted that it's all theory so far- the round tuit hasn't yet arrived to allow me to actually do anything concrete. BUT this was a challenge that could not be refused- money where your mouth is, Dodd!

I had to come up with something that offered a prototypical challenge, was easy for a novice operator to use, made use of available materials and (most important) could be ready to go in less than ten minutes as both aspirant operators had just lit up. I racked my brains, and came up with a simple but challenging task, making up two goods trains with a random number of wagons in a specific order. Here is the recipe.

INGREDIENTS

One garden railway, complete with home wagon fleet.
One crowd of visitors, with additional goods wagons (optional)
Dice (we used 3d6, that's three ordinary 6-sided dice)
A pack of playing cards (Only one we could find was a Harry Potter* collectors' edition pack - which was not so easy to read as the standard design, but we managed).
A bunch of small easy-peel labels
Red and Black pens

INSTRUCTIONS

1) Take the labels and using the appropriate colour pen, write on each one a code to represent a playing card e.g. Q-D for Queen of Diamonds, 3-C for three of clubs. I actually drew the suit symbols (badly) but not everyone could interpret my squiggles- my handwriting isn't brilliant at the best of times and I was in a hurry.

2) Apply the labels to the wagons, one to each. Don't bother with brakevans as these would be assigned separately (one to a train and generally at the rear).

3) You probably won't have 52 wagons to play with so separate the cards that have matching wagon labels from those that don't and put the latter away.

4) Each train-crew (we had 2 at one station and a third at another) rolls an agreed number of dice to determine the length of their train. Traffic varies from day to day depending on demand, so this simulates that. We chose 3d6 which gives an average train of 10.5 (I know) wagons, with a minimum of 3 and a max of 18. A single d20 would give a similar spread, but without the bias towards a "normal" length that multiple dice gives you.

5) Each driver takes a card for each wagon. In our case all three drivers rolled a total of 10 so each in turn pulled ten cards. Leftover cards represent wagons not yet ready for travel, so remain at the station along with the wagons they represent.

6) Each driver checked his cards to see which wagons he needs, then searched the yard to find the wagons.

7) Driver(s) then shunt the yard and make up the assigned train, with each wagon in the correct place in the train (this would be important for a pickup goods- wagons would be placed in delivery order, with those for the first station nearest the engine). When ready, the train departs for its journey on the railway.

8] On arrival at the other terminus, uncouple engine and brake and carry out locomotive duties. Then add the cards for the freshly arrived wagons to the stack already there. Shuffle, roll dice and deal to create the return working, then repeat steps 4 onwards while travelling in the opposite direction.

We hit a couple of bumps along the way, and there's room for a lot of improvements (I'll probably go with Car-Cards and Waybills eventually, as I think that's easier to use and more realistic) but ten minutes work led to hours of fun both for the operators and spectators. Try it!

*Does this mean that Mr.Bond of the DVLR was there in spirit?

[laalratty]

Interesting idea Tim, James told me a bit about it yesterday and sounds like it could be a lot of fun, we've tried service running on some NWAG lines, on some occasions with more success then others, certainly on some occasions I've found myself getting bored but this looks like it has potential to keep things entertaining for a whole afternoon. I'd imagine you would require a fair sized goods yard though!