ping at the mid-point yard in Ann- ville (named for my wife Ann) to drop off cars for local industries and pick up cars headed offline. Local trains originate in Annville Yard, run to one or more of the other towns for some switching work, and then return to Annville. Passenger trains service Rail- way Express offices in multiple towns and the post office in An- nville. Over the course of my cur- rent four-hour schedule, about 20 different mainline trains are run as well as three switching jobs within yard limits. Including a helper operation from East Valley to Annville and a few locomotive changes at Annville Yard, there are usually about 25 different lo- comotives that are run during a session and about 300 cars are moved. Switchlists generated by a commercial car forwarding pro- gram determine car movements. There are 47 different industries on the railroad with spots for 123
cars, so there is plenty of switch- ing to do.
Operators perform one of the following jobs during a session:
Dispatcher — Coordinates passenger, through and local freight trains, arranging meets, and so forth. The railroad uses a sequential schedule of trains with no fast clock.
Annville Yard Master — Man- ages traffic flow into and out of the freight and passenger yards at Annville. The YM controls ac- cess to the yard via approach signals, directs all movements within the yard limits, and priori- tizes switching moves for the yard switcher as needed.
Annville Yard Switcher — Classifies inbound freight cars, makes up and breaks down lo- cal freights. Coordinates with the hostler/second switcher to switch
the Annville industrial district and the locomotive service tracks (sand, coal, ash, and diesel fuel).
Annville Hostler/Second
Switcher — Moves locomotives between the steam and diesel ser- vice areas and the Annville yard office (which is the crew change point). Switches baggage/mail and express head-end cars from pas- senger trains and switches the Annville industrial district and lo- comotive service tracks.
Train Crews (Engineer and Conductor) — During a session, there are typically five trains ac- tive somewhere on the railroad at any point in time; thus, a mini- mum of five train crews are need- ed. When they are ready to run, a crew picks up a throttle and takes the top manifest/switchlist from the stack in the crew lounge. They use an FRS radio to inform the dispatcher that a crew is on
Operation G5 4-6-0 No. 1961 leads local passenger train number 53 into Lebanon. The large pipe company structure in the back- ground was kitbashed from four different Korber Models and Lionel kits.
JULY 2015 59
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