05-26-2010, 07:48 PM
The "randomness" is something very easy to create. Your "random" cars are selected by you (foreign railroad) which were ordered by "your customers" which need to be interchanged (given) to your railroad for you to deliver. The customers generate the traffic so be creative.
Remember, customers need not receive the "same" type of car everytime.
For example: If you have a lumber company on your layout, you most likely, will think that they need centerbeam or regular flat cars - right? Wrong. Lumber is shipped in boxcars as well. So make sure you have a unloading dock where you can spot a boxcar too - maybe at the building itself. Flat cars DO NOT need a dock to be unloaded. They can be unloaded with a forklift as long as they are on level ground.
Also, if you have a feed mill, remember not all grain was delivered in covered hoppers. Grain was also delivered in boxcars too - or - at least it used to. I remember, in my railroad days, bringing feed in to local industries in CR boxcars. I believe they were 166 series. Anyway, they were unloaded at a platform with a "bobcat" which dumped it into a pit.
Creating "special" moves for your crews is part of the fun here. Let's say you have 3 cars to spot at that lumber mill - 2 flats and a boxcar. They need to be "lined up" first before they can be spotted correctly. You see, you just can't shove in 3 cars and be done. The flats need to go to the unloading area while the boxcar goes to the building.
Be creative with your customers.
Remember, customers need not receive the "same" type of car everytime.
For example: If you have a lumber company on your layout, you most likely, will think that they need centerbeam or regular flat cars - right? Wrong. Lumber is shipped in boxcars as well. So make sure you have a unloading dock where you can spot a boxcar too - maybe at the building itself. Flat cars DO NOT need a dock to be unloaded. They can be unloaded with a forklift as long as they are on level ground.
Also, if you have a feed mill, remember not all grain was delivered in covered hoppers. Grain was also delivered in boxcars too - or - at least it used to. I remember, in my railroad days, bringing feed in to local industries in CR boxcars. I believe they were 166 series. Anyway, they were unloaded at a platform with a "bobcat" which dumped it into a pit.
Creating "special" moves for your crews is part of the fun here. Let's say you have 3 cars to spot at that lumber mill - 2 flats and a boxcar. They need to be "lined up" first before they can be spotted correctly. You see, you just can't shove in 3 cars and be done. The flats need to go to the unloading area while the boxcar goes to the building.
Be creative with your customers.
Doing my best to stay on track and to live each day to it's fullest, trying not to upset people along the way. I have no enemies.....just friends who don't understand my point of view.
Steve
Let's go Devils!
Steve
Let's go Devils!