This website has been archived from TrainWeb.org/wcng to TrainWeb.US/wcng.
Now having confirmed my status as a "Friend of the Circle" I digress into a treatise on how a railroad, my railroad, can be made to perform just as a real narrow gauge rail line might. What will make this writing different than any other Operation Article you have encountered is that it will be an 'open ended' work; it will encompass the fluid nature of a rail operating pattern that evolves, just as the real ones did to better serve the customer base and make use of avalible Physical Plant, rolling stock, and Motive power. The pattern will change as I come up with new and better ways to do things, and decide not to repeat things that don't work out so well.
Perhaps a little backround is in order as well. First of all, the WCNG is not what you would call a big layout, roughly 100 ft of mainlin run with assorted sidings, as you can see from the trackplan, the line runs from the front of the house, down one side and to the backyard. There are two switching areas, Port Lavender in the front yard and Anns Creek in the back. While a smallish layout, the rolling stock is BIG! In 7/8 scale each car is 21" long (emulating a 24' prototype) and I have a 4 truck Shay (No9) that is pushing 3 feet in length. There is no operating group, just me and sometimes my JRVP (my 10 y/o daughter Andrea) so all operations are designed sorta as a one man band kinda deal. Not that I'm opposed to having several crews, there simply isn't that much interest in Model Railroading at all in this area, a problem that I know several others have encountered as well.
