"Greg.P."
Greg, do you really have a grasp on what North American prototypical operation is all about? From your comments, I think not. My crew are not "playing driver", if anything, from what I gather, that's what you do. You run multiple passenger units from station to station. Now that's "playing driver".
My crews, and the crews on other layouts I have operated on, move freight and passengers using car-cards and waybills. The CC&WBs give routings and it's up to the crews, as in real life, to forward those cars in the most expeditious manner using the trains available. Some trains operate to a time-table, usually just the passengers, but almost all the freight is run as extras.
On the layouts I have operated, nobody is "playing engine driver in isolation". We are all part of the railway, moving passengers and freight in a logical and realistic manner all co-ordianted by a dispatcher and yardmaster(s). Our trains interchange with each other and we need to conduct meets and sometimes passes in order for the whole railway to run efficiantly.
Nope, just enter the engine number into the throttle and away we go. BTW, you need to catch up a bit. There's no need to mill any chassises these days, the decoders are small enough to fit in almost anything. They all fit easily into all 50 odd of my locos.
As do I but you play trains. I run a railroad.
Because all my operators and the same on other model railways I have operated, walk around the room following the train they are controlling. We don't have central control panels where the operator remains all the time, we follow our trains and line the switches as required, right at the switch, just like the prototype. Big central control panels went out with the dinosaur, even when I used straight DC I had walk around panels. I've never built a single model railway with a central control panel. Not in the UK and not when I moved to Canada. And I built first layout as a teenager around 1962 or so. I've always used remote panels and walk-around controls.
At best, we have a local panel (Which these days is more a track diagram than a control panel) at various stations, yards and junctions, that may have a few toggle switches that can isolate a track or two, if that's required. I still use on/off toggles in engine yards and staging tracks for example, so as to prevent accidental operation of locomotives and or trains in these locations. After all, humans make mistakes and it's possible for an operator to dial up engine No.118 instead of engine No.119 where engine No.118 is in staging. This could have disastrous results. :-)
Anyway, you continue to play trains with your roundy-go-roundy multiple units and I'll continue to operate the Great Eastern in a prototypical manner.
-- Cheers
Roger T.
Home of the Great Eastern Railway