Ok Josh here is my pitch on what id like to do, as im busy between work and family or other interruptions I want to be able to just drop what im doing on the layout and come back at any time and have no hassle where I left off. So with that said I came up with this idea as you can see in picture that's just as simple as loco bills but with a slight learning curve. First I need a basic dice or two depends on your train lengths, fill out all blank spaces as you see below and as for the empty spaces with no writing this is where ill put 1-2 industry A 2-3 industry B 4-6 industry C or if you choose may use one lets say 2-3 as car will go to interchange track. If you choose to widen you choices by going 1 industry A 2 industry B 3 interchange and so on. For me most common length will be 8 cars or so, but heres where is starts to operate. Take the dice and roll them lets say I roll a 6 ( I have over 30 rolling stock ) shuffle the cards face down and draw that number, you your self or friend(s) play yard master and pick up them cars for the road crew to pick up. Once cars are out to the track roll dice to see where car will end up: will it be industry A interchange ?????? dice will decide. Next ill use paper clips to highlight where car is to go now that I know where there off to ill run them cars to them locations. Now lets say theres a car or two there ill roll dice as indicated on card what to do and that's my plan. Any questions or comments please feel free.
Harry Check out my blog at <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://newyorkontariowestern.blogspot.com/">http://newyorkontariowestern.blogspot.com/</a><!-- m -->
To keep it simple on my layout only switch lists will be used. My MR is based on the Los Angeles Junction Ry & will only be doing industrial switching.
Andy Jackson
Santa Fe Springs CA
ATSF/LAJ Ry Fan & Modeler
Evening! I have a switching layout, and I use the car card system for routing. I use the switch list when setting and pulling cars, then place the car cards along the fascia where the car is spotted and turn the cards to show their next destination. Right now cars are routed onto the layout and then off via one of four points: Conner Creek Yard, Wyandotte Interchange, West Interchange, or the Grand Trunk.
When a cut of cars arrives to be switched, I write out the switch list using the information from the car cards and note if there are cars in the cut that are going to an interchange point instead of an industry. If there is, I check the cars currently spotted for those that will be routed to that same interchange point, write them as a pickup on the switch list, and then only pull the cars currently spotted that are going to that interchange point while switching the incoming cars. (The rest of the cars currently spotted stay where they are). The cut of cars pulled then gets sent to that particular interchange point to be put onto a cassette for storage. This creates a randomness as to which cars get pulled and which ones stay at an industry. Until more of the track work in Conner Creek and Wyandotte has been completed, this is how I work my layout.
Here are pics of my paperwork:
Chuck
Detroit Connecting
We are your
inner-city connection.
I model a branchline and two shortlines, no mainlines here. I use the 4 cycle car card and waybill system. Works great, if I/we need to stop we can go back later and pick up right where we left off. Restaging between sessions is minimal. Fill the cards out once and you are set for life. You can add/remove cars at will with no interference with the operations.
Mike
Sent from my pocket calculator using two tin cans and a string
At HOTrak we used car cards and way bills. The trains were made up by a yard master and crew ready to tKe on various jobs around the layout. Since the layout changed every time, it was always interesting to see the variation in the "same job".
For my home switching layout I am inspired by Trevor Marshall's Port Rowan in S Scale. He has recreated much of the paperwork used the in the 1950s, and I am planning on doing the same for the 1920s-30s. A search for "operations" on his site will turn up all kinds of interesting reading.