OP Session

Model railroading in all scales and gauges. HO talk welcome :)
aadti
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OP Session

Unread post by aadti »

I want to invite anyone that is interested.

We have a Division 4 OP Session this Saturday June 3rd at the Grand Rapids Model Railroad Historical Society 4040 Leland NW Comstock Park MI 49321. The schedule will be as follows Orientation at 10am, Start running trains 10:30am, Break for lunch around noon, will finish about 3pm.

See grmrhs.org for more info on the layout.

RSVP to ncrdiv4@gmail.com or reply to this topic
Last edited by aadti on Thu Jun 01, 2017 9:42 am, edited 1 time in total.
Mark

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Trainman2223
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Re: OP Session

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Semper Fi

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aadti
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Re: OP Session

Unread post by aadti »

Trainman2223 wrote:https://www.grmrhs.org/ :?:
Thanks! Got overzealous with the R's
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Re: OP Session

Unread post by fmilhaupt »

A couple of us came up from SE Michigan to take part in this operating session, yesterday.

We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and found the GRMRHS guys to be great hosts. The club's layout represents the PM/C&O's Chicago-GR, GR-Plymouth and GR-Petoskey lines, including the branch to Manistee and the bit from Baldwin to Ludington.

To fit all of this into the building, they have different lines running in the foreground and in the background of each section of benchwork. It ends up looking confusing on the track plan, but I was pleased to see how well it worked when actually running trains, particularly since you wind up concentrating on your own train, rather than those in a scene in front of or behind your own. It's a trade-off necessary to get all of the track in place, but one that I thought works well here.

I found that the the deck heights for their double-deck benchwork felt comfortable to me (at 5'10") and made switching pleasant on both levels.

There's a broad spectrum of what people define as operation. I've run on layouts ranging from those where "operating" meant just running in circles and keeping out of everybody else's way, to a couple where full prototypical rules and practices were enforced and lots of paperwork was involved. The session here is very relaxing and enjoyable, with the barest minimum of paperwork I can remember seeing anywhere. The working mainline CTC makes it perfectly clear when you are allowed to proceed, and a card-less and list-less method of car movement is very easy to understand.

If you've never been to any kind of operating session, I'd recommend the sort of session that the GRMRHS held yesterday as good introduction. Each train we ran had a sense of purpose, and no part of the experience felt overwhelming.

Here are a few photos I shot after the session.

Image
The coaling tower at Ludington, which serves both the steam locomotives and the car ferries


Image
The swing bridge at St Joseph


Image
Thom Post's meticulously scratchbuilt Lake Odessa depot

Thanks to Mark, Hank, Wyett and the others for a very enjoyable operating session!
-Fritz Milhaupt

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astrovanman1989
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Re: OP Session

Unread post by astrovanman1989 »

to bad my rr museum had an open house saturday or i might have stoped by saturday maybee next time is the layout dcc
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aadti
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Re: OP Session

Unread post by aadti »

astrovanman1989 wrote:to bad my rr museum had an open house saturday or i might have stoped by saturday maybee next time is the layout dcc
Yes the layout is DCC We use NCE
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Re: OP Session

Unread post by CAT345C »

Wow, the layout looks awesome. Im gonna have to visit some time! Only been by it a thousand times on the train.
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dmitzel
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Re: OP Session

Unread post by dmitzel »

fmilhaupt wrote:A couple of us came up from SE Michigan to take part in this operating session, yesterday....
That's some great modeling! Will have to visit during the NCR Fall Convention, and maybe partake in some Ops if offered.
D.M. Mitzel
Div. 8-NCR-NMRA
Oxford, Mich.

aadti
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Re: OP Session

Unread post by aadti »

dmitzel wrote:
fmilhaupt wrote:A couple of us came up from SE Michigan to take part in this operating session, yesterday....
That's some great modeling! Will have to visit during the NCR Fall Convention, and maybe partake in some Ops if offered.
Please go to grmrhs.org and click on the "Runnin the Rails tab and you can register online. Ops are being offered and if you register early you will receive a packet with op's info.

Mark Baldwin
Chairman Grand Rails 2017 "Runnin the Rails"
Mark

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