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Ok heres my question never have done this, so i know some of you will turn the light on for me. Interchange service i know what it is and how it works in the real world but how do you simulate this in our world? Things like how do you make the cars seem as if they were set out and how a new set of cars apear? I hope i got my point accross if not ill try to set it right so i can learn this ordeal.
Thanks guys and gals
There are several ways to do it, but here is how I plan to do it on my railroad once it gets to an operational state. This is meant to mimic the LAJ, Empire and Modesto, or other similar shortlines. My layout is a point-to-point with interchange from Class 1 railroads on each end. The actual "interchange" of cars will come between operating sessions. By hand, I will remove the outgoing cars from the interchange, and will place incoming cars on the tracks. During the operating session, the incoming cars will be hauled around to whatever industries they go to, and cars picked up from the industries will be taken to the interchanges. Then, after the session, repeat - remove outgoing cars and place new cars for the next session.
On the layout I used to operate on, there were hidden loops that represented the other railways. Whole trains destined for interchange were run in there. Unfortunately, the cars were never wanted back in the same arrangement.
We also had a car ferry arrangement. The car ferry was never built, but cars were run to the edge of the layout and then removed to shelves or drawers below the siding.
I use cassettes for staging trains on my Detroit Connecting. The interchange track for the GTW runs to the edge of the layout; one track is inbound, the other outbound. I roll the cars off the cassette onto the inbound track, and then roll the outbound cars into empty cassettes and place them on a shelf until they are needed again. This way I have a variety of cars coming onto the layout in different combinations. My cassettes are 3 feet long, so they hold 5-6 cars depending on the length of the car. I plan on using this type of staging in two other areas in phase two and three. I also plan on having lower level staging at some point as well.
Chuck
I use a car ferry on one side of the layout for interchange but also have a siding that goes into hidden track so a loco for my freelance can pull cars set there "off layout" or push them "on layout".
I've always used the method described by Gary S - prior to an operating session, simply place the inbound cars on the interchange track as though the connecting road had dropped them before the operating session - switch them according to destination - and finish the session by shoving the outbound cars back on the interchange track. After the session is finished - just remove the outbound cars and repeat the process.

This same process will apply to my proposed switching layout, only difference being that the entire train will be staged as though entering the industrial spur from some offline location and then when the session is complete and the train returns to staging, the outbound cars will be removed and a new cut of inbound cars staged with the locomotive for the next session.

I like the idea of using cassettes so that the inbound/outbound cars can simply be rolled on/off the interchange track - mainly because there would be less handling of the cars. Of course if you were modeling a car ferry type operation - that's a great way to simulate inbound/outbound cars going on/off line.
I have just one point of clarification to add. Not all cars puled from an industry will go to interchange. Certainly all loads will be interchanged to be sent off site to their destinations, but empties may be held in the yard waiting for a local industry to need that type of car for a load out. If too many empties "pile up " in the yard, then some would be interchanged. Also if a car is in dedicated service to be used between two designated industries, it would be sent back asap. An example of this from the past would be ice bunker cars. Back before the interstate highway system, most produce was shipped to the East from California in SFRD or PFE cars. Once unloaded, they were restricted as to type of freight that could be shipped back in them, and the S. F., U.P., or S.P. wanted them back for reload asap.