Operating / Yard Update for Saturday 8/12/17

[Oliver Bowe]

I will not be at the upcoming Operating session on Tuesday 8/15/17. I have done Classification and Made-Up Trains to prepare for Tuesday. Following are some comments;

1. Our practice of parking freight cars at Wausau Station as a Staging location needs to be reevaluated. There are Club members who like to run Passenger Trains and use those tracks for Staging of Passenger Trains. I discussed this with Larry and agreed that we would cease using those tracks for Freight Staging.

2. I made-up 4 Trains that are ready for Tuesday's Operating session; Tulsa, Russelville, Gary and Palestine. There is a 5th Train that can be run to WEST Staging once we identify a new location for it (i.e. not Wausau Station).

3. We have Club Members (and some guest) that pick-up parked cars in the Yard and Staging (Wausau). Most do a good job of returning the train to where it was picked-up but not always. I've had to hunt down more than a few cars and resort Car Cards that were out-of-order. I think it is important that we continue to allow Members to use Operating Cars to run trains. I think we need to POST instructions for How. (i.e. we could make either Track 10 or 11 a designated Off-Layout Staging track during Non-Operating Times. We Post guidance that Members can run this Train provided they return the cars to same track as picked-up and not add (or take-away) any cars. In order to support this, we will need to ensure that we do enough Classification before leaving on Tuesday night to clear at least 2 of the 3 remaining Through Tracks (1, 2 & 10).

Well enough for now. Enjoy this week and I'll hopefully see you next weekend.
Oliver

[Mike Rehling]

I will not be at the upcoming Operating session on Tuesday 8/15/17. I have done Classification and Made-Up Trains to prepare for Tuesday. Following are some comments;

1. Our practice of parking freight cars at Wausau Station as a Staging location needs to be reevaluated. There are Club members who like to run Passenger Trains and use those tracks for Staging of Passenger Trains. I discussed this with Larry and agreed that we would cease using those tracks for Freight Staging.

2. I made-up 4 Trains that are ready for Tuesday's Operating session; Tulsa, Russelville, Gary and Palestine. There is a 5th Train that can be run to WEST Staging once we identify a new location for it (i.e. not Wausau Station).

3. We have Club Members (and some guest) that pick-up parked cars in the Yard and Staging (Wausau). Most do a good job of returning the train to where it was picked-up but not always. I've had to hunt down more than a few cars and resort Car Cards that were out-of-order. I think it is important that we continue to allow Members to use Operating Cars to run trains. I think we need to POST instructions for How. (i.e. we could make either Track 10 or 11 a designated Off-Layout Staging track during Non-Operating Times. We Post guidance that Members can run this Train provided they return the cars to same track as picked-up and not add (or take-away) any cars. In order to support this, we will need to ensure that we do enough Classification before leaving on Tuesday night to clear at least 2 of the 3 remaining Through Tracks (1, 2 & 10).

Well enough for now. Enjoy this week and I'll hopefully see you next weekend.
Oliver

The tracks at Wausau should only be utilized on operating night. All other times the "staging" trains should be on either track 1 or 2.

I too have had to reorganize cars in the yard and hunt some down when preparing for operations on Tuesday nights. I agree we need to make these cars available for people to use, but the expectation should be that they return them.

I agree we need to develop some sort of primer read for people to refer to when they want to move cars or even operate a train. The idea is that anyone should be able to operate a train if it is ready to dispatch. All things in time.

Mike