Welcome to OperatingSessions.com!

OperatingSessions.com is purpose-built to support model railroaders hosting operating sessions. These sessions can be individual sessions on a single layout, or you can set up multi-day events with dozens of sessions. Operating on model railroads is one of the most enjoyable parts of the hobby, but there's a lot of manual effort required to schedule complex events. See how OperatingSessions.com can help you get operators signed up more efficiently for your events!
OperatingSessions.com is an independent site that is not affiliated with or sponsored by the National Model Railroad Association (NMRA), the Operations Special Interest Group (OpSIG), or any other organization.

Operators

Individual operators can register for events and get notified when operating events are available. An operator's profile, once created, does not have to be re-entered for every event. Layout owners and event organizers can only see the information if the operator signs up for their event. Operators can also sign up as a group to make carpooling simpler.

To get started, create your user profile today!

Register as New User

Layout Owners

Layout owners can update their layout information in the directory, adding pictures and related documents whenever they wish. They can also create an operating session that is either open to the public or only sent to an invitee list. No more keeping track of everyone's email addresses and phones... each operator can update their own profile.

Note: Club-owned layouts should register here. During the registration process, you can mark that your railroad is club-owned and fill in the address/contact information.

To get started, create your user profile and then go to the Railroad Manager to enter your layout details.

Register as New User Create/Manage My Railroad

Organizations

An organization can be as simple as a round-robin group in your city, a regional operating group, or a temporary group associated with a convention. You can add railroads who are participating in your organization and then set up events for those railroads as a group. Quick and easy URLs are provided to link your organization's landing page on OperatingSessions.com to your event or organization web site.

Note: Club-owned layouts are not considered organizations in the system. Organizations are groups of layouts in the terminology used here.

Register My Organization

Site Announcements

2026 NMRA Convention Update

For those of you waiting to register for the sessions at the 2026 NMRA convention in Chattanooga, the registration code required for both the primary and the Operations Road Show events will be sent via email from the NMRA to registered attendees. The code will be sent in several batches, based on when you registered for the convention. You can still look at the event listing and plan out which session you might want to attend. I'd make a priority list since your first choice might not be available when you have the opportunity to register. 

Released on 5/12/2026

Latest updates

I've made a few additional updates recently:

  • Layout changes to use the new logo, along with fixes to the sidebar. If you click the three line/hamburger menu, the text was still displaying. That's been fixed. 
  • When looking through the layout directory or on a particular layout entry, you can click the city/state entry to get a quick Google map for the general location of the layout. The full address of the owner is kept private. 
  • For event managers who are creating railroads on behalf of other people, there is now a Change Owner feature (available from the Actions menu in the Railroad Manager). This lets the creator of the railroad transfer ownership to the real owner. The real owner has to be registered in the system, since the system uses the owner's address for the itinerary. Changing the owner will also update the unique tag assigned to the railroad. 

With the 2026 NMRA convention session signup starting soon, there won't be any further updates for a while unless an emergency fix is required. 

Released on 5/11/2026

Completeness Rating Feature

For those of you who have planned operations events, you already know that the more complete the railroad profile, the quicker those sessions fill up. To assist with that, I've added a Completeness Rating to the Railroad Manager page. It's made up of two parts: 

  • Profile data: if you fill out 20 of the fields (text fields and dropdowns) on the railroad profile, that gets you full credit. If you have less than 20 fields filled out, you get 4% for each field that you've filled out. 
  • Photos: If you have 5 photos or more, you get full credit.  If you have less, you get 4% for each photo you've uploaded. 

I may tweak this over time, but after looking at some profile pages that seemed complete, this seems like a good starting point. If you have feedback, please send it to dispatcher@operatingsessions.com. 

Released on 5/6/2026

Registrant Notes

I've also added a way for people registering for single sessions to notify the railroad owner of special requests/notes/etc. This should NOT be used to add people to the event registration - each person should register on their own. However, if you know you're going to be running late, this is an easy way to communicate this to the event organizer. This feature probably does not make sense for standard events where there are multiple sessions involved at different railroads. 

Released on 5/4/2026

Single Session Cancellation Feature

I've rolled out the first part of a long-missing feature: self cancellation. This is currently available for single session events. Standard events are more complicated, since you have cases such as having to reassign the group leader, allowing the group leader to cancel just his/her registration or the entire group, etc. Cancelling a single session is simpler because there's no group option. When this is done, you'll get an email with a confirmation, and the railroad owner will also be notified by email. 

Released on 4/30/2026