OPERATING SESSIONS ON THE GGRR

To date, there have been 35 formal operating sessions on the GGRR. A formal session involves the planned movement of a series of trains, according to a written schedule. (FORMAL attire is not required except on New Year's Eve!) .The session is run by a dispatcher who assigns the jobs, assisted by yardmasters who control the movement of train jobs into and out of the three yard areas. The yard masters also assemble the train jobs for sessions at later dates. The jobs include PASSENGER operations, THROUGH freights, and SWITCHING jobs.

PASSENGER jobs have highest priority, (first class), adhere to a strict schedule and stop at all stations.

THROUGH freights have secondary priority (second class) and bring strings of cars to a single location for sorting by yardmasters.

SWITCHING jobs have lower priority ( third class) and drop off and pick up individual cars at specific industries. Switching jobs are the longest jobs and can take up to two hours each. They are also the most interesting.

To keep things organized and operating smoothly when 10-12 people are running trains on the GGRR, crews are required to follow the published schedule for the day, communicate frequently with the dispatcher and yardmasters and pay attention to other traffic on the railroad. This always results in trains arriving when expected, industries receiving their raw materials when needed, products being shipped on time and happy customers all around the railroad! In 35 sessions, the GGRR has never received a single complaint from the little plastic people that populate the region.