Victoria BC in N with colored and numbered dots

 

Never one to miss an opportunity to add complexity where none is needed, I tried dividing the three N scale industry tracks described in my previous post into two or three industry spots, and then put small numbers inside the colored dots. Then I set up the spots as separate "tracks" in JMRI ops, and added them in a "pool" for each track. Now, instead of getting a switchlist from JMRI ops with four different destinations for cars, there are now eight. Without making any changes to the track!

The diagram above shows the new named spots on each track, with the spot number in parentheses, and the dot colors for each track. I'm trying to represent downtown Victoria BC, based on an article in Layout Design Journal #62 (3rd Quarter 2018) by Cal Sexmith, so I picked industry names from the article and placed them on the three tracks in a quasi-logical order based on the order they might have been switched in real life. Then I placed colored 3x5 cards next to the track where the buildings might be, just to define the locations of the spots for now.

This photo shows the cars resting in their correct spots after the first (20 minute) operating session using the new scheme. It's amazing to me how fun it is to switch a small simple layout like this. I don't like the clunky layout of the JMRI ops switchlist, and haven't figured out how to improve it, so I spend a few minutes reading the switchlist and putting corresponding colored (and now numbered) dots on the cars. This is similar to a yard crew putting chalk marks on the side of cars. Then, I grab the throttle and enjoy about 20 minutes of switching fun.

The total investment in this particular N scale train layout so far: 30 min to paint the board, 30 minutes to prepare the switches and flextrack, 30 minutes to glue the track down to the board and connect wires to the NCE PowerCab, and 90 minutes to enter the track and cars into JMRI ops. - 3 hours total. $150 for the NCE DCC PowerCab, $50 for track, $300 for cars and locomotive - $500 total.

Sure, there's no backdrop, scenery or buildings, the rolling stock and track aren't weathered, etc. But the operation itself, switching cars around, is already very satisfying. That's all I'm sayin'.