Mark's MT Railroads: Rails in Excel

Hello Readers ~ sorry for missing a post last week, I was out on vacation!

My wife and I visited the Denver area for a week, and I have a lot of fun train adventures to share with you. Today I’ll provide an overview, and over the next few weeks I’ll get into some details. We visited the Union Pacific Depot and Roundhouse in Cheyenne on October 10^th. On the 13^th, we visited with Alan Olson at the Colorado Railroad Museum and discussed garden railroading. On the 14^th, I took the Denver Light Rail train downtown to do some shopping at Caboose Hobbies. On October 15^th, I camped out on a foothill near Golden to do some trainspotting, and also viewed the rail operations at the Coors Brewery. I also went to a store in Lakewood that specializes in consigned railroad and model railroad items. And, on October 17^th, I spent several hours at the Colorado Model Railroad Museum in Greeley.

Since returning, I’ve done a bit of “digital organizing” – I have a spreadsheet that I use to keep track of train projects and plans, and it needed some work to make it more useful. The spreadsheet contains the following tabs of information:

· Map1: Two maps of the proposed 32’x20’ O Scale layout. The first shows track and building locations, and is divided into 29 sections. Each section refers to a specific area of the layout for easy reference, like “Silver Falls-Downtown” or “Silver Falls-Yard”. The second shows color-coded tracks and streets, town/place names, and geographic features like lakes, rivers, and forests. It also shows where each major railroad on the layout is based. For example, the town of Cedar Valley is primarily served by the Great Northern, while the town of Red Stone is served by the Rock Island and Santa Fe, with occasional service from the Frisco and Katy. There is also a key showing 108 proposed buildings/structures. Both maps use close-to-scale measurements for track and structures. I plan to add a topographical map as well.

· Silver Falls Upper: A map showing detail of downtown Silver Falls, which will be elevated. The 23 proposed buildings are shown with close-to-scale measurements. This detail information would not have shown up well on the larger maps on the previous tab.

· Area Attrib: A list of any detail or idea to include in the layout of the future. There are 365 items so far, and this is a good spot to list ideas. Example 1: For the church in Silver Falls, look at American Model Builders kit #152-491, which is a 7x4x6” brick building and currently costs about $32. Paint it cream with brown trim. Example 2: Remember to install tell-tales in front of all bridges and tunnels throughout the layout.

· Wish Locos&Sets: A list of locomotives and passenger sets I’d like to eventually own. Some of the items on the list haven’t been produced yet. For example, I’d like to buy the Santa Fe “Midnight Chief” F3 ABA diesel set from K-Line to go with my existing passenger set. The model number is K-25303, and currently sells for about $445 on eBay or Trainz. A goal date to purchase this set is in 2019. This sheet also contains a cross reference of scale sizes and how an actual inch compares to model feet in each scale.

· Wish Rolling Stock: Similar to the previous tab, this is a list of freight cars or individual passenger cars I’d like to add to the fleet. It also includes a list of 185 applicable Atlas O Reefers for reference.

· Engine House: This is a new tab I added this week to track repair work. It shows the current status, report date, begin date, fix date, item details, and problem description for each issue that occurs on the train set. Going forward, I will use this to track all the work that is performed. For example, on 10/21/2015, I reported that the Denver Rocket passenger set has very squeaky wheels, and is in need of something to quiet it down.

· ILLINOIS: contains a list of items we brought back from Illinois this year. This is mostly for reference, and once the master inventory is complete, this tab can be removed.

· Train Names: A list of every motive unit and its current status. It also shows when the unit was last run on the train set. A separate list on this tab shows every train by name or purpose and the last time it was run. I also use these lists to schedule the next roster line up, so I end up with a good rotation through the locomotives and trains. For example, the Great Northern 2-8-2 mike was last run in April, 2015 and is in operational status. Or, the Broadway Limited last ran in May, 2014, and was pulled by the Pennsy GG1.

· Train Log: A list of train-related activities done each day. For example, on 5/18/2014, I successfully tested the lighting on the Granite Canyon Pullman car, but encountered other issues (see previous blog for details on that one!)

· Inventory: This will contain the master inventory of all train-related items in my collection. It will show a Record Update Date, What the item is (a model train, an artifact, or an “other”), the Manufacturer, Type of Item, Sub Type of Item, Description, Scale, Roadname, Road Number, Item Number, Year Manufactured, Condition, if the Box is present, the Box Condition, personally assessed Value, and Notes.

· Abbreviations: This is another tab I added this week. If someone who isn’t me uses this spreadsheet, this tab will provide a key to the various railroad (or other) abbreviations I use. For railroads, it also lists sample color schemes used. For example, “GN” refers to Great Northern, and the color schemes used on the layout (circa 1955) are orange/dark green/yellow. Or, “EB” refers to East Bound.

· Summary: This sheet is here to remind me how each railroad is represented on each layout. It is a basic summary of the future O-Scale, O27-Scale, and G-Scale layouts. It includes equipment that hasn’t been purchased yet. For example, “ATSF is a through-line, with one F3 diesel set and a matching passenger set.”

· Details: I use this sheet to list prototypical pairings of locomotives and passenger sets. It shows which town hosts each locomotive and train, and in some cases, lists the proposed date of purchase in the future.

· Garden: This includes very early sketches of a garden railroad plan, with measurements provided based on track loop diameter.

· Garden Details: This is similar to the Area Attrib sheet, but shows G-Scale details instead. For example, “include a cabin on a mountain”.

So, stay tuned for details on my railroad adventures in Denver over the next few weeks, and also regular updates on model train activities here in Billings. Until then, enjoy these pics, and keep those rails shiny ~