06 Wyoming Division Operation Sessions by Verryl V...
Verryl V Fosnight Jr's Gallery Verryl V Fosnight Jr's Gallery
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  2. Wyoming Division HO Operation LayoutWyoming Division HO Operation Layout
  3. 06 Wyoming Division Operation Sessions06 Wyoming Division Operation Sessions

1st Formal Op Sess 102513 01

These first 38 photos (to date) are of the First Formal Operations Session at the Wyoming Division HO layout in Cornville, AZ near our home in Sedona. We have had other informal sessions with guest modelers to run numerous trains simultaneously to test them, the cars, track and the DCC system, and they were very valuable to both introduce the layout to visitors from all over the state and California and to uncover problems that did not show up running only one train at a time. DCC is a bit spooky, being basically a computer system that sends out pulsed DC power. We have 6 Boosters fed by a single command system that is radio controlled to and from the hand held throttles (or throttles that plug in to the benches can be used also). Each Booster has a discrete area that it powers, and these initial informal tests revealed some "crossed" wires when multiple trains crossed over the boundaries at once, and other similar problems. Having ironed out those problems we were able to run this First Formal Session.
Capture Date: Oct 25, 2013 09:08 AMViews: 728

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1st Formal Op Sess 102513 02

This and the former picture and the next few show guest operators arriving. This is taken on the Mezzanine that runs over the full length of the layout (75 feet), so observers and eventually Dispatchers can watch from above. The main purpose of this First Formal Session was to test my new operating system I invented and unique to the Wyoming Division. It features one move Car cards, Locomotive Cards and Block Cards. A block is a group of cars that stay together for an extended move or series of moves--they move as a "block of cars."
Capture Date: Oct 25, 2013 09:38 AMViews: 645

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1st Formal Op Sess 102513 03

There are stairs at each end of the Mezzanine down to the floor.
Capture Date: Oct 25, 2013 09:38 AMViews: 620

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1st Formal Op Sess 102513 04

Here the Mezzanine is seen suspended above the layout from the giant beams that also support the ceiling. There are no posts in the whole 50 x 75 foot space. The red lines painted on the concrete floor outline the 3 out of 10 benches left to be built. We will have two more sessions on Nov 30 and Dec 28, the Saturdays following Thanksgiving and Christmas, then set to building these benches. Note the temporary location of the main helix. More on this later.
Capture Date: Oct 25, 2013 10:26 AMViews: 626

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1st Formal Op Sess 102513 05

This is the main entrance viewed over the empty area to be filled with benches. There is a small kitchen area for microwave and coffee pot and refrigerator and two restrooms. Otherwise, the entire 50 x 75 foot building is layout with the Mezzanine hanging over it. One edge of the large balloon painted on the floor is the outline of the eventual final location for the main helix. It was shown before at the end of the 7th bench as a temporary connection between the two levels of the benches. The top level is, guess, on top, and the lower level level is below it, and both can be seen here. The strip of cardboard foundation structure for eventual scenery hills and mountains is visible also.
Capture Date: Oct 25, 2013 10:26 AMViews: 619

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1st Formal Op Sess 102513 06

This is the main helix in its temporary position setting on the red outlines of the future benches. the bottom shelf of the helix will be a staging yard (off layout like a theater stage wings) that will represent the Pacific Northwest. We call it Portland, but could just as well be any destination that direction from western Wyoming, like Kemmerer, Wyoming (coal mines), Pocotello, Idaho, or Seattle and Portland. Trains "leave the layout (the part of the layout with scenery), and to to imaginary locations off-layout like Portland. This extends the layout distances trains "travel" many times. See later pictures of the Main Staging Yard.
Capture Date: Oct 25, 2013 10:26 AMViews: 626

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1st Formal Op Sess 102513 07

This is Echo, Utah at the east end of Weber (River) Canyon and the west end of Echo Canyon which is the route chosen by the Morman pioneers, the original Southern Pacific Intercontinental Railroad built by President Abraham Lincoln during the Cival War, the route of old Highway US 30 and present day UP tracks and Interstate 80. It is a small yard on our layout that is the junction of the Park City (Utah) Branch, a short branch line that is about 50 feet long in our HO version.
Capture Date: Oct 25, 2013 01:08 PMViews: 632

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1st Formal Op Sess 102513 08

This shows the end of the Park City Branch on our Wyoming Division with the yellow UP locomotive sitting on the turntable on "hidden" track below the lower level main tracks at the left. The upper level is above the as yet unpainted Masonite fascia on either side of this lower level aisle. Lucas is at the end at Evanston, Wyoming, a mid sized yard for us. Note how he cannot see the operators on the upper level who work from a 17 inch riser on the concrete floor and they cannot see him. Hence this design type is called a "Mushroom" design. You can only see up and down your own tracks, just like out on the prairies of Wyoming and Utah.
Capture Date: Oct 25, 2013 01:14 PMViews: 630

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1st Formal Op Sess 102513 09

A close up view of Echo. I just missed Steve Hatch walking out of view on the left. Note how intense everyone is in these photos. This is serious play for us "kids." We are actually moving people and freight as if we were trying to make a profit for our employer, UP, Uncle Pete.
Capture Date: Oct 25, 2013 01:14 PMViews: 615

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1st Formal Op Sess 102513 10

Many new to operation model railroaders can just to observe, but with coaxing and Greg White or Lenny Wyatt or I walking along with them, they found within 40 or fifty feet that they could run a train. They were Operators! Throttle in hand they moved off from their mentors after 4 or 5 minutes on their own intently following their own train on the way to the next yard where the Yardmaster there would assist them and direct them. You really can't go wrong, because the hard jobs are intense switching jobs and yardmaster or yard hostler jobs. Taking a through train is a breeze, and a good way to get into ops.
Capture Date: Oct 25, 2013 01:15 PMViews: 615

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1st Formal Op Sess 102513 11

This is Bob Burke on the left working the Staging Classification Yard on the lower level at his waist level. Ryan Smelzer is running a train into or out of the Cheyenne freight yard on the upper level, right side of the upper bench, and beyond him Bob Ellis, Director of Passenger Operations has a Passenger train moving on the left hand Passenger tracks of the upper level. Above them are the two heat pumps that heat and cool the building, and they have geothermal heat exchangers for evaporators in 10 180-200 foot deep wells outside in the ground. The RR era may be 1957, but the building is hi-tech.
Capture Date: Oct 25, 2013 01:15 PMViews: 630

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1st Formal Op Sess 102513 12

This is Allen Montgomery, second in command of the Wyoming Division. A passionate model railroader with a seemingly infinite well of railroad information about the UP and all other US railroads, he is an essential part of the Wyoming Division. I have learned a lot from Allen. My forte is organizing and managing a big project; Allen's is model railroading in particular and railroading in general.
Capture Date: Oct 25, 2013 01:15 PMViews: 616

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1st Formal Op Sess 102513 13

Left to right: The main helix in its temporary location, the concrete lower level floor and the 17 inch tall riser used to reach the upper level. On the right is the whole Cheyenne steam yard with 12 switch panels to operate the dozens of Tortoise Switch Machine brand actuators for the track turnouts across this giant yard which is about 40 feet long and 7 feet wide. The panels make a map of the yard, which incidentally is our biggest industry on the layout. There are two local jobs of switching trains that ply those yard tracks, one on this visible south (in Cheyenne) side and one on the North side just out of view. North Platte, Nebraska is on the lower level. Behind the camera is the other 80% of the lower level staging (think Chicago, KC, St. Louis or anywhere east of Cheyenne. See a later photo for more about the main staging.
Capture Date: Oct 25, 2013 01:16 PMViews: 617

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1st Formal Op Sess 102513 14

A wider angle of the Main helix temporarily connected to the permanent part of the layout now built. Note the red lines to locate the future benches and aisles for the remaining 3 benches to be built. The helix has casters, one of which is barely visible, but while connected the whole thing is jacked up and sets on blocks. It is connected temporarily to Hanna,Wyoming on the top level and to the Alchem Trona (soda) Mine on the lower level. When we move it we will set it down on the casters and roll it to its final location. If you can get the casters off then, you can have them. You have about 1/4" clearance to work when you remove them.
Capture Date: Oct 25, 2013 01:16 PMViews: 616

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1st Formal Op Sess 102513 15

This is the Tie Treating Plant with narrow gauge tracks to move ties cut in its saw mill on the foreground right to the creosote retort building in the left center distance. There is also a engine house and office with a fire house on the ground floor. There is a long string of cross stacked raw ties in the foreground (opps, I moved them over one track so I could see the tracks from the Mezzanine to draw the final version of the track plan at one of the two networked computers (soon 3) up there). there is also a couple of long lines of dark colored creosoted ties near the retort house. They were coated by pushing them on carts into pressure vessels, retorts, in the now roof-less retort/boiler house. Laramie is just around the end cap of this bench. The roundhouse and coal dock can be seen.
Capture Date: Oct 25, 2013 01:17 PMViews: 615

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