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Operations on the NEK

Operations on the Northeast Kingdom Model Railroad are conducted using a crew of 4-7 people. The layout accommodates 2 yardmasters, one at St. Johnsbury and another at Morrisville. The St. Johnsbury yardmaster can be augmented with an engineer to perform the switching of the yard while the yardmaster manages the paperwork and directs the road and switching crews. Road crews handle the Maine Central. Lamoille Valley, Boston & Maine and North Stratford Railway trains.

Train movements are coordinated by a Train Master (primarily me as the layout owner) and no formal dispatching is needed. A master train sheet is used and trains are sequenced for departure based on specific train movements needed to facilitate a smooth flow of traffic.

Sessions last approximately. 4 hours, but can be adjusted to annul certain trains to accommodate less people or a shorter time period.

All trains feature sound-equipped locomotives and cars have extra weighting to help provide more realistic operating characteristics.

Turnouts are controlled by manual ground throughs (Caboose Industries) and also Touch Toggle controls via glass panels at certain locations (Tortoise machines).

DCC control is provided by Digitrax with individual blocks protected by Powershield circuit breakers. Control is via Digitrax duplex receivers as well as LNWI for wifi control via TCS throttles and smart phones.

Canadian Pacific Trains

• 904 (East Deerfield MA to Newport VT through) Northbound CP/B&M Pool train, interchanging cars for MEC & LVRC at St. Johnsbury VT
• 914 (Newport VT to Springfield MA) Through train picking up MEC cars at St. Johnsbury destined for Montreal QC
• 917 (Newport VT to East Deerfield MA through) Southbound CP/B&M Pool train, interchanging cars for MEC & LVRC at St. Johnsbury VT
• RS-1 (Newport VT to Woodsville NH Local) Switching Lyndonville
• RS-2 (Wells River VT to Newport VT Local) Switching St. Johnsbury

Maine Central Trains

• RY-2 (Portland ME to St. Johnsbury VT) Westbound, CP and LVRC interchange traffic
• YR-1 (St. Johnsbury VT to Portland ME) Eastbound, CP and LVRC traffic inbound to the MEC
• ZO-1/OZ-2 (Bartlett NH to Gilman VT Turn) Local, pulpwood traffic for International Paper at Gilman
• YT-1/TY-2 (St. Johnsbury VT to North Stratford NH Turn) Local, traffic for N. Stratford interchange with NSRC/GT
• YQ-1/QY-2 (St. Johnsbury VT to Whitefield NH Turn) Local, serving E. St. Johnsbury, Whitefield and B&M interchange
• RJ-X (Portland ME to St. Johnsbury VT Turn) Wood job as needed, pulpwood and wood chip local
• ZY-X (Bartlett NH to Hardwick VT Turn) Ballast Extra as needed, ballast for Mountain Division track work, trackage rights over LVRC

Lamoille Valley Trains

• MJ-2/JM-1 (Morrisville VT to St. Johnsbury VT Turn) Northbound CP/B&M Pool train, interchanging cars for MEC & LVRC at St. Johnsbury VT
• MX-H (Morrisville VT to Hardwick VT Turn) Local as needed, servicing Hardwick
• MJ-X (Morrisville VT to Crawford NH) Passenger Extra fall foliage special, trackage rights over ME, returns to Morrisville
• MV-1 (Morrisville VT to St. Albans) Through train to CV interchange
• WTRC-1 (Woodsville NH to Morrisville VT Turn) Woodsville Terminal interchange train with LVRC trackage rights

Boston & Maine Trains

• GT-1 (Groveton VT to Whitefield NH Turn) Local servicing Groveton paper mill and delivering MEC interchange to Whitefield
• 4301/4302 (White River Jct. VT to Groveton VT Turn) Local to service Groveton paper mill
• GT-2 (Groveton VT switcher) Local crew to assist switching inbound cars to Groveton paper mill from train 4301

North Stratford Railway Trains

• NSRC-1 (North Stratford NH to Beecher Falls VT) Local train to service MEC/GT interchange and the Ethan Allen plant in Beecher Falls

Central Vermont Trains

• CV 538 (Richford VT to St. Albans VT) Local train from Richford to St. Albans, interchange with LVRC at Sheldon Jct.

Train Cards

Each train has a train card to help the operator understand the job. Helpful information is provided for each location the train will pass through to assist the operator in knowing what tasks are required.

Car Cards & Waybills

Car movements are done using card cards and waybills. Each car has a color-coded car card inserted into a clear plastic sleeve. A waybill is then inserted into the sleeve to provide information on the cars routing and destination.

Over time I have simplified the waybills to be easier for crews to know what needs to be done. I have found that things like off-layout destinations, cross country routings of other railroads not on the layout, etc. really do not help my operators with my layout. Ideally they just want to know where the car needs to go, whether it is a specific town and siding, or a specific staging yard.

• The top line identifies the destination and is always on on layout town, or a staging yard
• The Consignee identifies the siding at the location
• Instructions are sometimes included to help the crew know what to do
• The route generally identifies the start and end location, and sometimes intermediate locations if an interchange occurs
• Via identifies the specific train that is moving the car
• Description of Articles is not really needed but does help maintain some connection to the prototype waybills

My car card boxes on the fascia have 1 box per siding/destination. I do not use the Pickup/Hold/Set Out box method.

• If the waybill has a destination that is not where the car is, it needs to be picked up
• If the waybill has the same destination as where the car is, it does not need to be picked up
• I have taken to adding a yellow "Hold" tag to cars that do not need to move to further assist as I have sometimes found that operators still assumed they pick up all cars when switching

Communications

Given the slower pace and smaller footprint of the layout, all communication between operators is handled verbally without the use of radios.