Using a CTC Machine to Control Model Railroads

Now talking about the CTC machine here. Why did you go to that? Seems like a lot of people are getting into that. Just part of railroading for me. It's always been a fascination and a good friend in Oregon, Rod Loader, he and I have worked on this for a number of years, and we were both interested in CTC operation. And here it is today. We've got, I think, six or seven passing sightings out there. And this allows you to make meets and watch all the signals. And, of course, you can sit the signal levers and the switch levers and keep track of all the trains through detection. So that's the dispatcher's job. He's in here dispatching and running the CTC machine. Yes, that's it. You're known as one of the more operation-oriented modelers in the hobby. Why is operation so important to you? That's what it's all about. That's why you do all this work, is to, in my mind, run the trains as prototypically as you can. That's your objective? That's the objective, yes. And you were involved in the formation of the operation group, Pro-rail. In fact, they had an organizational meeting here at your house, the fellows, and that's about what? Eight or 10 guys that go around the country? Oh, I would say it's more than that. It's probably, I think the last meet had 90 or 100. 90, that many? Oh my. They go around the country and operate on each other's layouts, or-- Pick a region in the area that's got railroads to support that. We hosted it out here. I guess it was 1990s when we hosted pro-rail in Utah. Yeah, you're in a very remote part of Utah. I guess, but what in Utah is not really remote? I mean, it's kind of like people have to come 200 miles sometimes you told me and and that's not any big deal out this way. No, that's a three hour drive and not much in the West. But we started, our off sessions start at three in the afternoon. And we're usually out of here by 9:30, 10:00. So those guys that have to drive, you know, a couple hundred miles, can get home at a reasonable hour and that's worked out very well this last year. How much track is too much in a situation like you have? And how much is too little or is it? Well-- What do you try to do, how do you choose the scenery, the balance of the scenery and the track? We like to have as little trackage in our scenes as possible. A higher ratio of scenery to track. Out here in the West, that's basically the way it is. Sure. And there are some industrial spots on the layout that, you know, have of course more trackage. Switching. Switching, but we like to keep the scenery, race track ratio very high. Do you use conventional methods for your scenery? Like just plaster? We use plastering-- Plastering wire or paper towels. No, I don't know that you call 'em conventional. We use plaster, but we use a cheesecloth base.