Why Model Passenger Operations?
Freight operations are the staple of layout-building, whether it is mainline or switching. Any survey of the model railroading publications will make this fact abundantly clear. Among model railroaders, I am the odd one out. When I start describing my passenger operation to any of the modelers to whom I talk, they instantly glaze over and change the subject to their favorite locomotive or why stack trains are cool. Passenger trains test the mettle of any modeler. Not only do they require more space to model, but their terminal operations involve highly complex switching move and careful study of track and facilities that are largely, though not entirely absent from the model railroad publications. When I started planning the layout, I had to turn to historical publications to educate myself on passenger terminal operations.
"You're a passenger guy" is the common label I get, usually with a not-to-subtle assertion that model railroading equals freight. Laying out the facts of my collecting and building falls on deaf ears and blank stares.
The numbers
A few statistics about my collecting will be interesting to note, starting with my inventory of equipment:
- Freight cars: 1300, of which 760 are box cars, 180 are reefers, the remainder being tankers, flat cars, auto racks (not my era, but I do like them)
- Freight power: 140 units (diesel, turbine, steam)
- Cabeese: 35
- Passenger power: 26
- Passenger cars: 400 (about 100 brass, the rest commercial plastic, resin)
Ratio of Freight to Passenger equipment: Approximately 3:1 favoring freight.
The space
My layout's total space distributed over two levels adds up to about 1460 square feet. That space is divided equally for passenger and freight operations. The terminal occupies the main level, while the freight yard occupies exactly the same space on the lower level. Remaining portions of the layout are mainline with freight switching.
Since modeling, and not enthusiasm for trains, drives my layout construction, I give equal thought to both passenger and freight operations, the only difference being that I talk about passenger operations because no one else does or even thinks about it. For train enthusiasts I know, the only knowledge they have of passenger trains is Amtrak taking up space in freight operation. For me, the architecture of trains and their space is the fascinating thing to model. It is a different point of view, but with the help of George Sellios, John Allen, and more recently Fred Hill, and Victor Yoder, I have come to embrace this difference and model it.
Passenger Operations are Multi-Dimensional
Passenger operations are the real challenge to model. While most people think of passenger trains as static sets of equipment that just move about a layout, there is a lot more to passenger operations - particularly at the terminal - than we get to see with Amtrak. A major passenger terminal has to manage multiple operations simultaneously. Besides through passenger trains stopping at platforms, there are:
- Passenger car set-outs, repairs, transfers among different trains
- Passenger car service: cleaning, changing linens, stocking diners, lunch counters, bars and clubs, often performed at a separate coach yard managed by the railroald and The Pullman Company
- Mail loading, unloading and transfer at the adjoining postal terminal (these operations ceased after 1967 with the loss of mail contracts), and the assignment of Railway Post Office cars to mail and passenger trains (these cars were staffed by the Postal Service with their best agents).
- Express: Long defunct, the Railway Express Agency operated out of the passenger terminal to handle all forms of express (parcels, parishables, animals, bodies, automobiles, film for theaters, etc.). REA had space on most baggage cars (and were marked accordingly), express box cars, as well as a substantial refrigerated express business - the latter could run on both passenger and freight trains but originated at the passenger terminal.
Because of the complexity of terminal operations, it was not uncommon to have an independent contractor manage its operations. Ogden was one such operation. Operated independently with Southern Pacific as major host, followed by Union Pacific and with Rio Grande as the minority partner until it ended passenger operations to Ogden in 1953, the Ogden Depot and Railway Company leased switchers from the host roads and managed the entire operation with its own rules, staff and scheduling.
The Overland Terminal Railway is based on this operating model.
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