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I see a million boxcars. Not really...Interestingly my fleet of rolling stock is about 40% boxcars and really light on the special cars such as Athearns Heavy Duty Flat (I have only one) and at least several of each type. I can build a manifest train with a mix of roadnames going midwest or north of DC and other trains that have a distinctly southern flavor with Florida Reefers etc. Western roadnames are a little bit rarer but they do exist. All sorts of cargo from Coal to Widgets to boxcars loaded with grain and covered hoppers along with a few gons hauling stone or cable reels and finished with a reefer cut and a few oddball cars. On the photo I have in my signature you would see SP reefers and that was a manifest train, it had 17 other cars behind that set of 4. I figure we had west coast produce going east and seafood going back west. The reason they were in the front is that they have to travel a long way and probably gets first attention upon arrival in the yard for icing, cleaning and assignment to the next train. My Falls Valley Town area is planned to have a grain/feed mill, a stock yard area and a few house tracks. If I was to run a freight there it would be as a way freight or a local with cars to switch. I would try to stay out of the way of the really big manifest storming thru town. They MIGHT stop for coal and water if my coin flip comes up one way or the other. Manifest trains travel long distances 50+ to 200+ miles and yard masters are scared to death of these trains. They arrive, fill the yard up and create chaos as the switchers struggle to break up this train into smaller trains going to local customers. The reverse happens in the yard when enough cars are gathered from local industry to be sent to the next state, city or the land beyond time never to be seen again. Yard masters are always happy to see these trains go. So. The mental image of a 50 car manifest screeching to a halt at my itty bitty town and struggle to get one or two cars dropped off does not work. What I see is a small train of maybe 6 cars going into town to swtich and trying to stay out of the way of the manifest monster that is due in 10 minutes. Exciting huh?
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