Schemer is as Schemer Does
The Jersey Regional Manufacturer Railway is a proud pet parent.
The Jersey Regional Manufacturer Railway is a proud pet parent.
Phase One
Eight years ago, before I started building the current layout, I needed to conjure a concept for the railroad being plotted. First off...
NO
"big seven" operations;
multi-track mainlines;
large industries;
large freight yards.
YES
4-axle engines, intermodal overhead traffic, mostly loose car freight traffic;
grain & dry/liquid chemical receipt, warehousing, team tracks;
trackwork that breaks modeling norms while maintaining prototypeability;
a believable financially secure short line operation.
And, most importantly: 'keep it simple student.'
Brainwave! SITFRMGRWREHCPET
For this layout, one of two major plan elements was SIT operations. The benefits of this type of operation are:
1) A freight car can be ANY type, ANY road, ANY time;
2) Only paperwork needed: car reporting marks and where the car sits;
3) This operation opens a layout to all of North America;
4) Cars can be moved, as required, any time to another location;
5) Lots of switching if there is no SIT yard which the JRMR does not have.
I don't have an open area large enough to properly model a container/trailer flat (tote) ramp. The problem: my favorite type of freight car is the tote. However, a storage in transit operation allows me to operate inbound and out bound totes, loaded or MT, switch them and move them anywhere on the layout as required by the customer, Trainmaster, Yardmaster or just 'cause I wish.
The second major element was the Florida Railroad Museum. A flaw in my model railroading is that I enjoy snippets of way too much. I grew up around SLSF, got my first cab ride on a freshly painted BN (nee C&S) switcher and hired out on the L&N (Family Lines). And, for some reason - I don't recall why just now - I like the MKT. Toss in the SCL and Georgia Road of FL fame and the pretty paint on a Seaboard Air line engine.
So, an operating railroad with a railroad museum giving railfans hands-on walking tours of the physical plant, U-run-um engine, caboose rides, and a future country style passenger operation. Using the museum idea, I could have trains with my favorite engines, could have some/all in new paint and play trains like the big boys...hmm...works for me! And, the 'walk about' and the 'U-run-um' is what we all do when a new operator shows up to run trains on our layouts. I LOVE it when a plan comes together!
Next, find a real world short line. The Great Walton Railroad owns the old Georgia Railroad branch from Social Circle to Monroe, GA. Through tireless negotiation and much nail biting and legal wrangling, trackage rights were leased to the JRMR and the line extended to Jersey, Georgia - the story gets a little fuzzy after that. The JRMR was thus whelped.
Time to scheme. I needed another leading revenue source. (Remember Schemer on the original 'Shinning Time Station' with Ringo Starr as Mr. Conductor - what a great show.) So, here's the thing - a military rebuild/repair depot that uses mostly auto-racks to ship small military vehicles about the nation. The depot has no storage capacity for their captive MT racks when not in use. As the depot is a few miles down the Georgia Road and the JRMR has a connection and interchange track at Social Circle, an equipment hold contract was drawn with the depot to receive, hold and dispatch empties to the Georgia Road whom then works the depot. I can run/park empty racks any where with a creditable reason for them being MT at all times. Spot-on!
The JRMR wanted a pet. The want for this pet follows a happening I had when I first hired out. I was with a crew going to the north end of Tilford Yard where the outbound entered the main line to Chattanooga. I saw an old, very old 40-foot NC & StL boxcar sitting on a short spur. I ask about the car and an old-head's answer was "That's our pet." A few months ago I was thumbing through the latest Walthers mail flier, sipping a cool bubbly beverage and saw, guess what? Short story even shorter, the JRMR now has a pet of its own. Is the car's number the same as the car at Tilford? Sure, why not - does improve the ever expanding tommyrot!
Phase Two
Time to proceed: track plan, track concepts (i.e., amount of "bad'' track to be included), number and type of railcars and locomotives needed/wanted and finding the gumption to cut that first piece of 2 by 4.
An activity of The Jersey Regional Manufacturer Railway Museum - "a moment of railfan heaven" - is a small paint shop. The present ongoing, time permitting refurb project is our 77 year old pet. The carbox is not in revenue service and seldom leaves Blueberry Yard.
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