What's New on the PRR Panhandle Division?

[MurphOnMillerAve]

George, I'll make you a prediction. When you have finished your masterpiece, it will have been the creative journey of getting there, with all its many individual triumphs and adventures, that you will have enjoyed the most. You will be sorry when its finished. You'll play with trains, then, and revel in its accomplishment, but it will be the journey itself that will have been the most satisfying.

I say that to you and to everybody in our hobby. The creative adventure of crafting the layout, and perhaps even re-crafting it a number of times, and acquiring the collection of trains itself, that will be the most satisfying, greatest joy.
Frank the Murph

[rogruth]

Murph,
Complete agreement!

[Rufus T. Firefly]

The creative adventure of crafting....

Yup! That's what makes it all good.

[G3750]

I'll wait as long as possible.
I am starting to give some thought to selling some of my smsll "collection" and I use that term very lightly as I have nothing of great monetary value.
I do have some idea what it is worth and I don't want to leave disposal to my family. Please understand that my death is not thought to be in the near
future. I have several collections left to spouses or other family members that have no idea what they have, They seem to think that they have the
crown jewels or a bunch of junk. I think I would rather sell it and use the money for something I want. I'm 82. No, that is not ancient but I am
"getting up there". And don't call me "young man". I worked hard to get this old. I still have some fun but it is getting harder all the time.
So George, I hope to see some of Panhandle II.

God bless you, Roger. It's certainly part of the plan to have you see as much of Panhandle 2.0 as possible.

You and all my friends on this forum remain in my prayers.

George

[G3750]

George, I'll make you a prediction. When you have finished your masterpiece, it will have been the creative journey of getting there, with all its many individual triumphs and adventures, that you will have enjoyed the most. You will be sorry when its finished. You'll play with trains, then, and revel in its accomplishment, but it will be the journey itself that will have been the most satisfying.

I say that to you and to everybody in our hobby. The creative adventure of crafting the layout, and perhaps even re-crafting it a number of times, and acquiring the collection of trains itself, that will be the most satisfying, greatest joy.
Frank the Murph

I completely agree with your prediction. I very much enjoy the process of building a layout and researching and solving these small problems along the way. And I'm already a bit sorry work on the first Panhandle is done. One of the things I hope to incorporate in the second version is in an area I don't know too much about - operations. Heretofore, all I could really do with a layout this size was run trains in a loop (despite my big plans). For Panhandle 2.0, I want to seriously explore operations with more than 1 person. I have created a list of 20 trains (10 eastbound and 10 west bound). At a minimum I think the new layout is large enough to accommodate:

• 2-3 reasonably sized (10-15 car) freight trains moving East / West. Or a smaller passenger train.
• A "loop runner" freight train (8-12 cars) on the captive River Route
• A switcher at the coal tipple shunting hoppers and taking coal to the steel mill
• A Weirton Steel yard switcher moving cars among the mills
• A periodic Weirton Steel slag train

I don't see myself with a headset and a bunch of complicated forms or cards, so we'll see how that ends up. But I do want to see if more than one person can run trains (with a purpose) on this layout.

George

[Rufus T. Firefly]

I don't see myself with a headset....

I do see you in this mode however....



...using the next iteration of the MTH control system,

It was designed by this enterprising research scientist:

[G3750]

"Laugh-a while you can, monkey-boy!"



George

[Rufus T. Firefly]

"Laugh-a while you can, monkey-boy!"



George

I'm a-goin' home!

[G3750]

Remember, the future begins tomorrow!

[rogruth]

Rufus,
Maybe you should prepare for a visit from Mr. Wolf's lawyers concerning your divulgence of his secret plans.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Remember, the future begins tomorrow!

After I retire, I'm going to get a job at YoYoDyne Propulsion Systems, a growing excited company.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Rufus,
Maybe you should prepare for a visit from Mr. Wolf's lawyers concerning your divulgence of his secret plans.

I am investing in a pair of monitor lizards....

[Steamfan77]

I agree Frank. I've thoroughly enjoyed the planning, design, building, and the tweeks here and there to make your vision come to life. George, it's been fun to follow along with your build. And you are absolutely right about operation. It allows you to enjoy your trains, but with a purpose as you mentioned. My layout is built to operate, and like you, I already see that there's a lot to do! I can operate alone, or add a few more folks. Enjoy it all. You will build 2.0 with a much more experienced eye.

Andy

[G3750]

I agree Frank. I've thoroughly enjoyed the planning, design, building, and the tweeks here and there to make your vision come to life. George, it's been fun to follow along with your build. And you are absolutely right about operation. It allows you to enjoy your trains, but with a purpose as you mentioned. My layout is built to operate, and like you, I already see that there's a lot to do! I can operate alone, or add a few more folks. Enjoy it all. You will build 2.0 with a much more experienced eye.

Andy

Thanks Andy. I think I've learned a lot and can't wait to put it to good use. I'm going to start researching what makes a good operating layout (see if there's anything I can affect during construction).

And I plan to document the building of Panhandle 2.0. I hope it has a lot less drama.

George

[rogruth]

George,
O Scale Trains, the mag, has some articles by Neville Rossiter on operating and his latest layout involves a steel mill.
You might check with Rufus and Sarge about his stuff.