I went to my first operating session last evening despite areas of  incliment weather.  I contacted the host through the OPSIG website, and I was warmly welcomed by a gracious host.

He models the New Haven in S scale, and he models operations first and foremost. (He was an operator on the New Haven in the 1950's and 1960's, and operated on that railroad when they were still equipped with kerosene lanters). His thought is that scenery and fancy models, as nice as they are, are not directly relevent to the running of a railroad in a prototype manner.

The layout consists of a large many track oval, a large stub end yard, engine faciilties, and a branch line. Trains are made up, and than run a number of determined laps around the oval (based on end destination), and than broken down, or in the case of the branchline, work their local jobs.

He decided to use American Flyer models as he thinks they feel the most realistic in their operation; indeed watching the slack pull out of a 24 car train is something I've never seen with other models. The simplified details and sturdy construction mean that they can stand up to a fair amount of handling.

Instead of buildings, cards are used to represent industries and car spots. This allows him to vary scenarios; today it's a cement plant, tomorrow a shingle factory.  He also does not use a fast clock; operators are allowed to run their trains, making the dispatcher responsible for ensuring that right of way to priority traffic is maintained. He commented that one of the reasons why he didnt' like fast clocks is because on a real railroad, it took a long time to do anything, and asking operators to sweat out time seemed unecessary, and counter productive to running their duties (in retrospect, this makes a lot of sense, as model operators want to be there and want to work, so keeping them tied to a clock may not be necessary. You don't get fired if your late, etc).

This style of layout seems perfect to gain an understanding of operations, as in a lot of ways it is almost nothing more than a schematic come to life. By modeling operations in this manner, and seeing it happen, it seems a lot less abstract, and the concepts easier to understand.

While I don't intend on making this style of layout because I enjoy making and watching "pretty" models in a "pretty setting", I'm very grateful for the training opportunity. I intend on joining them on a regular (monthly basis).

Cheers!