Gary,
Concerning your last question, folks will argue both sides of that coin.? Both have pros and cons.? If you are worried for some reason that your car database will not match the layout, print it sorted by location before you begin building trains for your session or save a backup copy.
I used to build, print and terminate 24 hours worth of trains for each session of the previous version of the Castle Rock and Pacific with many dependencies included.? Knowing how the schedule worked, I would build, print and terminate trains in a logical order allowing plenty of time between dependent trains.? If you have close connections, you may want to go the real time route just in case.? Sometimes, in spite of your efforts, a connection will be missed.? I just tell my crews to annotate their switch list and move on. Stuff happens, it is part of the fun of operations.
If you are building switch lists for yards, don't forget to update those lists appropriately as you go along.
Dave...
David Cochrun