Rules, Regulations & General Information


GENERAL INFORMATION

1. Bathroom is on your right just before the layout room.
2. Drinks are in the dispatcher's office.

LAYOUT ROOM PROCEDURES

1. Please no food or drink in the layout room, including yardmasters and their assistants.
2. Please stay out of the layout room unless you have an assignment. The dispatcher will page you when your next assignment is ready.
3. Be mindful of the wires on your throttles, damage to the layout can result from errant wires.
4. There are many throttle holders around the layout, plug your throttle in and place it in the holder whenever possible. This saves battery life.
5. There are stools located at every upper level town to assist in switching and operation of the turntables.
6. When in the train room, try to stay out of the area of White Hall as much as possible.

TRAIN OPERATING PROCEDURES

1. The train card (gray-freight, blue-passenger, yellow-extra) is your clearance form "A" and has the instructions for the associated train. Pickup the train card for your train from the dispatcher and review it before departure. Return the train card to the dispatcher upon completion of the assignment.
2. Yellow engine cards give you the DCC address and roundhouse track assigned to the engine. The dispatcher will provide you with these cards. Return the engine card to the dispatcher after arrival at the White Hall roundhouse or leave in the car card box if terminating outside of White Hall.
3. PLEASE DISPATCH YOUR ENGINE AT THE END OF YOUR ASSIGNMENT.
4. All station stops are a minimum of 5 fast clock minutes.
5. All water tower stops are a minimum of 5 clock minutes.
6. Roundhouse power switches should be left in the up position for empty tracks and down position for occupied tracks.
7. All engineers leaving White Hall should walk their train to ensure they have the proper cars (including the maximum number for the Hood Turn - 9 and the Broadway Turn -10) and the proper paper work.
8. Return all ground throws to their normal non-yellow position before leaving town.
9. Unless instructed to do so, do not throw any electrical switches or semaphores, these are controlled by the operator.
10. If you have problems with any rolling stock, try to get it to an out of the way location and leave it with a BAD CAR ORDER slip in its associated car card. Only pick up the rolling stock as a LAST resort. Try to do what a real railroad would do.
11. Report any problems with motive power to the superintendent and get instructions on how to handle.
12. NEVER assist motive power by using your hand except for electrical issues. If the motive power can not handle the assigned load then either get additional motive power or double your train.
13. Report any problems with track via BAD TRACK ORDER slips left in the car card box closest to the problem area.
14. When working in Broadway, work from the east and west ends as much as possible to stay out of the way of the White Hall yardmaster and assistant.
15. There are eight power districts so if you loose power it is probably you fault.

SIGNALING PROCEDURES

1. There are color signals and semaphores on the layout. The color signals (except for the RF&P diamond) indicate switch position only. The semaphores are located between White Hall and Swift Run and control access to the next block.
2. No signal can grant access that has not already been given by either the timetable or train order, they can only restrict access.
3. Stop at all RED semaphores and except for the helix interlock, any green semaphores you did not see go green.
4. You must have a yellow signal and a green semaphore before you can proceed.
5. You must have a green signal to cross the RF&P diamond.
6. While waiting for clearance, DO NOT FOUL ANY SWITCHES OR PASS ANY COLORED SIGNALS.
7. If the east White Hall semaphore is red, stop and blow three longs to call attention to the yardmaster. Then wait for a clear signal. DO NOT FOUL ANY SWITCHES WHILE WAITING FOR A CLEAR SEMAPHORE.
8. The blue signals at Hood indicate routing only and do not control train movement.
9. Do not push the RF&P diamond requests buttons on the fascia until you come to a complete stop at the RF&P diamond signal.