Operations

MSRC

The MSRC was designed for operations. When the Club formed in 1995, the founders established the guidelines for the overall mission and function. The peninsular/shelf concept allows for movement of operators with their trains throughout the allotted trip. Yard shelves were kept to a maximum  width of two feet.  A 30 inch minimum curve radius is maintained through-out.

Operations are scheduled once quarterly when practical. Often-times visitors show up for operations and are put right to work on trains or in the yards. The Club always provides a dispatcher for operations and when necessary, club members accompany visitors on their first sessions.

Presently, the layout has nine throttles that are utilized in real-time operations. We do not use a time clock. RailOp allows us to run continually without schedules or staging. The basic session includes the following: A yardmaster in Texarkana/New Orleans (They are physically together), Two yardmasters in Addis, four mainline operators, a branch operator for Alston and a branch operator for Port Hudson.

Of special note that the above scheme will be changed when our expansion comes online.

Other

One of the benefits of belonging to a club such as the Midsouth is the reciprocal invitations we receive from other clubs who have operated on our layout, either as a group or individually. Clubmembers have visited and operated on layouts in Covington, Metairie, Houston, Dallas, Ft Worth and Shreveport.