Schedule and waybill planning and implementation

 Time to write up some waybills

I have been procrastinating this task for a while, but finally have some thoughts about how the train schedule will work on the layout.

In order to write up the way bills I have manually created a few trains and now I need to write up the waybill for each car. I will use the 4 position waybill system with each car having its own car card that has a picture of the car plus the reporting marks on the card.

The plan is to have a mix of trains to cater for each type of operator.

The types of train will be:

Run through - does not swap out any cars, just runs from staging to staging across the layout.

A simple switching job - this type of train will run from staging, then when it reaches a specific town will switch  1 or 2 tracks and drop off or pick up a small number of cars and then continue to staging.

Complex switching job - this type of train will originate from the main yard and go out and switch a number of tracks at a few towns on the layout and the return to the main yard. There are a number of industries on the layout that will receive a car from off line, then load the car for another on line industry, then the car will then return to the main yard and then depart on the mixed freight. Some cars are captive so will run between 2 locations on the layout that are in different towns and therefore have to switch between switching jobs via the main yard.

As the simple switching job trains switch out specific tracks in 1 or 2 towns, the trains can either run or they can be skipped if I have a small crew. The run through's can also be skipped if needed.

The complex switching jobs have associated mixed freights that will run from staging to the main yard and drop off a number of cars and the continue.

Now to get on a write up these way bills.

Car cards next to each car, waiting for a waybill

A rough plan of each train and its direction, towns to stop at and types of industries to switch

A full list of all the industries on the layout. The red ones are the cars that are on line industries that will either receive or send a car to another on line industry.

The 4 way waybill. Here there are 2 waybills. They are double sided.

More progress to follow.