ARRIVAL PROCEDURE: If the porch light is on, the door is unlocked. Ring the bell so we will know someone is arriving and let yourself in. The coat closet is in front of you and the railroad is downstairs. At the bottom of the stairs, trains are to your left and the crew lounge is to your right. To the left of the lounge, soft drinks are in the refrigerator behind the bar and your choice of holder or glass is under the bar. Please, help yourself any time you feel the urge.
HOUSE ETIQUETTE: Due to Linda's allergies, there is no smoking in the house. If you want to smoke, please ask directions to the smoking lounge on the deck which offers (snow covered) chairs and a large wind-proof ash tray.
When leaving the bathroom, please leave the door at least part way open so people can tell it is unoccupied.
Leave empty soft drink cans on the ledge by the frig for recycling. There is no charge for beverages. Donations of munchies to share are encouraged. Please do not take sticky or greasy food or fingers into the layout. Beverage holders are hanging from the fascia; spilled pop on Homasote is permanent.
The layout room gets quite warm with all the lights on. Dress accordingly.
LAYOUT ETIQUETTE: This layout is under construction; it is far from perfect. It is OK to touch anything you need to make it work. Some of the turnouts are powered and some are awaiting power; both work with a push of the finger. Some tracks have uncouplers and some don't; it is OK to uncouple by hand. Using the yarn needles provided makes uncoupling easy.
Much of our rolling stock is second-hand stuff. We are trying to make it work smoothly. If you have a problem please mark that problem with a white, stick-on dot found at the Atwood/Karsted card box. If it is a coupler problem, put the dot on the top of the car at the end having the problem. If it is a track problem put the dot by the track. If a car acquires a third dot, get a bad order card from the Atwood/Karsted card box and put it in the car card. That will route the car to Cranky Car Repair. Dave is working on these problems. but it may take a while to get it all running as smoothly as we'd like.
Please take discussions during the operating session between off-duty crews to the lounge so as to not distract the working crews.
When many people are present, conductors are requested to wear radios to facilitate communications. The $DLRR owns three radios so far. If you have one to bring, please do so.
JOB ASSIGNMENTS: At present there are four, of the five planned, crews operating on the $DLRR. One crew runs Fremont Yard: classifying trains, re-assigning empties, and working the warehouse district. Another crew runs the $DLRR local freight and switches industries in Drake and Lawton. A third crew runs the through passenger trains and the Karsted Local which switches industries in Atwood and Karsted. A fourth crew runs the local passenger trains, the coal trains which switch the power plant, and the through freights.
While it is possible to run each crew with only one person, two is better. When you arrive sign up for a job on the Crew Sign-up Sheet. Engineer is an easier "first visit" job. If we get a lot of people, crew assignments will be broken down into individual jobs. Jobs are assigned on a first come first served basis with two exceptions: the Traffic Manager monitors the rotation as well as checks to see that no one is taking a job they could not be expected to handle. The Assignment Rotation allows a person to work a position only four out of six operating sessions to keep people from getting possessive about a position and to assure you a chance at a variety of positions.
Dave and/or Linda will be available to help with the many questions you are bound to have.
Relax. Enjoy. A prototype can be found for everything, even errors.