As regular readers and viewers will know, I really enjoy shunting operations and finding ways of handling freight movements on my railway. Over the years, I have used several approaches and although, these days, I mostly use my computerised version, I still sometimes revert to the other methods as circumstances change.
All the methods I have used attempt to provide ways of deciding which wagons should be sent to which location at the start of during running sessions.
Non computerised methods
Card-based system 1
Each wagon has a card describing the wagon and/or showing a photo of the wagon. At the start of the session, the cards are shuffled and dealt out into piles representing locations around the railway.
- simple and effective
- piles of cards show readily which wagon goes where
Disadvantages
- purely random allocation
- cards could be blown away on windy days
Card based system 2
Each wagon has a card. Six holes are punched across the top of the card. Some holes are then opened up as shown here.
At the start of the session, all wagon cards are put into a single stack and a die is rolled. A knitting needle or chopstick is passed through the relevant hole in the stack of cards. Those remaining on the needle are marshalled into the train, the others remain in the yard. The operator decides on the best destination for each wagon.
Advantages
- simple and effective
- the stack of cards provides a clear record of which wagons will be despatched
- allows for a form of weighted randomisation. Wagons with fewer holes snipped through will be marshalled more frequently
Disadvantages
- destinations still determined by operator
- cards could be blown away on windy days
Card and die based system
Each wagon has a card which shows or describes the wagon. The card also shows possible destinations with numbers beside, indicating the die roll.
For example
The cards are shuffled and the number of cards representing that day's goods train are dealt out. For each card, a die is rolled to determine where it will be sent. So, if a three is rolled the cattle wagon will go to Peckforton and if a six is rolled the 2-plank open will go to Bickerton.
Rolling a ten sided die or two dice will give you a greater range of options.
Advantages
- simple and effective
- destinations can be weighted (ie more numbers beside a destination increases the likelihood the wagon is sent there)
- cards can be sorted into destination piles once the die has been rolled
Disadvantages
- requires some preparation time
- cards could be blown away on windy days
Computerised methods
Low tech
Using a weighted random generator app such as Rand1 allows you to create a list of destinations with a % likelihood for each destination being selected. The way I use it is to create categories of wagons (eg coal, van, timber, miscellaneous, etc) and then use the weightings to prioritise the most appropriate destination(s).
For example:
The weightings for a van being sent out from Beeston Market (my railway's main terminus) mean that a van is most likely (25%) to be sent to Bulkeley where soft fruit is loaded on to trains, but the van could also be sent to other destinations (15% for each). It could also remain at Beeston Market (23%).
At the start of a running session, I use the app to decide whether each wagon in the yard will remain there or be sent to an outlying destination. As I follow the goods train around the garden delivering the wagons, I use the app at each station to decide whether wagons already at the station should stay or be moved elsewhere.
To set up the app:
3 - Give the wagon category a name (in this case it's for a coal wagon going out from the main terminus)
5 - Once you have entered all the destinations and weightings, click the dice button (bottom right) to be given a destination.
Advantages
- simple and effective
- destinations are weighted to make operations more realistic
- portable - easily accessed from a mobile phone which can be carried with you around the garden
Disadvantages
- requires some preparation time
- there is no restriction to train length and so you could get excessively long trains (though you could adjust the %s to help avoid this)
Mid tech
Freight Manager
This program can be downloaded from Dropbox (there are Windows and Apple versions). It is a free standalone program which I created using Livecode. For more information about the program see How I revised my freight handling program
....... and between two and eight locations (see link above, or the manual provided in the download for detailed setting-up instructions).
Once the data have been entered, the program allows you to create goods trains of lengths which you specify.
Their locations will be remembered at the end of a session, or you can start from scratch at the start of the next session by returning all wagons to a central destination.
Print-outs of the start locations for the wagons and the manifests for each train can be printed out and taken into the garden for consultation during running sessions.
- each wagon can be given its own destination profile
- the location of each wagon is remembered between sessions
- train length can be pre-set
- wagons can be taken out of service if not used in a session
Disadvantages
- requires initial preparation time (but only once when first running the program)
- laptop- or desktop-based, so needs printouts for use in the garden
Hi tech
Google Sheets spreadsheet macros
I wrote this set of macros to run on Google Sheets so it would work on my phone or laptop out in the garden. It works in a similar way to Freight Manager above, but rather than setting weighted destinations for individual wagons, the destinations are set for categories of wagons.
For more information (including the code for the macros), see How I created a freight management system for Google Sheets
Advantages
- train lengths can be pre-determined
- portable - easily accessed from a mobile phone which can be carried with you around the garden
Disadvantages
- requires some basic knowledge of running macros on Google Sheets
- wagons and locations need to be set up initially (but only once)
- the mobile version won't allow the use of on-screen buttons and relies on selecting from drop down fields, which can be difficult to see when outside
Psion-based Freight Manager
Psion pocket computers were considered high-tech in the pre-smart phone 1990s but, of course, have now been superseded. However, they can still be bought secondhand and provide a simple, portable way of running software out in the garden.
For more information, see How I programmed my Psion pocket computer to manage freight
Advantages
- destinations are weighted to make operations more realistic
- portable - can be carried with you around the garden
Disadvantages
- requires considerable preparation time, as the program will have to be typed in line by line (unless you can find a way of connecting your Psion to a modern computer)
- the software is limited by the LCD screen display and the computer's lack of memory
Conclusion
We all have our own reasons for building and running a garden railway. For me, it provided an opportunity to create a complete light railway system which I wanted to run reasonably realistically. Your motivations may be quite different. There is no right or wrong way of running a model railway. Its main purpose is to keep us entertained, amused and occupied. For me, an essential part of that is finding ways to make freight movements interesting and sometimes challenging. Hopefully, if you are of a similar mindset then something I have described above might be of interest.
If you have devised an approach to running freight operations on your railway, I'd be very interested to hear about it by leaving a comment below.
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