Operations

Operations on Mel's Great Basin & SouthWestern Model Railroad

I've chosen to use Car Cards and Waybills as the method of car forwarding on my Layout. I use Peter Whites Shenware programs to make my waybills and Micro Mark's Car Cards to make my Car Cards. Waybills are 2 cycle, a car arrives on the layout via cycle 1 and leaves the layout via cycle 2. A car should rarely go from one on-line Industry to another on-line Industry.

Follow along with me as I explain each section of a Waybill. 

Waybills and Car Cards and how I use them on my layout

Figure 1

Figure 2

Color Code:

Each Town is color coded (see below) and a Waybill reflects this and tells the YardMaster where that car needs to go while He's breaking down and making up Trains. The color code also tells a Train Crew what Towns they have work in. It's how Customers get their goods shipped or receive raw materials. 

Arnold is Yellow, Hanford is Green, Wendel is Blue, Pratt is Black, Mina is Red, Hearne is Orange  and White is for OFF-LINE Industry. There are 4 ways a car can enter and exit the layout, Bellsman Yard, the DN&W Branchline and the Interchanges at Mina and Hearne. Everything works it's way through Arnold Yard as it needs to be processed so the Railroad can get these cars onto the right Trains for delivery and so the Railroad knows where cars are located at any given time for good customer service. So, if a Crew picks up a car at an on-line Industry and the very top of it's Waybill is White, this tells the Crew this car needs to go to Arnold Yard for processing as it is headed off line or off layout. A Crew may pick up a car at Mina Interchange that is not going to an on-line Industry but rather another exit point such as the Hearne interchange or Bellsman Yard but this car still needs to go back to Arnold Yard for processing.

Follow along with me as I explain each section of a Waybill that's used on my layout.

Figure 1 shows a 2 cycle waybill. Cycle 1 has a Zone color of Black which indicates it's going to Valley Coal in Pratt. In the Black area as well, it displays a car type of HT which is the AAR designation for an open Hopper car, in this case a Coal Hopper. 

The next line is Rte. or Routing which indicates what Railroads this car took to get to it's destination, in this case the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad > Great Basin & SouthWestern Railroad. 

Next is the Via line which shows how this car is being handled, in this case for cycle 1 it shows "Local" which means a Local will be delivering this car for this cycle to an on-line Industry. In Figure 2, the Via line shows "DN&W Branchline" which means this car will exit the layout via the Dakota, Nebraska & Western Branchline. 

TO: is the next line for this or any waybill. This line indicates who the Consignee is or the person receiving the load or empty car, 

The next line is the SPINS number. Each Town is given a six digit code in this case 04-01-01. The first two digits of 04 are the Town Zone telling the YardMaster and Crew what Town this car is going to, the next two digits are 01. This tells a crew which Track in a Town this car is needing to go to and if a customer has a particular place they want a car, this is known as a Spot which is the last two digits of the SPINS number in this case 01. A spot on my layout is indicated by a white tie so if there are 3 white ties at an Industry, spot 1 is the tie closet to the bumper or end of track. Just think Zone, Track, Spot or ZTS.

FROM: is who the Shipper is and their location which is usually an off line Industry. The Shipper is the one transporting goods or raw material to a Consignee.

The next line is the "Contents" line. In this case, this car is carrying Coal. In Figure 2 it's the same Waybill only flipped over to show cycle 2. Notice the Zone color is white which means this car is exiting the layout via the DN&W Branchline. So this car will be brought back to Arnold Yard to get placed in a Train meant for the DN&W so when the DN&W comes to Town the Arnold YardMaster will have this car along with several others ready to go back with the DN&W Crew.

COMMENTS

The COMMENTS section will have instructions on what must be done with a load. For example, a Refrigerator Car will need to be iced before a load can be loaded into this car. A Boxcar may need cleaning out before delivery to a Customer. In either case, these cars would be moved to the "CLEANOUT" track and left there for 10 minutes so it's up to the YardMaster to perform this task.

Figure 2 is the same Waybill just flipped to only display cycle 2 for this Waybill. Notice how the FROM is now Valley Coal in Pratt and the TO is for an off line Industry. This car will leave Valley Coal and exit the Layout but only after it has gone back to Arnold Yard for processing.

Bill Boxes and How to use them

Figure 3 Bill Boxes labeled "SETOUTS", "HOLD", PICK-UPs" and "OFF SPOT"

Figure 3 is an example of a Waybill Bill Box used on my layout. Every Town has at least 4 slots or 2 Bill boxes. They are labeled "SETOUTS", "HOLD", "PICK-UPS" and "OFF SPOT". An Operator when arriving at a Town will first check the Bill Boxes to see what if any Pick-Ups they need to make as usually it's best to do all your Pick-Ups first, this sets things up for your Setouts later that is if you have any Setouts for a particular Town. Next, check to see if there are any "OFF SPOTS" you'll need to deal with. Since the last Local wasn't able to setout a car in a particular spot at an Industry because it is already occupied by another car that was still being loaded or unloaded at the time, the Crew had to set the car they brought with them at another location, preferably as close where it needs to go as possible so the next Crew doesn't have to go hunting for that car. Now, when a new Crew comes into Town, they will pull that previous car and spot the new car. If you brought another car with you that goes in that spot, you'll need to Off Spot it for the next Crew to deal with.

I will explain the 4 slots of a Bill Box by doing it the way a Crew would do it, not sequentially. If you remember from earlier, I said it's usually best to perform your PICK-UPS first as this will get you set up for your SETOUTS if you have any. So do your pick ups according to what the Waybills in the PICK-UPs slot say, just make sure you don't mix these up with the Waybills you brought with you. What I do is turn these around facing the opposite way the other cards are facing in the Waybills I brought with me.

Now do your SETOUTS if you have any and place these waybills in the SETOUT slot of the Bill Box.

If there are any waybills in the HOLD slot, leave these there as the Shipper or Consignee has not released these cars to the Railroad. Also, make sure to check the OFF SPOT slot as there may be a car needing to be moved to a spot for loading/unloading.

After the operating session, I will go around and flip the waybills from cycle 1 to cycle 2 at the different Towns and move the waybills that are in the SETOUTS slot to the PICK-UPs slot at each Town. I may also have received a call from the Shipper/Consignee that a car isn't ready to be released in which case that waybill will get placed in the HOLD slot for a particular Town. That's it!

Off Spot

An Off Spot is a car that there was no room for at an Industry. A previous car may still be in the process of being loaded or unloaded. You'll know this is the case if you arrive in a Town and check the waybill slots and the "Hold" slot has a waybill/car card in it. This means this car cannot be moved and you'll need to find somewhere to put that other car you bought with you. Place the waybill/car card for the off spot car in the "Off Spot" slot for that Town. This car will get setout the next time the Local comes to Town.

Facing and Trailing Point Spurs

A "Facing Point Spur" refers to a Train and it's direction of travel in relation to a switch. Figure 4 shows a Facing Point Switch. Let's say a Train was traveling away from the camera in Figure 4 but it had a setout and a pick-up for this spur. The Crew will need to find some way to run around their Train in this case taking the siding at Mina then run around their Train there, then shove their Train to Pratt where the work is.  

Fig. 4  A Facing Point Switch or Spur at Pratt

Figure 5. Same switch just a different direction of travel is a "Trailing Point Spur". This is the easiest type of spur to work as you would simply pass this spur, then reverse, grab your pick-ups if any then do your setouts. Some people like doing everything at once which is good. Some others will either set cars out on another spur and work them on there way back or take these cars with them then set them out on their way back. Just remember NOT to set any cars out for this purpose on a siding as they are used by other Trains.

Fig. 5 A Trailing Point Switch or Spur

Crews

When a Crew is called for a Train, upon reporting for Duty the Conductor must sign the Register and get a Clearance Card and any orders (Form 19) there may be for his Train. A Clearance Card let's the Dispatcher know your Train is on the Railroad and a Crew must never leave an originating Station without a Clearance Card. 

 Fig. 6 Clearance Card

A Form 19 (Fig. 7) will have any orders for a Crew such as Slow Orders, Meets or things to watch out for. Sometimes a Crew won't be given a Form 19 as there aren't any orders for them BUT again, a Crew must never depart an originating Station without a Clearance Card.

Fig. 7 Form 19

Trains

There are 5 Trains that run on the Great Basin and Southwestern, The Arnold Yard Job who's job it is to make and break up Trains and get these cars ready for their next destination and to work the Industries in Arnold Yard. The Mina Turn which works the Towns of Hanford, Pratt, Mina and Hearne. The Wendel Local is responsible for working all the Industries in the Town of Wendel including the Team Track. The Dayton Transfer is responsible for bringing cars up from Bellsman Yard to Arnold Yard meant for on-line Industry or Interchange as well as taking cars back to Bellsman Yard that are coming from on-line Industry or Interchange. The Wayfreight is a sort of clean up Train in that it's duties are to pick up where other Trains left off for instances, if the Mina Turn couldn't make it to Hearne to perform it's work there, the Wayfreight will follow-up for the Mina Turn. The Wayfreight also works the Interchange tracks at Mina and Hearne so the Wayfreight could possibly return to Arnold Yard with quit a bit of cars and then maybe not. Each Train comes with a Description Brief (see Figure 3). This describes the job and gives suggestions on how a crew could perform it's work.

Figure 8 Job Description Card

Locomotives Car Cards

A Locomotive Car Card has the Number of the Locomotive, the Road i.e. SP, ATSF or UP, the type of Locomotive be it an SD45, RS1 or whatever and the DCC Address which, in case an Operator should lose the address to there Locomotive this is what would be inputted to get it going again. Figure 4 shows a Loco car card (not the same locomotive) with a Loco Report on the back. The Loco Report gives the Engine Number, Engine Type as well as the DCC Address and what Functions do what for that particular locomotive.

Figure 9 Loco Car Card

Pre-Ops: There will be a briefing prior to the ops session to go over the Do's and Don'ts and answer any questions.

Special Instructions:

- Spot 1 is nearest the Bumper at all spurs

- All Trains except the Arnold Yard Job must complete one (1) lap around the layout before and after your completion of work in each Town. For example, you are running the Mina Turn which serves 6 Towns. You must complete one lap after completion of work in each Town. This goes for Passenger Trains as well. If a Passenger Train leaves Arnold Yard and it's next Station stop is Hanford, it must first complete a full lap around the layout before stopping at Hanford.

-White ties at an Industry indicate "SPOTS" where a Car is to be setout

-Yellow Ties indicate how far you can go on a Siding before you Foul the Mainline. Stay clear of the Yellow Ties.

-Red Ties indicate how close you can get at Wendel Crossing before your Train fouls the crossing. Stay clear of the Red Ties.

Rules of the Road:

- Think Branchline Railroad where there are no Signals and Dispatching is the Crews communicating      with each other to get where they need to go and avoid any accidents

- Please be aware of any conflicting traffic such as at a crossing or a switch

- Do not lay anything on the layout. Please use the provided shelves for this

- Do not lean on or against the layout

- Have Fun and don't be afraid to make mistakes or ask questions and if you need help, flag down the        Rapid Responder! (That's Me!)

-At the end of the session or if you leave early, I ask that you give me any feedback good or bad because this is a HUGE help in my making things better.

-Check to be sure your not taking any car cards or waybills or other documentation with you when you   leave. It's easy to do, ask me how I know.

HAVE FUN!!!