Running a model railroad is often just like the real thing. Many model railway enthusiasts will freely admit that getting the operations as close to reality as possible, with timetables, running orders, randomly occurring events, and so on, is all part of the attraction.
Just like real trains, model trains will eventually need some kind of maintenance, as will the tracks. Now, I'm not talking about major things here - such as switching to DCC, rerouting lines, or adding scenery - but about the little things.
Trains pick up dirt, often in places that are, at first, invisible. For example, a poster on the NewRailwayModellers forum pointed to an intermittent issue with a Bachmann Class08 not running smoothly, or indeed at all.
The suggestions (upheld) were that there was a build up of grime on the wiper pickups, which need to be cleaned routinely, by removing the wheels.
It's this kind of routine maintenance that can be made part of the operations by creating a works timetable to note when the last check was done of each loco, wagon and carriage, and what changes have been carried out. For those who already keep a logbook for each loco, this is just a natural extension of that.
For the rest of us, maybe it's about time we started to get real!
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