[?]

    Rolling stock is disributed around the railroad and the switch lists are made up!  Good news is I have tracked down the problem with No8 Simply a bad cell in the battery pack.  Tossed it, put in a new one.  Did discover a bad solder joint between wires which I repaired which takes care of the intermittant power loss I think.  Button up No8 and dmake a few roosters for the locos and then No8 can join the afternoon operating session.

1900

    Grand way to waste two and a haolf hours!  Made up the mixed train with No2, used No9 to run haul it to Anns Creek, No7 to do the local switching at Anns Creek, then brought the mixed back to Cassville.  Was much fun!  Need to make a few adjustments on No9, and make some repairs to the combine and some cars, other than that, it went wonderefully.  Will take a while to figger out how to switch Anns Creek, specially since one track hasn;t been built yet.  I used one track at the AC #1 Yard  to represent the powerplant.  I will be installing switch stands like the ones in Cassville Yard throughout the layout as I do Fall maintenance.

Monday, September 13, 2004
0600

    Few thought on yesterday's operating session.  Definately need some lumbere loads made up for the flatcars so I can keep track of which ones are loaded and which ones are empty.

    Ned to get No6 running, got to have a two truck Shay for switching in th Cassville Yard.  Even No2 binds on the curve to the interchange track.  No7 is way too bigto be a switcher.  Will Move No2 to Anns Creek

    Definately have enough flat cars, need a couple more boxesand some tanks for the oilfield.  All the remaining turnouts are gonna get new switchstands retrofitted as maintenance requires.

    Not sure how I want to handle switching at Anns Creek.  This time I used the raod engine to drop the empties unto the logging spur and left the cars for local delivery on the siding, then took the passenger car on to Anns Creek with the road engine.  The local switcher delivered the cars to their destinations while th road engine cleared up on the turntable lad.  The switcher also built up the northbound train on the station track, but the road engine picked up the lumber loads at AC#1.  I guess I really need to figger out just how far apart AC#1 and Anns Creek propere actually are, and exactly where  is the oil field in relation to Anns Creek?

2100

    JRVP and I had fun just switching in the yard with No2 this evening.  Its a lot more fun running trains with her there to engineer and me to conduct and throw th switches.  Got some repairs to do on a couple of flats and some rebuilding to do on the combine.  Good weekend projects.

Tuesday, September 14, 2004
1000

    Dawnd on me this morning that I have two powerplants online.  One outside AC#1 and one at the oilfield.  I thi9nk that I'll just have the one at the oilfield supply juice to the mine and powder mill.  Might just treat the oilfield spur as a branchline, similar to th logging line.  The other spur that has been a wood chemical plant, oil loadout, and powerplant will bcome an aggregate loading facility serviced by either the coal drags or mixed trains as appropriate.  I'm going to extend the escape track to serv a bulk aggregates loadout.

1200

Now I'm thinking I might put a set of cok ovens on the siding.  this would be more sensible for war production and since cokae is significantly lighter than coal, it would giv the older 20 and 30 series hoppers something to do.  Might even run a special train for it, or have it cut into the coal drags.

Wednesday, September 15, 2004
0930

    Thinking seriously on treating the th oilfield as a barnchline, special train and alll.  Runs from Cassville to Collery, reverses the order of the train and shoves it up the branch, to return later in the day.  No7, a brace of tanks, cabin 03 and the odd hopper, flat of pipe or machinery.

1400

    The more I think about it, the more I like the idea of having branchline service.  I fiddled with No6 during lunch today, and I think I can have her servicable in no time.  No2 will then be free to use at Anns Creek, and No7 can take on duties as a branchline locomotive.

Thursday, September 16, 2004
0800

    Nuther operational wrinkle, I'm working on tonnag assignements for each locomotive.  Question is , should I base it simply on raw tractive effort, or figger in fuel capacity, or ruling grade, or siding capacity?  And should I start with the oldest , lightes locomotive (No2) and work my way up, or No9 and work my way down?

    Tonnage will be based upon a 24 ft  standard cars. For simplicity, i think they will bee considered the same weight loaded or unloaded and reguardless of type.  the 20 and 30 series cars will be rated as half cars, two ot them being required to equal one to make up one car, and long passenger cars rated as two cars, Combine 02 will be rated as one car and Cabin 03 rated as a half car.

    A better idea would be  a little more complicated but take into account loaded and unloaded cars.  this would assign ratings according to car type and use them  as building blocks up to a locomotives rating.  So say a basic flatcar  would carry a value of '10'  empty and '15' loaded, a locomotive with a rating of '60' would be able to handle a train of 6 empty flats, or 4 loaded ones on the ruling grade.

    That still leaves the basic problem of determining the locomotives capacity.  But I think I need to work out car values first:
 
 
 

    With that done, I'm going to rate No9 ass the Beast of the Fleet, handling 8 loaded hoppers, with a value of 200, dividing that over 16 drivers gives a valu of 12.5 points per driver.  Then basic values end up as being:
 

    Now that puts No8 a 2-8-2 in the same rating as a small tee boiler Shay, and No7 has a significant tractive advantage  over No8, when thy should be roughly equal.  Do I apply a penalty or an addition?  I'm imposing an age penalty of 10 points per decade after 20 years service.  This won't affect 7,8 or 9 Just No2 and No6 really, Leaving No2 rated at 35, and No6 at 60.

1500

    Interestingly, by the formulas the mixed train with 5 cars and Combine 02 on the nd scored 100.  The exact tonnage rating for No8.  If it had been a full sized passenger car it would have ben 105 and exceeded the tonnage rating of No8.  will have to rework the switchlist to take this into account.

    How to handle this? I'm redoing the carcards and waybills by Dave Hussmans ACCESS powered system.  These will act as a traffic generator powering the switchlists.  I beleive I need a seperate form for th Yard and the Road assignments Maybe I can fit a whole days work on one sheet.  A dispatcher will always be important  force in setting up an operation.  My current switchforms are too simple, and do I figger out the tonnag ahead of time, or let th conductor do it?

Saturday, September 18, 2004
1000

    Rained all day yesterday, so worked on locomotives some.  Regaugs the wheels on No6's rear truck and freed up the bind in the driveline, removed her pilot plows too.  Still need to give her a test run, but I think she is just about ready for service as the Cassville Yard switcher.

    Worked on No9 as well, tightened up the bolster screws and took a lot of the side to side ocillation out of her.  Took the 'wiggle' outta her walk so to speak.   Regauged her rear truck wheelsets too, they were slightly under gauge.  Guess I'll be running Shay tests tomorrow.

    I think retirement might b coming soon for Combine 02, or at least  an extensive rebuildidng.  Its getting rather shabby looking, and its gonna be a long drawn out rebuild I think, may retire it alltogether an set it out as a station building on th portable layout.  Means I'll have to build a new cabin soon.  New passenger cars are in the works as well, lots to do this winter.

    Think I got a good idea on a dispatching board that will hold the carcards too.  I have a sheet of dry erase board that I will cut it up to accomodate the pockets, 5 wide I think  and a rack for each switching area.  Above each switching area will be a track diagram.  Will require a pocket for each 'spot' in the switching area.