TRAINS:
We can divide the number of cars moved by our average
train length to arrive at the average number of trains we can expect
in a typical operating cycle.
Average train length is the smaller of
average passing train length or average staging train length
.
One operating cycle is defined as running the layout in a realistic
manner until the trains you run begin to repeat. Ordinarily this will
be one “24 hour” day according to the modeled train schedule. De-
pending on our fast clock ratio, the experience of our crew, the reli-
ability of our equipment, the length of a typical run, and the level
of detail to which we simulate prototype operating practices, the
actual time it takes to complete one cycle could vary from one hour
to dozens of hours. Three to four hours is probably a good typical
cycle, however.
DISPATCHING THRESHOLD:
Compute as:
(3 x shortest passing sid-
ing + 2 x average passing siding + longest passing siding) / 6
. Two
opposing trains of this size or larger will tend to create a dispatch-
ing bottleneck because they cannot easily pass each other except
at select sidings. If you want to ease the dispatcher’s workload,
keep the typical train length at or under this size.
If you want the dispatcher to more easily manage longer trains,
then lengthen your passing sidings. The best way to increase this
threshold is to lengthen your shortest passing sidings first. Of
course, you need to keep the length of your staging tracks in sync
with passing siding lengths as explained above under the train
length stats.
Another less obvious tactic to improve this stat (if your passing
sidings are smaller than your staging tracks) is to declare very
short passing sidings to be switching runaround tracks only
(and thus connecting track instead of passing track), thereby
removing them from routine consideration as locations where
