Typical scheduled train sequence (still playing with this a bit):
EB Manifest 1 (gen. fr.)
Mixed Local 1
Mine Run 1
WB Manifest 1 (coal)
EB Manifest 2 (gen. fr.)
Mixed local 2
Mine Run 2
WB Manifest 2 (coal)
The railroad can easily absorb 100+ cars between trains, spurs and offline storage. Exclusive of staging (through type) and ‘exchange siding’ at Town A, there is no formal yard per se. Number of operators will typically be one (me), but is designed to handle 2-4.
Either car-card-and-waybill (CC&WB) or computer switchlists can work. Many people find the start-up easier with CC&WB.
Seems like a lot of trains to run for that schematic. I guess you plan to switch some industries more than once per session. Unless there are more tracks than are shown, it looks like you’ll also need to plan the train sequence carefully to make sure there is a slot open in staging when a train arrives.
Finally, if the railroad can hold 100+ cars when stuffed to the gills, you’ll probably be better off with about half that number when beginning op sessions.
Typically only about 50 cars online at any one time are planned including staged trains - rest held in offline storage (the magic infinite yard sink).
The number and types of trains on the branch is an exact duplicate of the prototype so thats sort of fixed (yeah I know a very busy branchline). However, you point about perhaps being too busy is food for thought. The manifest cycle might be adjusted a bit if its all too overwhelming. I might start with just one in each direction daily and see how it goes.
I’ll read your links for further insight, plus my old Chubb book.
Car card/waybill systems and switch lists (computer generated or otherwise) represent two different approaches to the car distribution equation. CC/W looks at the overall business of moving freight from the point of view of a front-office dweller. (Why is that car moving, what’s in it, when is it supposed to be picked up/delivered, do we have a suitable empty for a load of hides at Podunk Junction…?) Switch lists look only at the concerns of the yardmaster or freight conductor. (What do I do with the cars from Extra 6672? Do I need to drop that P&NA box at Smith’s or at Brown’s? Which cars do I pull at Podunk Junction…?)
The complexity of the systems and the amount of paper handled reflect the difference. CC/W tends to require a lot of ‘bookkeeping,’ and shuffling of numerous pieces of paper. A switch list is ONE piece of paper. Figuring out which is easier for a freight crew to deal with is a no-brainer.
That said, I personally use a variation of CC/W, with a bunch of extra bells and whistles not found in the basic system, specifically tailored ot my railroad and operating scheme. The reason? I seldom operate as the crew of a single train. More usually, I’m wearing a stack of hats labeled, “General Superintendent, Chief Dispatcher, Road Foreman of Engines…”
I’ve also arranged things so the train crew doesn’t have to shuffle cards and play with waybills. All of that gets done ‘off the (scale time) clock,’ between operating sessions.
I believe it is matter of personal preference. Both carcards and switchlists will work. I have used both on my l/o and on other l/o’s but by far prefer carcards. Switchlists are more prototypical but for me carcards have a couple of advatages.
First, most switchlists tend to be batch oriented which means a sequence of moves must be completed before starting a new list. I prefer to start a ‘new’ day at each session With carcards I can stop anytime or run a train between sessions without having to do much re-staging. Just keep the cars and cardstack together.
Second, carcards are less confusing for me. If you are setting out and picking up (2) or (3) cars in a town, switchlists are great. If you are dealing with (20) sets/pickups in a town the list can seem very long. I like to shuffle a stack a cards along the l/o shelf as I move a temporary cut of cars. After answering a phone or clearing the main for a fast freight, I have a hard time remembering where or why I left a cut. (The confusion seems to get worse with age!)
By the way you can download trial software to print carcards and waybills from Shenandoah Software at http://members.aol.com/Shenware/index.html I have used this for 5+ years for all my carcards and waybills. I have also purchased and tried ShipIt and ProTrak with switchlists and while both are good products, I still prefer carcards.
Need to stand back and give the yard master room to work including space for whatever paperwork you are going to hit him with.
Falls Valley Railroad is still developing the operations but direction is West from the B&O Line at a freelanced junction to the FV Yard and there interchanges. The FVRR will dispatch one local to each of the three towns and tonnage on those locals will vary from day to day.
One Manifest to Interchange arriving in the morning.
Three daily locals to serve three locations. I suppose a Mine turn is a local but it returns the coal to the yard to be reclassified for end users.
One through passenger train each day stopping at the depot at the interchange.
One small commuter type passenger train serving three locations making connection to the through pax.
Now for operations, I use two or 4 cycle cards loosely based on Terry Walsh, Andy S, Whit Towers, Doug Smith and a little bit of Tony Koester with small choices made for my pleasure. Not necessarily precise or without errors. hmm… now where does THIS tank car go? =)
I am going to jump on the car cards/waybill band wagon. The waybill system is somewhat self correcting while the switchlist would tend to require more monitoring, should the cars be moved around “unofficially.”
The CC&WB carries all the movement instructions with it, the list requires all the information to be kept in one place and moved to the lists as required.
CC&WB is dynamic in that as the cards follow the trains, the relative plositions of the cars in the train can easily be tracked. With lists the lists have to be made and some sort of reporting has to be made to track the new position of the car. If you rearrange the cars in the train as you do work, its easy and quick to reorder the deck of CC. With lists it can be more of a problem to keep track of train order.
CC&WB can require a somewhat bulky packet of cards. Lists can be more compact and easiter to carry.
With CC&WB if somebody leaves the op session with a deck of CC in their pocket, you have lost track of all those cards. If somebody walks off with a list, the final position of the cars may not be know.
CC&WB automatically reports the locations of the cars, but requires manual intervention to rebill or advance the billing, computer lists require manual reporting of the car locations (or that the work has been accomplished) and automatically rebill or advance the billing.
CC&WB can be configured to accomodate whatever variations on how the cars move or how the waybills work, computer switchlists move the cars and work the waybills only the way the programmer programmed them.
Many moons ago, I started using car cards made from index cars:
The front shows the car number and type, and the back the destinations. A paperclip keeps track of where the car is.
It works well, although now I’m moving toward a more consignee based system, where I have scenario cards for each consignee. Each card gives the consignee’s “work request” for that session, and there are several different scenarios for each consignee.
