Here is an article by Malcolm Yates on how he operates his SVR model  'ARLEY'

In general Arley is operated to a sequence that enables various aspects of the real SVR timetabled operation to take place, rather than producing a timetable or sequence that actually mirrors a specific timetable or gala operation.

As an SVR Member for a number of years, I have almost a complete collection of the ‘in-house’ magazine – SVR News. These provide a vast amount of written and photographic information about the station, and its operation, including a preservation era signalling diagram.

Some of the criticism of modelling a preserved railway is that operation is limited because trains generally run in fixed rakes, with maybe only one engine in steam at smaller centres. With the style of operation adopted on Arley, there is a wide variety of trains and operation that includes shunting, round-and-round running, and end-to-end running. The intention is to make use of as much stock and as many locos as feasible in a relatively short sequence.

As I mentioned before the SVR News has included numerous articles regarding Arley including some on operation, plus it is possible to obtain working timetables for most of the galas. I have therefore been able to derive patterns of operation to ensure that most of the prototype requirements can be modelled.

On quiet days there are no passing trains at Arley, and so both up and down trains use the main up platform which is signalled bi-directionally. It may be necessary to detach a leading engine at the south end of the up platform to allow it to proceed across Victoria Bridge alone, so suitable isolating sections are in place for that to be replicated.

During the main operating season trains cross at Arley, but only northbound trains ever call at the down platform.

For the Christmas Santa operations Arley becomes the northern terminus of trains operating from Kidderminster. The normal sequence is that a train arrives in the down platform. A waiting train then departs south from the up platform. The down train engine, then runs round, and propels its train north out of the station. Then it brings its train south into the up platform, ready for the next sequence.

The layout used to have a 7 track traverser style fiddle yard, but I guess my carpentry skills weren’t as good as I had hoped, so it suffered from track alignment problems. This caused too many derailments for enjoyable operation, so the fiddle yard was rebuilt with up and down fans of sidings and a central loop.

The fiddle yard comprises 11 sidings - and due to space considerations most of the sidings are single ended rather than loops - only roads 5 & 6 are a loop. There is an isolating section at the far end of each siding so each siding is operated like a terminus station platform with the incoming engine trapped until a different loco takes the train out. The head-shunt for each fan of sidings provides a loco shed for storage of 3 locos.

Each train generally lives in a given fiddle yard siding, so the train lengths match the sidings, rather than being able to run any train to any siding. So the Footplate Experience train comprises just one BR Mk1 coach, and the Severn Valley Limited dining car train is five coaches long. There are a few exceptions to this rule as each of the four 3 coach trains actually swaps places with one of the others.

The fiddle yard holds the following trains:

C – Carmine & cream BR Mk1 (Triang-Hornby)  3 coach
GW2 – GWR/BR (Replica/Bachmann) 3 coach
L – LMS/BR set (Mainline/Airfix) 4 coach
M – Maroon BR Mk1 (Triang-Hornby) 3 coach
N – LNER/BR set (Triang-Hornby/Hornby) 3 coach
S – Severn Valley Limited GWR/BR (Hornby/Lima/Bachmann/Grafar) 5 coach
DMU – Class 108 – 2 car (Bachmann)
Parcels - Full Brake & Siphon OR Local – 2 coach
Footplate – C&C BR Mk1 – (Triang) 1 coach
Freight - 4 wagons, 1 brake van
Pt. Way – 1 brake van

The station sidings normally hold one of either the Local or Parcels train, and an additional rake of wagons to swap for the freight train. This allows two of the trains in the fiddle yard to swap with trains or rolling stock in the station. Consequently this provides shunting activity that may not normally take place at that frequency at a station like Arley.

As mentioned above, there are six loco shed lines in the fiddle yard to hold engines which are rotated with the spare locos not currently on the layout. At the end of a sequence a dice is rolled which defines which of the six locos in the shed roads, to swap with one on the spares shelf. The replaced engine then gets serviced and any running repairs can be done before it takes its place at the back of the spares shelf. In this way all locos get used and serviced over time. One pass through the sequence cards will make use of 16 locos plus the DMU. That's more than even the SVR use on a Gala day!

The available locomotives are: (see Article 2 contd...)

Trains depart from the fiddle yard in any order, determined with a shuffled deck of train cards. The cards cause every train to run in each pass through the deck of cards, so all the stock gets used. It's just that the trains within a 'sequence' run in the order the cards are turned over - giving variety in the order of appearance of trains through the station. I try to overlap the end of the sequence on one card with the start of the sequence on another so that northbound and southbound arrivals and departures make full use of the platforms where possible.

Each train has to return to its original starting place having been run-round during it’s outing on the layout. The starting point will be with a loco trapped at the end of a siding. Looking at each of the sequence cards, the first step is normally to move the next loco from the relevant loco shed onto the train about to run. The train then runs out of the fiddle yard, and eventually stops at the station. The previously trapped loco, now moves to the shed to take the place of the loco just used for the train. A marker is used to indicate the last loco to arrive on shed, so that locos are used in FIFO order. The train in the station then completes its shunting/run-round by whatever means is specific to that train. The train then returns to its original siding.

In order to simulate the length of journeys on the full size SVR, and to provide locos with a useful running period the following operating conditions are normally adhered to.

A southbound (up) train will make 2 non-stop passes through the station (platform 1) before stopping. This simulates a train departing from Bridgnorth and passing through Hampton Loade and Highley before stopping at Arley. Following departure a further non-stop pass is made through the station (platform 1) before the train terminates at its destination yard siding. This simulates the completion of the journey passing through Bewdley and terminating at Kidderminster.

A northbound (down) train will make 1 non-stop pass through the station (platform 2) before stopping. Following departure a further 2 non-stop passes are made through the station (platform 2) before the train terminates at its destination yard siding.

Train 1 - Brake Van & Train 6 - DMU Loco from shed to train 1 Train 1 arrives southbound in up platform DMU arrives northbound in down platform Released loco to shed Train 1 departs southbound to siding 6 – detach loco DMU departs northbound to siding 1 Loco run round - couples on in siding 6 DMU arrives southbound in up platform Train 1 arrives northbound Train 1 departs northbound to siding 1. DMU departs southbound to siding 6	Train 2 – Demo Goods/ Works Train The wagons in this train swap with the wagons in siding 2 in the station. Loco from shed to train 2 Train arrives southbound in up platform Released loco to shed [Northbound departure] Loco run round Shunt siding 2 to swap wagons and put brake van on the rear of the train Relocate in up platform for departure Train departs northbound to siding 2. Use spare loco to shunt brake van to rear of train.
Train 3 – Local or Parcels This train swaps with the train in siding 1 in the station. Loco from shed to train 3 Train arrives southbound in up platform [Northbound departure] Released loco to shed Loco run round Swap with existing train in siding 1 Relocate in up platform for departure Train departs northbound to siding 3.	Train 4 & Train 9 – 3 coach service trains Train 4 is double headed and then the lead engine is the train engine for train 9. 2 locos from sheds to train 4 Train 4 arrives southbound in up platform Detach loco in platform and attach to train 9 Train 9 arrives northbound in down platform Released locos to correct sheds Train departs southbound to siding 9. Train departs northbound to siding 4.
Train 5 & Train 10 – 3 coach service trains Train 5 arrives southbound in up platform Loco from shed to train 10 Train 10 arrives northbound in down platform Released loco to shed Train departs northbound to siding 5 – detach loco. Train departs southbound to siding 10. Train 5 loco runs round light engine northbound through either platform	Train 7 – Set S (GWR/BR) – 5 coach The Severn Valley Limited Loco from shed to train 7 Train 7 arrives northbound in down platform Released loco to shed [Southbound departure] Train to siding 6 – detach loco Run round - loco couples on in siding 6 Train arrives southbound in up platform [Northbound arrival] Train departs southbound to siding 7

Train 8 – Set L (LMS) – 4 coach This train runs round within the station like a Santa Special Loco from shed to train 8 Train 8 arrives northbound in platform 2 Released loco to shed Detach loco and run to home signal [Southbound departure] Run round through up platform and attach to train Shunt north to home signal Train arrives southbound in up platform [Northbound arrival] Train departs southbound to siding 8

Train 11 – Footplate Experience Loco from shed to train 11 Train 11 arrives northbound in platform 2 Released loco to shed [Southbound departure] Train to siding 6 – detach loco Run round - loco couples on in siding 6 Train arrives southbound in platform 1 [Northbound arrival] Train departs southbound to siding 11