>right-hand pane and double-click on "car float".<

Jim,

For clarity the options under Special are #24 Car float dock and #25 Cars placed in Drawer Storage.  Does it matter which I choose?

thanks

Joe

Hi Jim,

I'm in process of setting up this car float (vs ferry) function.

I had set up the ferry function with a real yard, industries, trains in Sarnia, but a virtual yard, virtual local industries and virtual trains in Port Huron.  This worked well, but I had to run everything in PT at the end of a partial session to complete the work, as the engineer only did the Sarnia side.  The ferry remains in place, while I take the cars off by hand and place them in a cabinet.  I then collect the cars from the industries in Port Huron, reload the ferry and it is ready for the next  continuing session.  ie the Sarnia switcher empties the car float, does the classification, and is now ready to load the float for its return trip. A lot of this is timing, as the main thru trains arrive with new cars for the float, but I want them to have any available cars for their return to staging.  

It is the Walthers Car Float, with 3 tracks and holding as many as 17 short tank cars.  

Most of the west bound traffic is loads as part of the C&O secondary main across Ontario and Michigan to Ludington where it ran several big Lake Michigan Ferries, while eastbound it is returning empties in the potato trade  and mostly loads in the auto trade.  I have several generic industries, such as Mich Manufacturers, Mich Produce, Mich team track, Mich freight house, and To Lake Michigan Ferry, which allows me to send anything via the car float.

The previous ferry function also loads the car float by weight, so that the float doesn't flip over in heavy weather.

So, now I am trying to set up this new function.  

It appears that I can name the Customer in Sarnia "Car Float PM #10".  Will this cause any problems?

I have switched all existing WBs in Port Huron (PRT10 thru PRT15) to Sarnia (SAR15t), but have retained their original name (see above) and location as Port Huron, Michigan.  Will this be a problem?  Actually, I would prefer to retain the PRT designation for the traffic, even if it is "PRT15t".  Would this necessitate a new virtual train to move the cars off the car float to the PRT15t customer??

I think I should set up a separate train for the car float customer in Sarnia, as cars would otherwise be mixed in with all the traffic going to the many industries that I have in Sarnia.

I have set up blocking for the float according to industry at the "t" customer.  This makes sense, but may not accord with weight on the ferry, as each team track customer is loaded/unloaded according to the blocking.  Is this right?

On the customer screen, how does "Which car float is at bridge" work?  If I want to run the same  float (PM #10) three times per day (Or as many times as necessary to move the traffic), how do I do this?  Also, what is the effect of "no car float at bridge" and why is the float 1 thru 40 always "empty" at the bridge?  Is it possible to load the returning traffic at the "t" customer first, then arrive at the bridge with cars? Currently, I have 15 cars at the "t" customer ready to return, and an additional 7 that will take 24 hours or 48 hours before completing their unloading.  There is only one currently in the Sarnia Yard and 5 more unloaded at Sarnia customers destined for the car float, but there are several coming in on the next train.

Thanks

John