Hi All,

Lately, I've been dealing with interim yard traffic, Wheel Reports (Switchlists) and Cutlists.  This is in regard to the road (through) train traffic between Gresham Yard and Indianapolis (Bowling Green Staging). 

In a Topic that I just posted regarding Staging Options, I discussed how I have been setting up the road train traffic between the two locations.  In this post, I will discuss how I prepare staged trains for a session and dealing with the interim yard work and reports for setoffs and pickups by the road trains.

Between sessions, after I have run the Daily Summary, one of the first things that I do is to prepare the staged trains for the new session.  This post will only deal with the staged trains in staging and when they are enroute to their destination.  I will try my best to list what I do in the order that I do it.

• I go to "Transportation / Reblock trains between sessions / Reblock a train in staging." 
• I look at every train in every staging track for the following.
• Verify that no cars in each train are ping-ponging back to the staging track that it is coming out of.  If I find any, I will figure out why and correct it before I go to the next train.  (Verifying these issues is worth its own Topic.)
• Then look for any cars in the train that will be setoff at the interim yard and I will group those cars (using the "Car being moved" tool in the window) behind the locomotive for an easier setoff.
• You can then print a listing of all the staged trains, with multiple trains on one sheet. ("Print Train Consists" in the same window).  
• This list can then be used to verify the staged trains and place the cars in the correct consist order.  In reality, I only try and group the setoff cars in a block behind the locomotive.  None of the cars are placed in consist order and when the train arrives at its final destination, the Cutlist is printed in Alpha/Numeric order, not Consist Order. 
• Personally, I like to print out all the staged train's Wheel Reports (Switchlists) individually once I've verified the consists of the staged trains, and use these individual reports to setup the staged trains, rather than the printed report with several trains per page as listed above.

Setting up the Interim Yards for the road trains to work took some thought and experience with actually running a few sessions.   When designating the small and very limited yards at South Adam and Guthrie (which were actually setoff/pickup tracks),  I discovered that designating them as a small "y" yards had limitations that created a problem for the local crew during an operating session. 

There are no cutlists created for small "y" yards and when the local switcher sets off outbound cars to be picked up by the road trains, the crew doesn't know which direction the car(s) will be going (north or south) and can't correctly block the cars for pickup.  This creates a problem for the road train when it arrives and creates a traffic delay by blocking the main as they figure out which cars to pull out of the string of cars on the siding for their pickup.

To alleviate this problem, the locations where road trains make setoffs and pickups were designated as large "Yd" yards.  This allowed a cutlist to be created for the local crews to use and properly block the cars for pickup.

However, making these setoff/pickup tracks a large "Yd" yard created a need for additional paperwork.  The initial Wheel Report takes the road train from staging to the interim yard (rather than the final destination) and all cars have that interim yard listed as their "NxtLoc" on the Wheel Report.  The crew has no idea which cars remain in the train and which cars will be setoff until the Cutlist is printed. 

Note:  It's a good idea to brief a new road train crew on the operating procedures at an interim yard.  One new crew that we gave a train to, set off their whole train at the interim yard and arrived at Gresham with just their caboose!! 

I'm interested to know if others have operations similar to mine.  If so, how have you setup your railroad to handle it and how are things working out? 

Jim and I have discussed the listed car location problem (my words) on the Switchlist and was wondering if the destination rather than the NxtLoc could be listed.  Jim's answer made sense to me and I agree that it probably would create more confusion.

Giving it a little more thought as I am dealing with these issues, I'm wondering if there is enough room for an additional column on the Wheel Report (Switchlist) and list the final destination station or location code (such as NEW, NGI, DTI, etc) along with the NxtLoc.  I believe that this would be very helpful to the crews as they work their trains and could be for the owner as he sets up the railroad for a new session.

Your thoughts?

Best, Andy K.