Operations SIG Internet Resources

Contact us at Resources@OPSIG.org
(Please include "OPSIG" in the subject line)

Following are some web pages of possible interest to operations-oriented model railroaders.

National Model Railroad Association

• NMRA home page - http://www.nmra.org/

Operations Special Interest Group

• OPSIG home page - http://www.OPSIG.org/
• OPSIG Dispatchers Office back issues index
  online extras for DO articles
• OPSIG e-mail list (Yahoo Group) -
  • Web address: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Ry-ops-industrialSIG/
  • Mailing address: Ry-ops-industrialSIG-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
• Ops Bibliography - over 300 magazine articles.
• OPSIG Industries database - information on 40,000 industries.

Layout Design SIG

• LDSig Primer of layout design considerations - http://macrodyn.com/ldsig/wiki/index.php?title=Category:Primer

General

• Designing model railroad operations (with bibliography) - Schumaker, Richard 5/98 - http://www.gatewaynmra.org/designops.htm
• Layout owner's guide to better operation - Barrow, David et al - http://www.gatewaynmra.org/opguide.htm#owner
• Operator's guide to better operation - Barrow, David et al - http://www.gatewaynmra.org/opguide.htm
• Op Session Design - Freelance and Prototype - Byron Henderson
• A Primer for Narrow Gauge and Short-line Operations - Barry J. Cott - http://www.OPSIG.org/pdf/CottPrimer.pdf
• Operations manual for Rick Fortin's SW&SF - describes specific train procedures http://www.lwmweb.com/sw&sf/miscdoc/opsmanual/opsmanual.html. In fact the entire site is worth reviewing.
• Realistic Model Railroading site http://home.cogeco.ca/~trains/rrhome.htm
• Bob Martin's detailed operating procedures manual http://kc.pennsyrr.com/layouts/martin/opmanual.php
• Jeff Warner's Operating Documentation http://www.pamodelrailroads.com/jwarner/docs.htm
• Steven Mallery's Operating rules: http://www.pamodelrailroads.com/smallery/docs.htm

The La Mesa Club layout remains a truly exciting and memorable experience as manifested in the movement of a 117 car reefer train over Tehachapi in the 1950's.

Model Railroad Operations

• Car Standards for Reliable Operation from the La Mesa Model RR Club, San Diego
  • Regulations For Rolling Stock (pdf)
  • Video discussion with Car Department Foreman John Cathcart (10 min summary)
  • Full 60 minute video

Car Forwarding

• Tony Koester's series on carcards and waybills from '93-94 Model Railroader are now part of the Information Station series of downloadable PDF articles at www.modelrailroader.com. The 40-page package includes 9 articles from MR on operation and sells for $11.95. An updated version of the same information is in Chapter 6 of Tony's book Realistic Model Railroad Operation.
• For links to car card sources and usage explanation see http://www.gatewaynmra.org/articles/car-card-resources.htm
• Carcard operations on Lee Nicholas' Utah Colorado & Western - http://www.ucwrr.com/
• Railroad reporting marks searchable list - http://www.rrdepot.com/wiki/Reporting_mark
• Railroad freight forwarding - prototype and various model systems - John Russell - http://home.cogeco.ca/~trains/rrfrtops.htm
• Starter carcard procedures - http://www.nmra.org.au/sigs/waybills4.html
• Directory of Standard Transportation Commodity Codes (STCC) - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Ry-ops-industrialSIG/files/STCC.zip
• Matching car types with products handled - http://www.ge.com/railservices/products/railequipmentbyindustry.html
• Hazardous materials descriptions, placards, paperwork, emergency procedures, etc - http://www.usfa.fema.gov/hazmat/master.htm
• AAR Freight Car and Passenger Car car type codes - http://nakina.net/other/aartype.html or AAR Freight Car Codes and AAR Passenger Car Codes
• Stirling Millar's Ivy City Eastern Railroad's ZTS Maps, based on Conrail examples - http://necorridor.millarwebdesign.com/operations/zts.htm

Dispatching

• Timetable and train order operation, a primer - Amsler, Bob - 7/99 - http://www.gatewaynmra.org/tto.htm
• Guide for crews running under TT&TO http://railsonwheels.com/ors/quickopsguide.shtml
• SP "Instructions Governing Train Dispatchers and Control Operators" - late 1980s - from Dan O'Connor - http://www.jglrr.com/operating/dispatcher/index.html
• Overview of dispatcher functions - http://www.halcyon.com/tawhite/just/justnx.htm
• Not on the Internet, but check out Steve King's 5-part series on TT&TO in the January, April, July and October 1998 and January 1999 Dispatchers Office.
• Direct Traffic Control (DTC) primer - http://www.lundsten.dk/us_signaling/dtc
• Track Warrant Control (TWC) primer - http://www.lundsten.dk/us_signaling/twc
• Track Warrant and Track Bulletin forms sized to match Old Line Graphics carcards - http://www.jglrr.com/operating/forms/index.html
• Communications for Model Railroads - Clinic from Seattle National by Seth Neumann - http://www.OPSIG.org/phones.pdf
• History and principles of timetable & trainorder operations - http://www.du.edu/~jcalvert/tel/trainord.htm
• Various references to railway signaling, engineering and history - http://www.du.edu/~jcalvert/railway/railhom.htm
• Analysis of train dispatching related causes of 66 rail accidents, illustrating trainorder principles by their violation - http://www.du.edu/~jcalvert/railway/trainord.htm

Industries

• Chemical industry plant location information - http://www.chemicalguide.com/Public_Pages/plant_locator.cfm
• Livestock and perishable (reefer) operations - http://www.atsfrr.net/resources/Sandifer/Clinics/OpClinics.htm
• The California Packing House web site contains several hundred photos and other resources covering citrus, stone fruit and grape packing houses in Southern California (http://ljames1.home.netcom.com/scph.html) and in Central/Northern California (http://scph002.home.netcom.com/cncph.html).

Language

• Railroad Glossary - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossary_of_rail_terminology - includes links to terms specific to countries.

Passenger Operations

• Passenger train operations, a neglected opportunity - Bisgeier, Craig - 2000 - http://www.HousatonicRR.com/passops.html

Prototype Operations

• New River Sub - Heart of the C&O - Kempinski, Bernie - 1998 - http://newriversub.8m.net/
• Walla Walla Valley prototype and Blair Kooistra's model operations, including photos and industry data - http://www.wwvrailway.com
• Perishable operations on AT&SF - ICC testimony Sept 5, 1956 - http://ljames1.home.netcom.com/scph_moore_text.html
• Switching and Weighscaling rules and explanations at ProTrak software site - http://www.protrak.cc/
• Stories about how the real railroad really runs - Al Krug's (BN) PicTales - http://krugtales.50megs.com/rrpictale/rrpictale.htm
• The Pennsylvania Railroad Rules for Conducting Transportation (1956) - broadway.pennsyrr.com/Rail/Prr/Bor1956/rulebook1956.html
• "The Catechism on the Uniform Code of Operating Rules" (dated 5/1/1950), scanned and converted to a series of six PDF files totalling about 30 MB. Said Catechism is actually a training device which explains the majority of rules and how to interpret and apply them. As The Uniform Code derived directly from The Standard Code, said Catechism is a great aid in learning both Codes.
  Caveat Lector: Vic Polewsky has posted a warning on the reliability of this document. It would be wise to read this before assuming the Catchism is authoritative.
  1. Part 1 - cover through page 35 (2.7 MB) PDF
  2. Part 2 - page 36 through page 71 (2.9 MB) PDF
  3. Part 3 - page 72 through page 87 (3.9 MB) PDF
  4. Part 4 - page 88 through page 101 (3.6 MB) PDF
  5. Part 5 - page 102 through page 111 (1.9 MB) PDF
  6. Part 6 - page 112 through page 144 (4.3 MB) PDF
• Pennsylvania RR 1955 freight train schedules, connections, etc - at www.prrfreight.com
• Rock Island transportation plan schedules - http://www.simpson.edu/~RITS/histories/freight_schedule72/Instructions.html
• Genesee & Wyoming Railroad - extensive resource page. Includes locomotive roster, mileposts, and the complete 1989 book of rules: http://www.rochester-railfan.net/gnwr.htm
• Consolidated Code of Operating Rules - Revised 1959 - with handy index http://www.westportterminal.de/rule-book-1.html
• The Condensed Code of Operating Rules by Stephen Karas provides a concise set of rules to operate model railroads.

Software

• List of commercial and freeware computer operations programs - http://home.cogeco.ca/~trains/rrsoft.htm
• Source of "pre-computer" type fonts for making "dot matrix" appearance documents - http://www.vintagetype.com/vintagetypewriter/
• To make up your own switchlist forms see http://www.zianet.com/awebsite4u/jwrrsl.html

Yards

• The Ten Commandments of yard design - Bisgeier, Craig - http://www.housatonicrr.com/yard_des.html
• Byron Henderson tells how to switch a yard efficiently at http://home.earthlink.net/~mrsvc/id20.html