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
• Ops Bibliography - over 300 magazine articles.
• OPSIG Industries database - information on 40,000 industries.
• Ops 101 - member-generated presentations on introduction to operations.

Operations e-mail list (Yahoo Group)

The Yahoo Ry-Ops-Industrial chat group is a great place to talk with other modelers, many of whom belong to the OPSIG, among several other SIG's. The OPSIG is pleased to interact and participate with folks on this chat list, but it is not an official OPSIG function and nothing said on the list should be taken as official OPSIG Board policy.

• Web address: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Ry-ops-industrialSIG/
• Mailing address: Ry-ops-industrialSIG-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

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
• Operation on Sudro Brown's Amherst Subdivision of the Wisconsin Central Railway

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

• 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.
• Commonly used Abbreviations

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.
  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
• Definition of Terms from the 1962 Uniform Code of Operating Rules.
• The Condensed Code of Operating Rules by Stephen Karas provides a concise set of rules to operate model railroads.
• A list (Excel) of the interchange traffic between the NKP and AC&Y at AU Tower in Bluffton, Ohio, in 1944. Transcribed by Robert Lucas (RobertELucas@MSN.com). Thanks to him and Tony Koester for supplying this.

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/

Yards

• The Ten Commandments of yard design - Bisgeier, Craig - www.housatonicrr.com/yard_des.html
• Byron Henderson tells how to switch a yard efficiently at www.layoutvision.com/id20.html