Handout for “Jobs We Do on the Layout” clinic

The clinic is aimed at describing and illustrating my ideas of what we can do on a layout to reproduce some ideas of prototype railroad jobs that relate to operations. In the clinic, I show examples of  prototypical paperwork as developed for use by model railroaders; and show a number of real railroad jobs that an serve as prototypes for layout operating jobs. As a single example, one might think about the yard office clerk, chalking switching directions (not graffiti!) on a freight car. This photo is from the Richard Hendrickson collection. 

I briefly wrapped up my recommendations with some illustrations of how I have followed these ideas in developing the operating procedures on my own layout. Shown below are links to some blog posts of mine, with background about all this. In addition, I have included below a number of background links to internet resources, as well as a complete list of published material shown or mentioned in the clinic. As I usually do nowadays,  this handout is on-line only, so that the numerous internet resources are readily accessed.  

I will begin with links to some posts to my blog, which touch on the ideas I mentioned for railroad jobs, particularly the agent.

“Clerks, waybills and all that,” https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2018/05/clerks-waybills-and-all-that-waybills.html

“Waybills: the people involved,” https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2014/09/waybills-part-35-people-involved.html

“What’s a car distributor,” https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2020/12/whats-car-distributor.html

“Railroad office forces,” https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2021/06/office-forces.html

“The car-service organization,” https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2019/09/the-car-service-organization.html

“Waybills in service,” https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2017/02/waybills-part-57-waybills-in-service.html

Next is a listing of books and articles shown or mentioned in the clinic.

Armstrong, John H., The Railroad – What It Is, What It Does (Chapter 8, Railroad Operations), Simmons-Boardman Publishing, Omaha, 1982. [there are several subsequent editions with updates; the original is closest in time to the era I model] 

Bedwell, Harry, The Boomer, University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, 2006.

Chubb, Bruce, How to Operate Your Model Railroad, Kalmbach Books, Milwaukee, 1977.

______, Compendium of Model Railroad Operations, Operations Special Interest Group, Downingtown, PA, 2017.

Coughlin, E.W., Freight Car Distribution and Handling in the United States, Car Service Division, Association of American Railroads, Washington, 1956.

Ellison, Frank, “The Art of Model Railroading,” six-part series in Model Railroader, 1944; reprinted in 1964, August to January 1965.

Ellison, Frank, Frank Ellison on Model Railroads, Fawcett Books, Greenwich, CT, 1954.

Fisher, Ralph E., Vanishing Markers, Stephen Greene Press, Brattleboro, VT, 1976. 

Kalmbach, A.C. (writing as “Boomer Pete”), “Realistic Operation,” Model Railroader, March 1939, pp. 127–130.

Kalmbach, A.C. (writing as “Boomer Pete”), How to Run a Model Railroad, Kalmbach, Milwaukee, 1944 (revision of earlier book, Operating a Model Railroad, 1942).

Koester, Tony, “In search of the perfect waybill,” Model Railroader, February 2012, p. 82.

Koester, Tony, Realistic Model Railroad Operation, Kalmbach, Waukesha, WI, 2003 (2nd edition, 2013).

Morgenstern, Wes (Ed.), Working on the Western Maryland, Western Maryland Historical Society, Union Bridge. MD, 1999. 

Morgenstern, Wes,and Leo Armentrout (Eds.), Working on the Western Maryland, Volume II, Western Maryland Historical Society, Union Bridge. MD, 2011. 

Niemann, Linda, Boomer, University of California Press, Berkeley, 1990. 

_____, Railway Accounting Rules, Accounting Division, Association of American Railroads, Washington, 1950. [numerous editions exist; this one suits my era]

Rehwalt, Dan, Westsider, Grizzly Press, Oakridge, OR, 2004.

Roxbury, L.E., Let’s Operate a Railroad, High-Iron Publishers, Warwick, VA, 1957. 

Smith, Doug, “The latest word on card operations,” Model Railroader, December 1961, pp. 52–62.

Sprau, David, and Steven King, 19 East, Copy Three, Operations Special Interest Group, WoodDale, IL, 2013.

Thompson, Anthony, “Prototypical waybills for car card operation,” Railroad Model Craftsman, December 2009, pp. 71–77.  

Thompson, Tony, “Getting Real: A More Prototypical Waybill for Model Railroads,” Model Railroad Hobbyist, pp. 31–46, May 2012. 

Thompson, Tony, ”Getting Real: Operating with Prototypical Waybills,” Model Railroad Hobbyist, January 2018.  

Finally, several on-line articles by me, touching on the topics of the clinic.

Thompson, Anthony, “Contents of a Waybill,” The Dispatcher’s Office, Vol. 16, No. 2, pp. 17–24, April 2010.
[corrected version available at: modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2011/01/waybills-2.html ]

Thompson, Anthony, “Freight Car Handling and Distribution,” The Dispatcher’s Office, Vol. 17, No. 4, pp. 28–31, October 2011.
[corrected version available at: modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2011/09/my-article-in-dispatchers-office.html ]

Thompson, Anthony, “Progress with Prototypical Waybills for Modelers,” The Dispatcher’s Office, Vol. 22, No. 4, pp. 26–33, October 2016.
[corrected version available at: modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2017/11/yet-another-correction-of-dispatchers.html ]

Thompson, Tony, “Choosing and Modeling an Era,” https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2011/04/choosing-and-modeling-era.html

Thompson, Tony, “Handout: Operating like the Prototype,” https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2023/05/handout-operating-like-prototype.html

 I hope presenting these resources on-line in this way will be at least as helpful as a paper handout, and in my opinion more convenient to use.

Tony Thompson

 

 

Line-ups for operating, Part 2

A few years ago, I posted a description of the kinds of line-ups that I use for layout operating sessions, and explored several ways of letting local switch crews know of the expected arrival time of mainline trains. That post can be found here: https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2019/01/line-ups-for-operating.html . Looking back at that post, I can see I left an incomplete expression of usage.

But before going into a clearer statement of my layout usage, let me show the Southern Pacific form used for line-ups. This is a standard form introduced in 1947, later modified a few times, and the example below was filled out in 1972. Now that’s a form that was in use for quite a time! Though it is intended for track cars (or speeders), it could be useful for a variety of recipients. (You can click on the image to enlarge it if you wish.)

My own line-up at present is more complicated than what I showed in that previous post, and I show below an example of a current typical line-up, as always for 1953. As I have seen in the SP prototype, for both line-ups and train orders, sometimes warnings such as the presence of the Division Superintendent’s car, can be included. Crews at Shumala have to consult the timetable for times at that intermediate location between Guadalupe and San Luis Obispo.

This particular form also includes a “high-wide” movement westward, Extra 2575, as I showed in a recent post (you can see the background at: https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2025/03/operating-high-wide-loads.html ). Below is a photo of this train, operated at a distinctly slow speed, as such train normally were moved.

 Also noted in the line-up, as I pointed out, is the Superintendent’s official car, Coast, SP 119, attached to a passenger equipment extra. I described modeling that car awhile back, in a three-part series concluding with this post: https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2024/08/operating-sp-business-car-conclusion.html . Two different SP former employees I interviewed mentioned that no one took a chance on not performing perfectly when the Superintendent was around.

Some visitors have immediately asked, upon considering this topic, why a line-up is needed. The segment of Southern Pacific’s Coast Division main line that passes through my layout is at the town of Shumala, and is entirely within yard limits, on the visible part of that main line on the layout. That means, as many modelers know, that Rule 93 is in effect.

In the period that I model, the 1950s, individual railroad rule books differed in the exact language of many rules, even though the intent and rule number was consistent almost everywhere. In SP rule books, Rule 93 was modified from the 1943 rule book to the 1951 rule book, and further modified in 1955, so for exact language, one needs a specific choice of era. 

Since I model 1953, I use the 1951 language, which states that “Within yard limits, engines may use main track without train-order authority, clearing or protecting against first-class trains, and without flag protection against second- and inferior-class trains, extra trains, and engines.

“Second- and inferior-class trains, extra trains, and engines must move with caution on main track within yard limits, except where movements are controlled by block signal indication.”

This clearly places responsibility for cautious movement upon the mainline train if other than first class, and in most of my sessions, the mainline trains are second-class, third-class or extra. So what is the purpose of a line-up? It helps the yard crew know what to expect, even though any mainline train arriving during yard-engine use of the main track will simply have to wait.

So to sum up, I know from employee interviews that SP freight schedules in the steam era had almost the character of suggestions. It was not only routine but almost standard for them to run various amounts late. But it would be unusual to issue run-late orders to cover any discrepancy; the Coast was not busy enough to need that. That’s why, in my line-ups, I am assuming the dispatcher is just using the line-up to pass along what he knows.

Tony Thompson 

Restoring an Ulrich hopper car, Part 2

In the preceding post, I showed an old Ulrich twin hopper car that has been in my “some day” project box for quite a while. It lacks couplers and has some other issues, as I described in that initial post (you can see it at: https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2024/12/restoring-old-ulrich-hopper-car.html . 

As I showed in that post, by including the Ulrich instructions for the oldest version of this model, there was a pine wood center sill and balsa bolster supports. There are inevitably issues with maintaining these parts, let alone modifying them. 

After the post appeared, Dave Vos in Minnesota contacted me, mentioning that back when these cars were current, he too had had issues with the wood center sill, and had purchased from Ulrich some of the cast metal underframes used in later versions of this kit. More importantly, he had a spare and offered it to me.

This frame, of course, was designed to fit the parts of the older car body. When Ulrich replaced the former wood frame with this cast frame, they continued to use all the previous body parts, which were assembled around the new frame in about the same way as for the old wood frame. 

The only task for me at this point was to remove all the old wood and glue, and to finish cleaning up the cast frame (Dave had done part of the frame cleanup). Here is the cleaned-up car body underneath, prior to repainting the brass slope sheets black. Hopper doors have been temporarily removed.

Next I needed to re-attach the AB brake gear to the new cast frame, for which I used canopy glue. Then came making new cover plates for the coupler boxes. I used 0.020-inch styrene sheet, and fitted it to the inset edges of the boxes, along with a center pin hole. With Kadee no. 158 whisker couplers installed, the underframe looked like this.

The next step was to finish painting the completed frame black, and to install it into the car body. I used canopy glue for attachment, and clamped the frame into the body to ensure a good fit and bond. Then the hopper doors were installed with canopy glue, as well as were Ajax hand brake gear, from my parts stash. To complete the car assembly, the original trucks were installed. 

The most noteworthy aspect of the photo above is that the car is far too clean! Clearly it remains to be weathered, as do a couple of other open-top cars recently completed, and that work will likely form a future post. I will certainly use my usual technique with acrylic washes, as described and illustrated in the “Reference pages” at the top right corner of this post.

I expect that the completed car will operate mostly in through trains (what I call a “mainline car”), but if you’re perhaps wondering what any kind of coal traffic is doing on a California layout, you might like to read my post on the topic (it’s at: https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2018/02/coal-in-california.html ). 

Tony Thompson

Waybills, Part 119: Operating MOW equipment

A few years ago I went beyond the modeling of maintenance-of-way (or MOW) equipment, equipment many of us enjoy modeling, and touched on some operating possibilities with such equipment. (If you’re interested in a few of the modeling projects, you can find them using the search box at the right, with the search term, “modeling MOW cars”). The previous post on today’s topic is here: https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2020/02/operating-mow-equipment.html .

 In some ways, that previous post was a little simplified, as I did not try to really enter into use of much of the equipment movement that might occur in connection with an outfit track (for commentary on a track of that kind, see: https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2022/02/the-role-of-outfit-track.html ).  Below is a view of my outfit track, in the layout town of Ballard, with Nipomo Street at left.

This view shows a pair of what Southern Pacific called “Boarding cars,” cars that track gangs or other forces might live, sleep, eat or ride in, both formerly box cars. To the right of those two is a water car. SP commonly provided wash as well as potable water by delivery with such cars, and of course I can duplicate such deliveries with a suitable waybill, such as the one below. The old saying is that the railroads were just like the military: nothing moves without paperwork.

Another perhaps more interesting case is the use of company refrigerator cars to deliver ice to on-line employee residences, depots, and work gangs on the road. (My car like this is described in an earlier post: https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2013/04/modeling-some-sp-mow-cars-part-2.html .) Here is an example of arranging such movements:

Of course work materials might arrive in company equipment other than MOW cars, for example including ballast when a track gang is working in the vicinity of an outfit track:

And finally, as I have shown in a previous post, one can readily arrange a full load or half-load of ties, to be delivered to track forces. (That post is here: https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2019/02/open-car-loads-ties-in-gondolas.html .) Here is what such a waybill might look like, in this case partially unloading the carload of ties before arriving on my layout:

These are all interesting variations on conventional railroad freight movements, and I enjoy including them in some of my operating sessions on the layout.

Tony Thompson

Another Dry Creek ballast car

Around a decade back, Robert Bowdidge initiated a line of 3D-printed HO scale SP freight cars, under the name Dry Creek Models. The business is has been in suspension for awhile, but I recently got around to finishing the second of two models of the Hart Convertible gondola design of the Rodger Ballast Car Company, as produced by Dry Creek. For anyone interested, I did a review of the kits when they were first introduced (that post is at this link: https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2015/10/the-new-dry-creek-sp-work-cars.html ).  

As part of that description, I showed the two body styles offered in the kits, one with the center-dumping doors open, and one with the them closed, the latter arrangement making a flat-bottom gondola. Below is a repeat of a photo from that post, illustrating the two body styles; the one I built at that time is the lower body, with center-dumping doors open.

In describing my build of the center-dumping car, I mostly showed how it looked when completed, as one only has to add grab irons, sill steps, vertical-staff handbrake, brake cylinder, and trucks and couplers (you can see that post here: https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2020/09/building-dry-creek-ballast-cars.html ). 

In turning to the flat-bottom car, one might wonder how a car without ends might be used. Robert may have been inspired, and my goal was to model, something like the prototype photo below. It depicts unloading of rail from a Rodger gondola during the 1910 upgrading of the San Francisco Peninsula trackage from 70–pound to 90–pound rail (Southern Pacific photo).

It is interesting to note how many lengths of rail are visible in the car. In this and a second photo, at least 78 rail ends can be identified; two are on the ground and two more are being pulled from the car. Since this is 90–pound rail, we know that a 39-foot length of it weighs 1170 pounds. The nominal capacity of these 50-ton gondolas would therefore accommodate 85 lengths of rail, and this means that the photo was taken as unloading was beginning.

Work on the Dry Creek car body was simple, as described above. I used Westerfield grab irons and A-Line sill steps, along with a Cal-Scale K brake cylinder and a Cal-Scale brake wheel on a brass wire staff (as I described in a previous post: https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2023/05/small-project-replacing-brake-wheels.html ). 

The model was washed with soap and dried, then painted with Tamiya “Fine Surface Primer — Oxide Red.” I added Kadee #158 whisker couplers in their own boxes and Kadee Vulcan trucks. Though the cars had Andrews trucks when new, in later years a variety of replacement cast-steel trucks were installed, such as Vulcans. Here’s the model at this point, awaiting lettering and weathering, plus creation of a load of rail.

My next step was lettering. I chose to locate the car number and initials on the side, as was often done after World War II, with only the capacity and other data on the side sill. Once lettering was complete, and a coat of clear flat had been applied, I weathered the car with my usual acrylic wash technique (for both a description of the technique, and a range of examples, see the “Reference pages” linked at the top right corner of this post).

With the car now ready for use in an operating session, I only (!) need to make the rail load. I will return to that in a future post.

Tony Thompson

Making a stand-in streamlined diner

Some years back, I adapted an E&B Valley kit of a streamlined Pullman-Standard diner to serve as a Southern Pacific streamlined diner. I mentioned this car in a post about using mainline passenger equipment on a small layout, with a very brief description of what was done (see that post at: https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2021/05/mainline-passenger-cars-on-small-layout.html ).  Because I often get queries, either as comments directly to posts, or as private email messages, about how I do such projects, I thought it would be useful to describe what was involved here, particularly where information comes from and how it can be used.

Because this project is a dining car, the first source I would consult is Volume 4 in the superb series, Southern Pacific Passenger Cars, covering dining service cars (Southern Pacific Historical & Technical Society, Upland, CA, 2010). I looked at photos and floor plans to find something similar to the E&B Valley model. I soon realized that the closest SP class to the E&B Valley model was Class 83-D-1.

Let’s start with the floor plan, shown below with the forward end of the car at left. (You can click on the image to enlarge it.) Notice that the kitchen is at left, with a passageway alongside it, and the dining area for passengers is at the right. The kitchen has a loading door in about the middle of the car.

Photos of this same class show the arrangements. Below are Pullman builder photos of both sides of Class 83-D-1, taken in the fall of 1949. In both photos, the dining area is toward the camera; the lower photo shows the passageway side. The cars were painted in SP’s standard Two-Tone Gray for assignment to the San Francisco Overland, but received no train emblem. The same paint scheme was used for cars in pool or stand-by service.

Clearly this is similar to but certainly not identical to the E&B Valley model. The SP prototype shown above has one more window in each area (dining and kitchen), than the E&B Valley model (below). This might be because the E&B Valley model has a vestibule, which the SP diners did not. In addition, the E&B Valley floor plan is flipped relative to the SP version, with the kitchen on the north instead of the south side.

And one more detail, the E&B Valley model has deeper skirts, typical of older cars, compared to the postwar SP diners shown above. But since this is a stand-in anyway, and will only be seen in passing trains, I decided I could accept the discrepancies, relying on the paint scheme to identify the car. The kit I built was undecorated, so paint was my first challenge.

In applying the paint scheme for this car, I tape-outlined and painted the stripes, rather than wrestle with decals (I did that once: never again.) After the paint scheme was applied, I needed to add proper diaphragms to the car. Though built with full-width diaphragms, as can be discerned in the builder photos above, it was not many years before SP began to remove these from passenger equipment whenever they were damaged or the car was in the shop for other work. 

For an example of how SP cars that originally had full-width diaphragms looked after removal, here’s the diner end of a Shasta Daylight articulated coffee shop-kitchen-diner, photographed at West Oakland in October 1961 (detail of Don Munger photo).

I made my own styrene face plates to mimic the above appearance, as I’ve described in several of my previous posts (for example, see: https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2021/06/passenger-car-diaphragms-part-3.html , the post in which the above photo was included). I’ve added some rust to the model face plate, below.

So now I can include this pool-service diner in my deadhead passenger extra trains in layout operating sessions, as you see below, in a train passing the Shumala depot. This is the passageway side of the diner.

I enjoy being able to include some of my passenger models in op sessions, even though my limited staging track length prevents me from operating realistic-length full passenger trains, This stand-in diner is just part of that story.

Tony Thompson

Operating “high-wide” loads

Prototype railroads operate special trains for loads that are very wide or very high or very heavy, compared to conventional equipment, though of course such loads must still pass under all bridges and within the width of tunnels. Particularly when these are very heavy loads, they usually ride on special railroad cars. And as a possibly interesting complication to layout operation, they usually run at considerably reduced speed.

I have wanted to try and add such trains to my operating sessions occasionally. For this purpose, I have already created a few loads that would qualify. One of them merely comprised assembling a Class One Model Works load, which I described in a post last year (you can find it here: https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2024/05/building-classone-model-works-car-load.html ). The load was then placed on a Class One flat car. I repeat a photo from that post below.

A second example is a truly large crosshead for a hydraulic press. I described preparing this load for service in a post awhile back (see the post at: https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2020/06/blocking-for-big-loads.html ). It’s shown below riding on one of Southern Pacific’s 200-ton flat cars, a Funaro & Camerlengo model; construction was described in a series of posts (the concluding one is here: https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2020/05/sp-200-ton-flat-cars-part-5.html ).

Another example is a 3D-printed heat-exchanger vessel I purchased from Dimensional Modeling Concepts, as I related in a previous post (see it at: https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2020/07/another-impressive-load.html ). This can be carried on a suitable 70-ton car. For example, I have loaded into a 65-foot mill gondola. The gondola is a Precision Scale brass model, with some added detail and weathering by Richard Hendrickson. Here Consolidation 2575 powers the one-car train leaving Shumala westward.

A rather long-term project, on which I’ve slowly advanced for a number of years, was stimulated by finding at a train show (and purchasing on impulse), a very old Fleischmann 16-wheel heavy-duty flat car. This model had been modified to accept horn-hook couplers, but was otherwise stock, including typical European end buffers. My first job was to remove the couplers and their complex mounting, and to saw off the buffers. I could then insert Kadee no. 158 whisker couplers in their own boxes.

Next I needed to letter the car. Since it isn’t actually a U.S. prototype as far as I know, I had some freedom in doing this. I used some large-capacity data from an SP heavy-duty flat car decal set, and gave it reporting marks for General Electric (GEX), though not a number of an actual GEX car.

One version of the model as sold by Fleischmann had a large turbine included as a load. That was the version I acquired. The timber cradle for the load is visible above. I did want to change the label on the turbine, which originally read “Brown Boveri,” a perfectly appropriate European name, but not what I wanted. I needed to replace that sign.

A major American manufacturer of turbines for many years has been General Electric; their classic logo is readily found by Googling it. Signs were made and then applied to each side of the turbine. And speaking of signs, “DO NOT HUMP” signs were obtained from a Jaeger HO Products placard set and applied to the car at all four corners of the car.

From what I have read, equipment like this turbine could be bolted to the railcar using the attachment points that would be used when the turbine was installed for service. Accordingly, no hold-down straps or extra blocking was used, beyond the side support timbers. With all work completed on both car and load, here is the car in action on my SP main line. (You can click on the image to enlarge it if you wish.)

In the photo above, the car is being operated as a “high-wide special,” with the load being wider than the railcar, though not especially tall. In the view below, the power is Baldwin DR-6-6-1500 no. 5212, a re-detailed and custom painted Stewart model with aftermarket decoder and sound, shown passing the engine terminal in my town of Shumala.

As a contrast to other mainline trains, a “high-wide” special occasionally makes a contrast in an operating session. I expect to continue to operate them.

Tony Thompson