This month's activities have included Going Forward, Control Panel Training, Ops Sessions, Tasks Completed in last 30 days & Scheduled Tasks for next 90 days.

Going Forward

I have been assessing the number of available operators and it is obvious that getting a full crew of 8 is getting harder as time goes by. A further complication is by introducing additional 4rd Wednesday session some operators have endured some family issues.

Experience from reduced operator sessions has shown some benefits such as:

Lowered "intensity" for operators
Easier movement while operating by operators whilst operating
Less congestion at busy areas and the "pinch point" between Loco and Flintston
Control Panel Operator "pressure" much lower making the job more enjoyable

I have started some planning for a crew of 6 with a length of session between 2 and 2 1/2 hours. This will mean a total rewrite of all session plans and Job cards so existing jobs can be rearranged where needed too,

Control Panel Training

Barry came for Lesson 8 and was "Put under pressure" having to run more than one train simultaneously. He felt the pressure! This was the last training session prior to his first session at the controls with me as mentor.

He will now control the mainline for 10 and 14 movements in 2 - 2 1/2 hours instead of the 4 or 5 he has done during training lasting 1 1/2 - 2 hours.

We agreed he will need a mentor with him for a minimum of 2 or 4 sessions.

Barry thought some visual aids may assist him so we jointly developed some and had them printed on A3 200 gsm card. The yellow boxes contain track section names on the more complex areas.

Some skills maintenance sessions will be arranged between ops sessions.

My Ops Sessions

8th April

Wayne, Denis, John, Peter J and Barry joined me for the session. A reduced crew, so fewer trains, but that may have been a God send for Barry who was running the control panels for the first time after training.