Running a session
On my “one track in full
view” staging yard, I nor-
mally have cars attached to
the loco while other freight
cars are scattered about
the layout on various car
spots after the last session.
First I mix all of the Car Spot
Markers in a container and
then place them on the cars.
You can be as random or
directed as you feel. In my
case, I never put an “X” on
car already sitting on the
inbound and I usually don’t
put the same marker back
on a car.
Because I have some specific
industries in mind, I gener-
ally choose the type of car that should have a specific spot. For
instance, I use mainly grain hoppers or box cars for my grain
elevator. I built Fergus Fine Foods with the idea of box cars on
doors 1 and 2 and a 50 foot insulated box car on door 3, so I
usually try to stick to that.
That’s it. Away you go and start banging the freight cars around
until you have everything spotted where it should be and all
the “X” cars lined up on the inbound/outbound. Due to the
lack of run-around space I specify that the engine does not
need to lead the cars but may push cars out of town.
6. An inbound freight ready
to go.
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The Kayton Short Line - 7
At the end of your operating session, take away all the car
spot markers, shuffle them up and start all over again. With
19 freight cars on the layout it works well, being quick to set
up and interesting to run, taking over 60 minutes to complete
each session. Even better, you can leave an operating session
half way through and it doesn’t matter as the markers will still
be there when you come back.
Getting the X’s Right
The only issue is getting the right number of “X” markers.
I use six “X” markers as my inbound/outbound track holds
seven 50 foot or eight 40 foot cars plus loco. Using six “X”
markers means I always have at least one or two spaces spare
on Track 2 which due to the lack of other space doubles as a
make-up track.
Refinements and adding further interest
1)
For some reason I created a 3A car spot at Fergus Fine
Foods. I don’t know why, but there is nothing stopping you
7. Spotting a car at the “to be built” Wilson Coal
Merchants dealership.
7
MRH-Aug 2014
