Op Sessions

What is an op session? Well, first it can be a whole lotta fun. You and a bunch of your train-nut buddies running trains and making wisecracks when things don't work out right.

But for me it goes a bit further than that. I like to run trains on-purpose. That is I like having the trains do some work and behave as part of a transportation system. You know. Like a real railroad except smaller.

They pick up cargo from shippers and deliver it to the consignee. This implies a bit of discipline. We're not just grabbing a train and running it where ever we might feel. Each train is part of the system. There are locals that service the online customers. There are through freights that deliver cargos from far away and take the cars loaded by the local industries off to places over the horizon.

The yard master needs to get cars switched from one train to another expeditiously. We don't want cars sitting overnight in the yard because they unnecessarily missed a connection.

And there are passenger trains getting in the way of getting any real work done. But they need to get the locals around from town to town in the mountains of Oregon because the roads aren't really a great alternative yet in 1952.

The dispatcher is the benign (we hope so anyway) tyrant. Bestowing favors (permission to use the track) and keeping trains from running into each other (hopefully).

Some people think it's too much like work but I think it's a blast!
Check it out...

If you want to learn more about operating a model railroad like a real one here are some links you might find interesting (in addition to the other ops pages here).