extra. The operation department has positions for dispatcher,
Eaton switcher, and San Pablo and Morningside yard masters. I let
operators sign up for whatever train or job they want. Then I give
each operator a packet with train orders and car cards and the
operator picks up a throttle and is off to operate his train.
I'm usually the dispatcher and the room is small enough that I can
communicate without a phone system. It's quite informal. We
don't use a fast clock because I don't want anyone to feel they
need to get anything done in a certain amount of time. It's meant
to be fun. There's never any pressure to push on.
Gustav:
Does the Great Northern interchange with other
railroads?
19: Overall view of Eaton.
19
Jim:
Yes, we interchange with the Santa Fe at San Pablo where we
have to exchange the loco and caboose. I still run cabooses; to me
a train without a caboose is like a sentence without a period. We
also interchange with the Canadian National at Broadview and we
have the two branch lines, the Moose River Valley logging railroad,
and the Fergus Falls coal mining and quarry railroad.
Gustav:
Tell me about your control system.
Jim:
That's my least favorite aspect of model railroading. When I
first started building my layout, there was no command control.
Sure, there were a few DCC systems available but there was no
consistency, the systems weren't compatible with one another. If
you bought into a system and the owner kicked the bucket, you
were out of luck. It wasn't until the NMRA standardized DCC that I
felt comfortable getting into it.
20
20: Great Northern F7 A&B 363 pass the Hillside
Tower interlocking.
Jim Ferguson’s GN - 1
MRH-Oct 2013
