Hello all
This is liable to start a very lively discussion but I’d like to get some feedback both pro and con as to my thoughts on waybills and the information on them.
When I first started setting up waybills for operations on my layout, I racked my brain trying to come up with offline industries that cars would “go to” when they got back to my classification yard. That and what products were being carried to those destinations. Then it dawned on me, why bother. The cars are going on shelves below the yard until such time as they are needed again. Who cares what there “destination off line” is? Which lead to the next line of reasoning. Who cares what the merchandise is that in those cars.
When cars come back from their travels off line, they are made up in the yard based on what town they are going to and what industry within that town, depending on what waybill card I draw. The train crew thats eventually going to get that train doesn’t care where they came from or whats in them. All they want to know is where is the car going and is there a specific spot within the industry that they will be spotted. Period. The crew doesn’t care whether the car is empty or full. Its not important to them.
So my waybills are very simple now. The name of the industry they are going to on one side and the type of car thats needed. And on the other side, which of two yards that car will be returned to when its picked up in the next session. Simple. Once the crew returns the car to the yard their job is over. Its now time for the yard master to take over and remove the cars that have been brought in and bring cars up from below that have supposedly “come back” from whereever they have been.
I know this is kind of long, but looking for pros and cons on this concept.
Thanks
John
I discussed a couple of different approaches for waybills and other operating ideas in this thread:
http://www.trains.com/community/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=46614
Regards,
Byron
http://www.modelrail.us
Just to speak to this point, I think this is a matter of personal preference. Personally, I think the addition of more detailed information adds to the atmosphere and realism of operating sessions. It’s true that real-life crews don’t care much what’s in the car or its final destination. But for operators on a layout, the suggestion of a larger world beyond what is modeled adds realism – in my opinion. For that reason, I like adding the detail to the waybills, but I’ve done it both ways on different layouts depending on the owner’s preference.
Regards,
Byron
i think it depends on your layout and how operating sessions go . if your operators are struggling to get all the cars where they need to go within the time allowed then they probably don’t have much time to think about what’s in the car and where it’s eventually going . if you run a laid back railroad where there’s time to breathe between delivering and picking up cars then your operators may be curious about what they’re picking up and may have the time to read everything on the waybill . in that case you should throw in a couple of amusing loads to see if anyone is paying attention
John,
I understand your point(the prototype crew feels the same). That said, I have found that in over 30 years of ‘operation’ with card card/waybill based systems, adding the shipping info to the waybill/car order seems to give the whole thing a ‘purpose’ and the crews seem to like it. Knowing that a loaded reefer has ‘swinging beef’ in it seems to add to the ‘story’ and completes the drama for our illusion. Besides, there is some ‘interesting’ reading on those waybill/car order cards!
Jim Bernier
I kept my waybills very simple. As an operator I’m not interested in anything execpt where the car is going, so that is how mine work. Some waybills I’ve seen had so much stuff on them you had to study them for quite a while just to figure out where the car had to go.
Well, I care where the car is going and whats in it.
It creates a purpose for moving the car. Cars arent moved for the fun of it