Rick,
Thank you for the expanded explanation of your intended goal. ?It certainly makes things clearer for any attempt to provide guidance!
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I believe there is much here to unpack and sort out, so let's begin with the mixed use of custom loads and defaults.
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You state you make use of limited custom loads (ash from ash pit for the cement factory, etc) but you also wrote, "but creating custom loads for every industry and then modifying every industry for creating/receiving custom loads is a task I was hoping to avoid." ?
How are you finding the cars with custom loads moving? ?Do they meet your expectations?
Normally, the cars would switch from E to L and vise versa, and then the program would look to send the car a different track with the next train build. ?Since most of the cars would be moving with no routing (unless certain tracks restrict the car type), the program will usually find low-movement tracks to attempt assignment.
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If cars move oddly (not what you expect), consider having a read of my
PetePost concerning mixed load-type usage...
/g/jmriusers/wiki/37095 (in particular, the second half of the article).
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If possible, can you provide us with the specific setup of your two end yards, i.e. how are the tracks identified (and what types are they)...
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When you build the YB10, does it pull all its cars from one track (meaning it is allowed to only "pick up" from that track) or does the switchlist indicate cars are pulled from multiple tracks? ?This idea of class tracks being only for certain trains can help to guide the cars to the appropriate locations (those served by the certain trains). This will allow you to avoid all the work of custom loads for everything.
In one of your posts, you wrote...
Also, I do not allow cars to travel from origin to destination, so no cars are picked up in York to be set out in Baltimore'
This means the cars from York that go out on the YB10 would not be able to get to Towns B, D, or F, since they cannot just travel to Baltimore and then back to those towns on the northbound train out of Baltimore. ?So, cars in York only go to Towns A, C, E and G and you would have to assign destinations at those locations if you want the cars to backhaul from Baltimore, once they arrive there.
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I have other questions about your setup...
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What train build mode do you employ... normal or aggressive?
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How many trains do you attempt to build for a session? You mention they are pre-built beforehand so this means the cars they handle are already in place, wherever that may be.
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If your end-point locations (York/Baltimore) are made up of C/I-type tracks, then those tracks can be filtered to allow them to service the car-types that ultimately go to the correct towns, and allow only certain trains to "pick up" from the tracks when a train is built.
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Example:
In Baltimore Yard, there is a track which should service Town A. ?You can use the "Track Destinations" tool for this track and select only Town A, but this could prevent cars without a destination (as you said you might have) from going into this track. ?A better approach is to limit the track to the car-types needed at Town A. ?That way, when you build a train that can service town A, it would be able to pull cars from this track and move them. If you further limit the track to allow only trains that work Town A, the cars will move only when that train(s) is the one built.
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To expand this out for clarity...
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Baltimore Yard = made up of 7 C/I tracks, one each for Towns A-G.
Track A = allows only car-types that can be used at the spurs in Town A. ?Allows "pick-ups" only by trains that serve Town A.
Track B = allows only car-types that can be used at the spurs in Town B. ?Allows "pick-ups" only by trains that serve Town B.
Track C = allows only car-types that can be used at the spurs in Town C. ?Allows "pick-ups" only by trains that serve Town C.
Etc, etc, etc...
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Each track should allow all trains to "set out" and can share car-types if the types are used by different spurs in the different towns. ?So, for example, boxcars may be allowed into tracks A, B, D, F & G.
When the northbound trains are built, the program will assign the lowest-move count cars first from each track. ?But only if the locations themselves have room for the inbound cars when the train is built.
In this way, your stated goal of the car from Town C going to Baltimore, then being switched into track A, where it would then only be allowed to go back to Town A, can be accomplished. ?
The yard master would just put the cars into the tracks named on the train's manifest, and when the next session's trains are built, the new yard switchlist for Baltimore names the cars which go onto which trains, and from which tracks.
This would, of course, be decided by the program, since you employ limited custom loads (which can be more finitely directed). ?The program would look at what town's tracks had room and only assign those cars that would fit at the moment of train-build.
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You can set up the yard at York in a similar fashion, to allow the southbound trains to have paperwork that names the target tracks, in the towns each specific train serves on it's way from York to Baltimore, as well as the tracks in Baltimore to which each town's cars ?receive assignment.
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So, YB10 would have 10 cars for Towns A, C, E and G. ?It would pick up along the way, cars for Baltimore, and when it arrives, the tracks to which those cars are assigned, are on the manifest. ?The YM would place those cars into those named tracks and the train terminates. ?Next session, the trains are built and the YM has a list of which cars go on which trains, and from which tracks those cars are to be pulled.
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This can be further refined through additional filtering of tracks, but should give you something to get started with for testing. ?
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As always, when questions arise, return here to the forum and we''ll try and "help" some more!
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Happy to help, hope it helps,
<Pete Johnson>
Ken Cameron
Canadian Locomotive Logistics
Heath @ Human[c]ity Junction
Peter Ulvestad