Articles from RPO V6 N3
Dispatcher’s Desk
by Bob Amsler
I was reading some interesting letters that discussed
the impact of real problems on a layout owner’s
operations. The general thread of the discussion focused
on how the prototype railroad would respond to a similar
event. What havoc would this unleash on the scheduled
trains, the connections, and the yardmasters? All of
this was interesting and I thought I would tell you
about some of these "disasters."
A common event on any model railroad occurs when a
train jumps the track. Instantly a car or cars leave the
right of way and careen onto private property alongside
the tracks. If this happened to the prototype, the
railroad would immediately contact the local emergency
services in case there was any dangerous materials
involved. In the steam era a wreck train would be
immediately called and dispatched to the scene of the
accident. In modern times cranes and equipment are
dispatched by road to the scene of the accident. The
railroad may own the equipment or a local contractor may
own the equipment.
The railroad then tries to clean the mess up. The
first priority is securing hazardous materials. The
second priority is to limit damages. If there are more
than one track, the railroad will try to get the
adjacent track clear as soon as possible so some freight
can be moved. When this is completed, the cars are
righted and placed on the track, or a flat car, for
transport to the repair shop.
When we have a derailment, what do we do? Could we
send out the wrecker? Can we call on a local crew to
clean up the mess? How can we simulate this? How about
pulling the track out of service? If any of the adjacent
tracks are blocked pull them out of service too. Pull
the tracks out of service for a realistic amount of
time. (Dare I say make the engineer and conductor take a
drug test?) You can even perform an investigation. After
all, the owner will want to know why that train
derailed.
What about a car with a truck that keeps causing the
car to leave the rails or wobble excessively. Why not
set it out at the next siding and report it to the
dispatcher and yardmaster as in need of repair? That is
what the prototype will do if a car is dangerous or has
a hot box. If the car is lame, put it in a siding and
let the next local pick it up. Give the car card to the
yardmaster and let him know where the car is. (This is
another good reason to name everything on your
railroad.) This will also allow the owner of the layout
to fix the car between operating sessions. The car can
then be placed back on the siding and picked up by the
local and brought back to the yard. Once it is in the
yard, it can be placed on the RIP (Repair in Place)
tracks. Leave the car there for a session and then route
the car to its original destination.
What do you do when the car the train pulls into the
yard does not have a car card? Do like the prototype —
put the car on a special track and have the yardmaster
put out the word that a waybill is needed for a car. The
prototype has yard clerks who would immediately call the
central billing and clerk office to determine where the
car was to go, what it carried, and its routing. A
second waybill is then generated and placed in the car
card. Then the car can be switched into the appropriate
train.
Have a coupler come off during an operating session.
The prototype carries knuckles but no drawbars. Treat
the broken coupler like a broken drawbar on a car. Take
the car out of the train, place it in a siding and give
the paperwork to the yardmaster. He can leave the car
there for the layout owner to repair and replace back at
the siding. The yardmaster can treat the car just as he
did the car with the hotbox described above.
If it breaks on the layout or causes problems, treat
the problem like the prototype. This should work just
fine as long as you have kept up on maintenance of your
railroad and cars. If not, it could be a call to repair
these items and put the railroad in top operating
condition.
Until the next time, may all the signals you see be
green over red!
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