Run 8 Studios Run 8 Train Simulator and The Depot+ are unapparelled when it comes to Railroad Operations. And with the addition of OTTO (the automated Dispatcher) to The Depot+ SoCal Server in the last year or so, a new dimension has been added to the realism of Run 8 and The Depot+.
It is on this page I will share with you my Single Player and Multi-Player exploits good and not so good via text, pictures and videos keeping in mind I'm unable to share with you some of the intricacies of The Depot+ such as the Operations Center. If you would like to learn more about The Depot+ and how to join, take a look at The Depot's "Server" page for information on how you can become a Depot+ Member.
I will list the my most recent Run towards the top of the page so here we GO!
H-WCLBAR1-17F Lead Loco: BNSF 7662 Date: 3/26/26
Subdivision: UP YUMA & BNSF CAJON Sub's
Recrewed: Union Pacific's West Colton Yard
Length: 3,074 Ft.
Tons: 6,400
HP/T: 3.7
Cars: 46/46Lds./0 Mty's
This Train runs from BNSF's Barstow Yard to UP's West Colton Yard and back interchanging cars with the Union Pacific. When heading back to Barstow from West Colton Yard, the H-WCLBAR runs a short distance on the UP's Yuma Sub around a very tight 10 mph curve that swings off the UP Yuma Sub, goes under Interstate 10 and onto Home rails on the BNSF Cajon Sub. Having ran this Train's cohort the H-BARWCL, one must be very aware of the signal just around this curve as it may very well display a "STOP" indication meaning there is traffic on the UP Yuma Sub that you'll need to wait for.
Long story short, after several break in two's, I realized my attempts at getting this train moving again on a 3% grade just wasn't going to happen. What to do? Not wanting to hold up the Railroad any longer, I was able to get my Train put back together then AI'd this Train to Summit where I regained control and ran this Train into Martinez Siding. PHEW! I tied down this Train at Martinez siding and went to bed.
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| Can I get by this Loco sticking out from Track 502? |
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| The H-WCLBAR1-17F departing WCL Track 501 |
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| The H-WCLBAR making it's way around the tight curve at Rana |
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| Passing through BNSF's "B" Yard |
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| Main 1 at Control Point ONO |
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| Approaching Verdemont on Main 1 |
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| Passing through Control Point Devore at MP 73.4 |
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| Control Point Keenbrook at MP 70.9 |
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| A Break in two at CP Cajon on the original Mainline |
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| Now I know what others before me were talking about |
3/37/26
I recrewed the H-WCLBAR1-17F at Martinez siding where I had left it the day before.
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| On the BNSF, if it has a Number Plate and/or Grade Plaque it means "Restricted Speed" No Number Plate and/or Grade Plaque means "STOP"! |
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| Heading east out of Martinez siding at Lugo |
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| Approaching Victorville and a 35 mph speed reduction |
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| A great place to watch Trains is Mojave Narrows Campground. Get a site along the fence and you'll be less than 50 feet from the tracks! |
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| My Conductor keeping a watchful eye on His Train |
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| A meet with a UP Coal Train near Hodge, CA. |
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| Hodge at MP 13.6 |
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| A Flashing Yellow or "Approach Medium" telling me to start slowing down for my entry into Barstow Yard |
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| Before I can cross over to get into Barstow Yard, the Dispatcher has my Train waiting for traffic to clear |
I wanted to give the Barstow Yardmaster a heads-up on my approach to east Victorville to give him some time to make room for my Train but wasn't able to make contact until a fellow Depot+ member said to try and get a hold of the Yardmaster using channel 00 on the radio or Text which worked. The Yardmaster had me put my Train on Receiving Track R3. I tied my Train down and called it a Day.
The Z-LACWSP7
Subdivision: Seligman
Recrewed: Franconia Siding
Length: 7,066 Ft.
Tons: 6,218
HP/T: 3.6
Cars: 92/92 Lds./0 Mty's
This Train was HOT or so I thought. I re-crewed this Train at the siding at Franconia and the run went pretty good, until I arrived Kingman, Az. where the Dispatcher held my Train on Main Track 2 at West Berry for 4 Trains. You think because your running a priority Intermodal that you'll be given the Railroad but this is what makes The Depot+ so awesome in that it follows true Railroad practice and as the Pro's say, it's Hurry Up and Wait!
While sitting and waiting for the traffic to clear, I toned the Dispatcher who gave me a snarky response but that's ok as I just wanted him to not forget me. So as soon as the traffic jam cleared, the Dispatcher gave me a High Green and off I went into the Arizona night.
I experienced one Dragging Equipment at Detector Milepost 493.3 which turned out to be a low hanging airhose. I had originally planned and requested the next siding so I could tie down and get a ride to the Hotel so I could get some sleep but the Railroad had other plans. I originally requested the siding at Truxton but upon my arrival at Truxton, I remembered something about the approved tie down points on the Seligman Sub and Truxton wasn't one of them. This meant my running to Seligman but only after I wait for a couple of Trains to get by me at Truxton.
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| Approaching Nelson Tunnel, the only tunnel left on the entire BNSF Southern Transcon |
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| Doing a Roll-By of two Eastbounds from the porch of BNSF 6563 |
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| The Head Brakeman who is a Train Nut, de-trained and got this picture of the Z-LACWSP-7 |
With only a couple hours left on my time before going dead on the Law, the Dispatcher was able to get me to Seligman where I tied down my Train for a re-crew. Like I've said before, don't ever think this'll be an easy run because you just never know what the Railroad has in store for you.
X-CNJEDU - Continued
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| My Rail Driver showing a Martini stick holding the Independent in place |
This did the trick as I stopped tripping Detectors. This didn't however stop from tripping the Detectors due to dragging equipment. Oh well, guess you can't have it all.
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| The X-CNJEDU East departing Amboy |
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| Coming into West Needles |
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| Needles |
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| The X-CNJEDU at the platform at Needles |
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| The AMTRAK sign on the Needles Platform |
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| Having left Needles, a look out the Engineer's window |
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On our way. HIGHBALL! |
With the advent of OTTO on the Depot SoCal Server, it has added a whole new dimension to the experience of running Trains and it adds a lot of fun too!
The X-CNJEDU - Empty Grain
I recrewed this Train at Marcel siding. It originated at Van G. Cold Storage east of Calwa at Milepost 983.2 and heading for East Dubuque, Iowa. What I liked most about this Train is that it makes all those BBQ steaks, chicken and Baby Back Ribs possible for all those Backyard BBQ's that are sure to take place during those hot summer months to come. I can taste it now!
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| Grinding up the Hill coming out of Marcel Siding |
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| Coming through Monolith |
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| Looking back at my Train while making my way through Cameron |
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| Mojave and making my way onto Home rails |
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| Sanborn Siding |
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| Taking the Siding at Silt and a Crew change |
Don't ever think "this is going to be an easy run". Case in point is the MNPWC 24 which I recrewed at Keenbrook on the BNSF Cajon Sub.
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| Rolling through Devore on the BNSF Cajon Sub is the MNPWC 24 |
All I had to do was run the MNPWC 24 to Union Pacific's West Colton Yard keeping in mind that Train killer curve at RANA where I'll transition from the BNSF to the Union Pacific.
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| Navigating my way around the Train Killer curve at RANA |
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| Coming into West Colton Receiving Yard track 106 |
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| The MNPWC 24 on the right waiting for 1 at the west end of the West Colton Receiving Yard |
H-BARPAS1-19A
I recrewed this train at the west end of Allard in the Tehachapi's. The thing about the Sim is just when you think you have your act together, it'll throw you a curveball. Things were going smooth on my way down the Hill. I made my way through Caliente and Illmon but on my approach to the east end of Bena, I got an advanced Approach then an approach on my way up the accent of Sandcut. So I brought my Train down to about 25 mph when I got a call from the YBK50 that it was working at Edison and to move over to Main 1. Well, as I approached the crossover at west Sandcut, I was crawling at only 5 mph and losing speed until I came to a stop! I couldn't get my Train to move regardless of what I did. I thought I had stalled so I went down to get the two Helper Locomotives parked on the spur at Bena. As I'm moving the Helpers towards my Train, a Depot Staff member text asking me what I was doing. I explained to him I thought I had stalled but he told me I should have plenty of HP/T and won't need those Helpers and to put them back and meet him back at my Train. We went into the cab and he was extremely helpful as he helped me discover I had some how turned off my Generator Switch. After rolling my eyes and smacking my forehead and turning back on the Gen Switch, I was able to head for Bakersfield.
Lessons Learned: Always ensure your Gen switch is turn on especially if you have been pressing buttons on your keyboard or Raildriver.
I had some pickups to make at BNSF Bakersfield Yard, keeping in mind my train could be no longer than 8,000 feet, well the cars that I had room for were loaded Ethanol Tanks which meant I had to grab a Buffer car before making my actual pickup. I stopped my train at the crew change at BNSF Bakersfield Yard and attempted to cross over on the crossover directly in front of me but OTTO wouldn't have it so I disconnected my power from my train and moved lite to the west end of the Yard past the control point at Gomez. I was then able to reach into the Yard and grab a Buffer car, then move back out to the mainline at Gomez, then reach into the Yard to grab my pickups. This pickup put my Train at 7,875 feet, just 125 feet under the 8,000 foot limit for the BNSF Bakersfield Subdivision.
My next pickup was to be at Calwa Yard of 657 feet but I also had a pickup at BNSF's Modesto Yard of 1,532 feet. Because Modesto is a much smaller Yard, I opted to not pick anything up Calwa figuring the pickup at Calwa would suck up most of my permissible train length and because the Stockton Subdivision has a Train length limit of 9,000 feet, I thought it better to take that 1,000 extra feet and use it to pickup as many cars (15) as possible at Modesto since they could use the room being they are a smaller Yard.
So it was off to Modesto Yard, almost 200 miles. The total run for this Train took three days to complete but I learned a lot.
The Verdemont Cargill Plant Job
This job is rather challenging but a whole lot of fun. The SBD1022 brings up 40 loaded Grain Hoppers and exchanges these for 40 empty Grain Hoppers. The thing to keep in mind while working the SBD1022 or the Plant job is that a loaded Grain Hopper weighs about 130 tons and this plant job in particular, all the tracks within the Plant are on a sizable grade who's decline runs east to west with the west end of the Plant being where the Plant Locomotives do their work. When I was pulling 10 of the loaded Grain Hoppers towards the west end of the Plant, I would set 2 or 3 retainers on the cars directly behind the locomotives. This helps with the braking of 10 loaded Grain Hoppers and greatly reduces any surprises because should you have a surprise, it's hard to recover and still have time to stop before the end of track on the west end.
Norfolk Southern's AB45 Local
Norfolk Southern's AB45 Local works from Norfolk Southern's Norris Yard to Bessemer Yard and back, working Industries in each direction. I recrewed the AB45 at Bessemer Yard so I didn't get the full flavor of this Local but what I did get was enough as it took me 4 days to complete this Local. I had some loaded gondolas to pick up in Bessemer then I was heading North to work the Industry Golden Flake and Radius Recycling. Waiting for CSX traffic crossing the Norfolk Southern Mainline at the 14th Street crossing while doing my setouts and pickups at Golden Flake and Radius Recycling Company was quite the challenge as CSX has a lot of traffic pounding the Diamonds at this crossing. It was like the old saying goes in Railroading, hurry up and wait and I did a lot of waiting to be sure.
One thing to be aware of at the 14th Street crossing is that if you try to get a signal to move North or South from 14th Street crossing and can't get one, it's because there is traffic heading your way on CSX and you just have to sit and wait it out. If the Dispatcher has a CSX lined through the crossing (the track will be green), your not going anywhere. Just remember to wait for CSX to clear the Control Point before attempting to take control of the signal at the south end of the Diamond for the Norfolk Southern Main. This is a very busy Diamond as I noticed CSX had a Train through this crossing about every 10 to 15 minutes so plan accordingly and be prepared to do a lot of waiting.
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| Waiting at 14th Street for CSX to clear the Diamonds |
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| Working Radius Recycling Company and a Southbound Intermodal getting by me on Main 2
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L-CAL1161 Cadiz Local
This Train poses quite a challenge as it must travel East 100 miles on BNSF's Southern Transcon to Cadiz, CA. while stopping along the way to work Industry at several locations. Sounds easy but the Transcon can be a very busy Railroad with heavy traffic in both directions making for quite the challenge to get your work done and get back to Barstow before the Law goes dead on you.
Leaving Barstow, I had heavy traffic going thru Dagget which is pretty typical in Real Life at time at this location but the DS was able to get me thru Dagget and to Newberry Springs where my first setouts and pick-ups were to occur.
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| Coming into Amboy, CA. and Tetra Technologies |
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| Arriving West Cadiz on Main Track 2 Cadiz is where the Arizona & California Railroad interchanges traffic with the BNSF. I've made a Custom Spawn point on the A&C so as to bring in traffic to the interchange. In real life, sometimes the BNSF will have to wait for the A&C to arrive or vice versa. Sometimes, depending on time constraints the BNSF or A&C will just drop off it's cars and leave (for BNSF I believe it's the small yard there at Cadiz and for the A&C they will drop off it's cars on the siding track that parallels the A&C mainline). If you know otherwise, please leave a comment below as I am always wanting to learn how it is done in real life.  |
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| The MRVWC 05 about to go over itself on Tehachapi Loop |
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| The MRVWC 05 diverging onto the Palmdale Cutoff |
I originally crewed this Train at SACO siding just North of UP's Bakersfield Yard. I had work to do upon arrival at Bakersfield as I had 14 cars to setout and needed to take some of the cars for pick up and there was plenty of those. Now this is where I really get into all of this as I would be making more pick ups in Mojave and I had to keep my Train under 8'000 feet. I picked up 15 cars in Bakersfield based on my calculations of each car being 70' in length. Also, I figured Bakersfield had more room for outbound cars than does Fleta siding which is the only siding outbound cars are placed for pickup though sometimes in the Real World, Union Pacific will use Ansel Siding for any overflow.
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