Creating an operating sequence
Entry posted by Flood in Blog Aberdeen Kirkhill
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From looking through the Railway Modeller article again, and also taking into account the way we run the layout at exhibitions, I feel that one of the reasons that Kirkhill interests Glenn and I is the fact we run to a set sequence.
One of the complaints about TMDs is that nothing much really happens: a loco arrives to be fuelled, may go into a shed for an inspection but otherwise is just stabled until it needs to leave for the next service.
Coaching stock, on the other hand, needs to have the following: an exterior wash, possibly a maintenance exam (a minimum requirement of checking wheels, brakes, gangways, couplings, electrical equipment, toilets/wash basins/water tanks and heating equipment), otherwise an environmental exam (interior check for all items of passenger comfort: compare heating/cooling temperatures, seats, lights, toilets, doors etc), be internally cleaned and have the water tanks topped-up so the stock will be ready for the next passenger train when needed. This information was found in B.R. document CMS123 which just happened to be available on the internet.
All this means that a train which arrives on the depot cannot leave straight away and may well have to wait for another train which arrived in front of it before the environmental/maintenance exam can occur. In order to replicate the complexity of this task I set about finding out which trains would need to arrive at the depot, the time they would arrive, the time it would take to perform all the tasks and the time the trains had to leave the depot to be able to get back to the station on time.
The first task was to list all the trains that called at Aberdeen in 24 hours. The BR Passenger timetable was consulted first and additional information from a Working Timetable was then added. I summarised this as below:
Aberdeen 1987-88 Tuesday - Friday.pdf
The next stage was to create a spreadsheet of 24 hours in 5 minute intervals. Each train's arrival and departure was then inserted in the correct slot (giving about 20 minutes between a train arriving at the station and arriving at the depot). All I had to do then was estimate 5 mins for a train to go through the washing plant and the length of time needed in the maintenance shed (estimated at 15 mins per coach). One completed page is shown below:
From this I removed the time gaps between all the moves to give the sequence (i.e running order) for all the trains. These were originally presented as seven cards for the operators to read off. "Mainline" moves (those onto and off the depot plus light engine movements) are in red, the shunting moves are in green. Below is a page from the Mainline sequence. The shunting sequence had the green moves in the larger size and the red moves smaller.
Main line Schedule (DMU + Charter).pdf
So we had a wonderfully complicated sequence which taxed our brains to the limit but the public didn't know what was happening.
To solve this Glenn typed up a general explanation of each move giving details of each train (time of arrival/departure, headcode, loco type and any other useful information). To help him I summarised all the train and light engine moves that would be seen.
Aberdeen 1987-88 depot moves.pdf
This was completed the morning of the 2011 Nottingham Exhibition and the sheets are arranged in what would be hourly intervals. As each sheet is completed it is turned over and the public can read information about the moves in the next "sequence hour" on one side as the operators read the sequence on the other.
Kirkhill Operating Guide and Public Notes.pdf
I've now succeeded in either a.) sending you all to sleep or b.) explaining why we both enjoy running the layout so much.
Hopefully the explanations we have produced for the public have helped them understand the layout better as well.
Edited by Flood
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