Operations on Granite Mountain Railway

For Doug Geiger, the best part about owning a model railroad is operating it. Although Geiger has done a huge percentage of the building on the railroad himself, he would not be able to operate his railroad without the help of his team, including his wife Barbara. Operations involve a lot of communication back and forth to make sure that the trains are where they need to be on such a large layout, and to keep on schedule. In this video you will get a sneak peek of what running an operation might be like on Geiger’s impressive layout. Watch an operating session of Geiger’s Granite Mountain Railway in process and listen in on communications within the team.

In an operation, communications between dispatchers, conductors, and yards are given in regards to: where the cars are on the layout for other’s knowledge, reminders to be aware of signaling, questions on the status of train departure, updates on when a train can depart, alerts to any train movements, permissions for departure, comments on scheduling, and more. Operation is where model railroads come to life. Operating can be the funnest aspect of owning or being a part of a railway and can be very close to operations in real life.