Operating Waterley Bank Estate Farm
The layout was always intended to be as interesting to operate as possible. This was why I chose to use the Inglenook trackplan as it granted the maximum possible operations with the minimum possible trackage. I found an online simulation of the Inglenook puzzle and after I had played with it most days for several weeks and still found it as much fun by the end of the fourth or fifth week as I had the first time I tried it, I decided the Inglenook was the design for me.
The Inglenook puzzle is now well known so I will not explain it here. If you haven't heard of it yet, try> http://www.wymann.info/ShuntingPuzzles/sw-inglenook.html. I planned and built the layout's trackage as an Inglenook puzzle, but with two of the sidings longer than I need. I often operate it as an Inglenook. Here is a tip for those who, like me, have become experienced at shunting an Inglenook layout and find it verging towards easy-ish. Build or buy a special wagon that is double the length of a normal wagon (effectively the length of two wagons) and put that on the track in place of two ordinary wagons. Now try the puzzle again and revel in its renewed challenges. If you are a complete shunter pro/swot/geek, try adding a second double-length wagon! It can still (just about) be done. Add another and the task must become impossible (or does it? (I haven't tried it yet)). My layout also has a couple of other points that make it a bit trickier, such as the fact that three wagons will only just fit in one of the shorter sidings, and the wagon lengths aren't quite standard. It can all require quite a lot of shunting. I think that in practice the railway operators would have moved the limit of shunt further down the main line, after all there is plenty more track down there, and indeed when not playing the Inglenook game I usually extend the headshunt off-scene, which drastically reduces the number of moves and time taken to shunt - thus greatly increasing the practicality of the railway for actually transporting things!
The Inglenook puzzle is just one way to operate the layout. A better way to simulate real railway operations is to have a series of loads which need to be transported and to send them to their destinations in the appropriate wagons. At the farm there are two loading/unloading points. Wagon loads can be manhandled through a small hole in the backscene leading into the barn (simulating manual loading and unloading by farmworkers inside the barn), or taken in and out of the storehouse by the crane. The concrete hard standing beside the rear siding gives a third goods location, primarily for vehicles which are enclosed or tarpaulained and therefore do not actually have to have loads. With the two exits at opposite ends, there is a total of four or five origins/destinations for goods. I have a variety of wagon loads fitting most wagons which are robust enough for handling. Each load is entered in a table with its origin, destination, and wagon to be used. Several versions of the table are produced with a selection of the load workings in random order. A loco is picked, a few wagons put on the track and the table is worked through.
Sometimes it is fun just to run random through trains. A loco and some wagons are put together and loaded up at one end of the line and sent through to the other, passing the farm without stopping. Passenger trains (nearly) always fall into this category.
I anticipate that at exhibition a combination of the three methods will be used, depending on size and nature of the crowd, observers level of interest in the layout, and the operators preferences (and levels of tiredness and hungriness!).
The Inglenook puzzle is now well known so I will not explain it here. If you haven't heard of it yet, try> http://www.wymann.info/ShuntingPuzzles/sw-inglenook.html. I planned and built the layout's trackage as an Inglenook puzzle, but with two of the sidings longer than I need. I often operate it as an Inglenook. Here is a tip for those who, like me, have become experienced at shunting an Inglenook layout and find it verging towards easy-ish. Build or buy a special wagon that is double the length of a normal wagon (effectively the length of two wagons) and put that on the track in place of two ordinary wagons. Now try the puzzle again and revel in its renewed challenges. If you are a complete shunter pro/swot/geek, try adding a second double-length wagon! It can still (just about) be done. Add another and the task must become impossible (or does it? (I haven't tried it yet)). My layout also has a couple of other points that make it a bit trickier, such as the fact that three wagons will only just fit in one of the shorter sidings, and the wagon lengths aren't quite standard. It can all require quite a lot of shunting. I think that in practice the railway operators would have moved the limit of shunt further down the main line, after all there is plenty more track down there, and indeed when not playing the Inglenook game I usually extend the headshunt off-scene, which drastically reduces the number of moves and time taken to shunt - thus greatly increasing the practicality of the railway for actually transporting things!
The Inglenook puzzle is just one way to operate the layout. A better way to simulate real railway operations is to have a series of loads which need to be transported and to send them to their destinations in the appropriate wagons. At the farm there are two loading/unloading points. Wagon loads can be manhandled through a small hole in the backscene leading into the barn (simulating manual loading and unloading by farmworkers inside the barn), or taken in and out of the storehouse by the crane. The concrete hard standing beside the rear siding gives a third goods location, primarily for vehicles which are enclosed or tarpaulained and therefore do not actually have to have loads. With the two exits at opposite ends, there is a total of four or five origins/destinations for goods. I have a variety of wagon loads fitting most wagons which are robust enough for handling. Each load is entered in a table with its origin, destination, and wagon to be used. Several versions of the table are produced with a selection of the load workings in random order. A loco is picked, a few wagons put on the track and the table is worked through.
Sometimes it is fun just to run random through trains. A loco and some wagons are put together and loaded up at one end of the line and sent through to the other, passing the farm without stopping. Passenger trains (nearly) always fall into this category.
I anticipate that at exhibition a combination of the three methods will be used, depending on size and nature of the crowd, observers level of interest in the layout, and the operators preferences (and levels of tiredness and hungriness!).