Realistic operation on a model railroad requires more than just running trains on a nice-looking layout with realistic locomotives and cars. While those parts are components, and certainly add to the experience, the operation aspect is based on a plan. Since real railroads move freight and people according to a plan, we need a plan to model that operation.
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Just as in reality, the plan is the basis for the trains that run in any given session. Therefore, here is our master plan - the master schedule that has been created to best represent a full 24-hour period of traffic that would have run on the Onondaga Cutoff (i.e., traffic that did not work Dewitt Yard), in 1994.
There's a lot that went into this - a base list of trains that I provided, hours of research by Jack using Conrail schedules from 1993, 1994, and 1996 to determine what time those trains would have been scheduled through my railroad, and - perhaps most importantly - experience running trains on the layout.
This is the key to all the other paperwork we use. Next time, we'll take a look at the other vital piece - the car-forwarding system.
In the mean time, enjoy the autumn! Lots of projects coming up soon on the Onondaga Cutoff.
~RGDave
