Layout Update Mondays: Layout Operations Review

The A-team (Andrew and Amanda) operate the Tribute to Springfield layout.

One of the things we like to do in the club is have a post-show review about what went well and what didn't go so well to help us improve our modular layouts. As this was the first go around with the Tribute to Springfield layout, I figured this would be a good time to review how the layout operated.

The layout was designed to be a switching game. Basically, the idea is that a pair of cars have been dropped off on the interchange track next to Memorial Avenue and need to be spotted at specific locations at either the loading dock and/or Young Building. On the surface that seems simple, but the plan is deceptively complicated. I decided to let several club members give the operations a try during the show to see how long it would take to move everything around.

In general, it took most members between 30 and 45 minutes to solve the puzzle.  The faster times tended to operate at Lionel speeds...so with a bit more training to run things at a prototypical pace, I could see this exercise lasting at least an hour. 

Track capacity chart.

The downside was that I only had a handful of members available to try the game.  With the show open for 15 hours, this left a lot of downtime.  I ran through the game a couple of times on my own to fill the gaps but there is only so much switching I can handle when trying to interact with everyone at the show.  This was good to know and made me realize I will need to add an automatic back and forth circuit so that some trains can always be moving on the railroad.  This shouldn't be too difficult to accomplish but it will certainly improve the show operations.