Balancing Waybills

 The West End of AIR2 is where most of the industrial switching is concentrated. The plan is to have the freight houses first block of the day be coordinated with the schedule of trains so that this block makes a connection with an expedited freight train.

That’s simple enough. However the industrial area around the West end of the layout has THREE (3) switch jobs located there, each feeding a certain percentage of cars into Littlerock yard.

If the first block from the freight house is 15-20 cars we must add to that blocks of cars from the East Charleston Switcher (which works those spots within Littlerock itself as well as those immediately surrounding the yard), and the Jay Yard Switcher. 

If crewman are diligent, Littlerock might get 60 cars early in the session. Additionally if these cars are all billed in the same direction, either the freight train they are connecting with becomes a behemoth, or a Second Section is created. 

But what if the switch crews aren’t sharpe enough to pull and forward to Littlerock cars billed alike? Then Littlerock gets filled with 40 cars it must store until trains arrive.

Finally, what if yardmasters diligently fill their MTY car requests*? These unanticipated cars then flow through the system, adding to the back-log.

I seriously did not anticipate a lot of this. Two industries struck me as potential problems. The Produce Wholesale Market and the East Charleston Cold Storage. Each of these industries have 32 spots, 64 reefers. What do I do if their spotting or pulling cycle synchronizes one session?

Stay tuned.


*One of the features I’m adding to the YM’s plate to add a prototypical flavor is the MTY car request procedure. Cars returning empty to their home road can be impounded by local YM’s to fill the MTY Car Requests of certain industries. The Brewery is always looking for reefers to be loaded with beer. The Flour Mill is always looking for suitable clean boxcars to be loaded with flour. The Outbound Freight House is always looking for MTY 40’ boxcars for LCL traffic.


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