JonMyrlennBailey
Active member
...to be realistic
I have a two-track g-scale layout. 7 scale miles of mainline is on the visible layout and 5 scale miles is in the hidden staging yard room.
Tunnel portals separate the visible layout from the hidden room.
I have 3 d/e freights, 1 d/e passenger 1 excursion steam train and 1 Amtrak MOW truck on each of both tracks of the closed mainline circuit.
I have a modern mix of d/e hood unit freights: autorack automobile carrier unit train, TOFC unit train, wellcar unit train, tank car unit train and two manifest (mixed) freights.
The staging yard has sidings for each of the d/e trains but the steam trains and MOW trucks share a common siding so one vehicle parks behind the other in turn and waits.
There is an AI schedule for each of the 12 "trains".
The staging yard is a double ladder. Each way of the two-track mainline has its own yard so constructed.
All the trains have to pass through a common junction to get back onto the main line following their wait in the staging yard.
At each staging yard exit junction on the ladder where it merges on to the mainline, there is a track mark. I have all the d/e freights hold at this junction for 15 minutes before getting back on to the mainline. Each d/e freight stays on its respective siding for 15 minutes also. This lessens the chance of trains getting in each other's way at the common junction where they have to re-enter the mainline. The steam excursion trains are held on their sidings for two hours. The d/e passengers are held on their sidings for one hour. The MOW trucks are held for 30 minutes if it is the lead vehicle on the shared siding but if a steam train is holding in front of it it will have to hold for at least 2 hours and 30 minutes. In modern American railroading, d/e freight trains are more frequent and more common. Passenger trains are rarer and steam locomotives are special these days so they get even less frequent travel on the mainline. More d/e freight trains seen on the layout more often and fewer passenger and even fewer excursion trains seen less often.
Yes, MOW trucks should not be seen frequently too.
Using these AI schedule timings as said above, and observing one particular grade crossing on the layout for two hours straight railfan style, I counted 13 trains pass in both directions combined. That's about one train each and every 9.2 minutes. The number of trains on the route, the number of tracks, the length of the mainline circuit and the wait times dictate the frequency of how often trains pass.
I would have to increase the hold times of trains in the staging yard for so many minutes especially the d/e freights which are most numerous so that o average only one train apsses in either direction every 15 minutes. I would not what the advanced math is to make such a calculation so I will just have to add minutes to wait times and recheck.
The staging yard acts like a dispenser, admitting one train at a time to the mainline. Think of the roller coasters with multiple trains at amusement parks. One train comes in and lines up behind another and the front-most one loaded with passengers is sent down the line. I could line up trains one behind the other in tandem at a timed hold point on the hidden portion of the mainline AND without using a yard but that would take up too much space. The double-ladder yard with parallel sidings is much more compact for holding and releasing timed trains.
Right now, I'm running a new experiment. I added 15 minutes hold time to each of the six d/e freights to see how that now affects total train frequency on the line. Trainz is a fun little guinea pig of sorts to fiddle with. The math here is much trickier than those "train" questions you had on high school SAT tests. Complex computer algorithms must be used to plan modern train scheduling. I like the old image of passenger service whereby the conductor holds a Swiss pocket watch
to keep trains running on time. That was the old pride of American railroading: timeliness.
I have a two-track g-scale layout. 7 scale miles of mainline is on the visible layout and 5 scale miles is in the hidden staging yard room.
Tunnel portals separate the visible layout from the hidden room.
I have 3 d/e freights, 1 d/e passenger 1 excursion steam train and 1 Amtrak MOW truck on each of both tracks of the closed mainline circuit.
I have a modern mix of d/e hood unit freights: autorack automobile carrier unit train, TOFC unit train, wellcar unit train, tank car unit train and two manifest (mixed) freights.
The staging yard has sidings for each of the d/e trains but the steam trains and MOW trucks share a common siding so one vehicle parks behind the other in turn and waits.
There is an AI schedule for each of the 12 "trains".
The staging yard is a double ladder. Each way of the two-track mainline has its own yard so constructed.
All the trains have to pass through a common junction to get back onto the main line following their wait in the staging yard.
At each staging yard exit junction on the ladder where it merges on to the mainline, there is a track mark. I have all the d/e freights hold at this junction for 15 minutes before getting back on to the mainline. Each d/e freight stays on its respective siding for 15 minutes also. This lessens the chance of trains getting in each other's way at the common junction where they have to re-enter the mainline. The steam excursion trains are held on their sidings for two hours. The d/e passengers are held on their sidings for one hour. The MOW trucks are held for 30 minutes if it is the lead vehicle on the shared siding but if a steam train is holding in front of it it will have to hold for at least 2 hours and 30 minutes. In modern American railroading, d/e freight trains are more frequent and more common. Passenger trains are rarer and steam locomotives are special these days so they get even less frequent travel on the mainline. More d/e freight trains seen on the layout more often and fewer passenger and even fewer excursion trains seen less often.
Yes, MOW trucks should not be seen frequently too.
Using these AI schedule timings as said above, and observing one particular grade crossing on the layout for two hours straight railfan style, I counted 13 trains pass in both directions combined. That's about one train each and every 9.2 minutes. The number of trains on the route, the number of tracks, the length of the mainline circuit and the wait times dictate the frequency of how often trains pass.
I would have to increase the hold times of trains in the staging yard for so many minutes especially the d/e freights which are most numerous so that o average only one train apsses in either direction every 15 minutes. I would not what the advanced math is to make such a calculation so I will just have to add minutes to wait times and recheck.
The staging yard acts like a dispenser, admitting one train at a time to the mainline. Think of the roller coasters with multiple trains at amusement parks. One train comes in and lines up behind another and the front-most one loaded with passengers is sent down the line. I could line up trains one behind the other in tandem at a timed hold point on the hidden portion of the mainline AND without using a yard but that would take up too much space. The double-ladder yard with parallel sidings is much more compact for holding and releasing timed trains.
Right now, I'm running a new experiment. I added 15 minutes hold time to each of the six d/e freights to see how that now affects total train frequency on the line. Trainz is a fun little guinea pig of sorts to fiddle with. The math here is much trickier than those "train" questions you had on high school SAT tests. Complex computer algorithms must be used to plan modern train scheduling. I like the old image of passenger service whereby the conductor holds a Swiss pocket watch
to keep trains running on time. That was the old pride of American railroading: timeliness.
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