Model Railroad Hobbyist | October 2016 | #80 GETTING REAL column Jack Burgess Hot Boxes When I designed my Yosemite Valley Railroad layout 35 years ago I assumed that some day I would finish building the layout and then begin formal layout operations. Therefore, one of my design goals was to make sure that the layout would be fun to operate. Toward that goal, all of the yards and sidings duplicate the prototype YV yards and sidings as closely as possible, and passing tracks are spaced far enough apart that trains could actually travel from station to station without having the caboose still short of the last station stop. However, I will readily admit that I enjoy building models more than operating my layout. I don’t have a dedicated train crew and the modelers who do get to operate the layout are most often first-timers. When layouts are operated by the same operators on a regu- lar schedule, discussions sometimes center on how to deal with boredom from the constant repetition. One solution often mentioned is to add situation cards which add delays XX MODELING REAL RAILROADS AND WHAT THEY DO • INDEX • TABLE OF CONTENTS