How do I figure out what order to put my cars in when beginning an operating session?

[Anonymous]

I'm just getting into the operating aspect of MRRing, and have devised a simple card system based on the one found in "HO railroad from start to finish". The problem is, I really don't know how the switch list ought to be ordered [D)]. Just for reference, this is what a typical card looks like:

(Front)

Crown City Mine 1

3 coal hoppers, empty, from Interchange

(Back)

Crown City MIne 2

3 coal hoppers, loaded, to Interchange

There are 9 industries on the layout, with a team track, interchange track, and a 3-track yard. If anyone can give me an idea how to set these trains up it would be a big help. Thanks!

[dehusman]

I am not familiar with the article or book you are using but I will describe how you can use car cards and "waybills" to route your cars.

With car cards you have a card with a "pocket" on it for each car. Normally what ers do is make the car cards about 2" wide and five or 6 inches long, then fold up the bottom 1/4 and put tape along the sides to make a pocet on the bottom third or so of the card. Micromark sells kits of pre printed cards, you just fill in the car numbers etc.

In the pocket you put a "waybill" which is a small card about 1 1/2" wide and twice as tall as the pocket. On the waybill is written the destination of the car and whether its loaded or empty and if loaded whats in it.. You can put up to 4 destinations on each waybill. One right side up and one updide down on each side. When you slip the waybill into the pocket only one of the destinations will show. You move the car to that location and when its "loaded" or "unloaded" as the case may be, you turn the waybill over to the next destination and send the car there. If you like you can also change waybills every operating session.

The CC&WB are kept in the same order as the are in the track. The stack of cards should be ordered so if you were walking along the track the you would come to the cars in the same order the cards are in. The same with a list. The cars are on the list in the same order they are standing in the track . Then you can switch the cars to put them in the order of the towns as you will come to them (station order). After you line the cars up in station order, you can resequence the car crds or rewrite the list in the new standing order.

Since it sounds like you have a switching layout without seperate towns, then there really would n't be a need for station order. If you have to switch some industries ahead of others you can put them first in the train if you like. Otherwide the list or the order of the cards should match the order of the train.

There is also another type of switchlist which you might like to try also. On that one for each industry the train will switch, you list all the cars going to an industry and all the cars to be pulled from the industry. It doesn't matter what order they are in the train, you just have to spot those cars at the specific industry. You could separte the car cards in you train by which industry they go to, but I think that makes it harder to switch, its your personal preference.

Don't be afraid to try something. Real railroads don't all do things the same.

The bottom line is as long as you can figure out which cars are going where, its OK.

Have Fun.

Dave H.

[DSchmitt]

Generally the order is set to minimize the amount of work needed to get them to their destinations.
There are many variables. Amoung them:
Destination is leading point spur or trailing point spur or double ended
Location and length of sidings
Grades
Preference of the crew
Locations of cars to be picked up

One posibility:
Cars destined to trailing point spurs behind the locomotive in order by destination (1st car goes to 1st Tspur, 2nd to 2nd Tspur, etc). Cars for leading point spurs at rear of train in reverse order (last car to 1st Lspur, next car forward to 2nd Lspur, etc) Safety concerns and the operating might require that the caboose be left somewhere out of the way when switching a leading spur. Cars for leading spurs might be left on a siding for placing on the return trip or by another train. All this if further complicated by the need to pick up cars too.

[darth9x9]

You can always subscribe the following yahoo group:
[e-mail]

Lots and lots of operational information.

BC

[orsonroy]

One thing to keep in mind about blocking of cars: it really didn't exist during the steam and transitional eras. Since steamers needed to be serviced about every 100 miles or so, there were plenty of division, subdivision, and local yards scattered around the countryside. Trains were tacked together with all cars going in the same general direction. Once a car got "near" it's destination, it was cut off at the nearest yard, tacked onto a local, and delivered. It was usually up to the crew of the local job to figure out what they had behind the engine, where the cars were going, and how best to deliver them. It was not unusual for a crew to take a car all the way to the end of a local run, just to turn around and deliver it halfway back, just because it made the switching out of the car easier.

So don't get too worked up about the order in which cars are placed in a train. Real railroads didn't worry too much about that sort of thein; why shoud you? Half the fun of operations is in figuring out how to do your job!

[DSchmitt]

"In making up local freights, the work is usually done according to methods best adapted to the division. The common method is to place cars in station order. The first cars to be set out are put next to the engine, next the cars for the second station and so on, to enable them to be set out with the least possible sweitching ..... Unfortunately, it is more often the practice to make up local freights with no attention whatever to car arrangement, usually because the yard is inadequate and hardly able to classify the through freights properly, thus causing the most inportant trains (the division locals) to be neglected."

from Freight Terminals & Trains by John A Droege Origionally published in 1912 and 1925, it is has been reprinted by and is available from the National Model Railroad Association www.nmra.org [:)]

[Anonymous]

I think I'll print this stuff out. Thanks guys, you've helped a lot. Most stuff I try to at least get an idea of what's been done and develop my own way, and you've given me a solid starting point.

[AltonFan]

Just to add a wrinkle, certain cars had to be placed at a certain spot for safety and regulatory reasons. IIRC, stock cars were generally kept near the locomotives to avoid slack damage, while cars carrying flammables and explosives had to be at least three cars from the locomotives. I also remember hearing something about the placement of loaded and unloaded flat cars due to their tracking characteristics.

There might also be sidings from which locomotives are prohibited (due to weight or danfer of fire). In these cases, a number of cars had to be used as a "handle" between the locomotive and the car to be set out/picked up.