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Locked Interchange vs Spur #operationspro


 

Pete

This is by way of update on the above following my last Ops Session.

Cars are allowed to go from staging to staging.

The Interchange Track at Location A (the main town with classification yard) had two cars on it awaiting pickup. Having changed the route to include this spur a through mainfest train picked up the two cars which had received a default load of "L". Unfortunately the train promptly set them out again at the classification yard as I had got the order incorrect in the route but never mind, that's easily fixed.

The Interchange Track at Location B (another location serviced only by a turn from the main classification yard) there were 4 cars available for pickup. These were duly collected and all received custom loads, two "E(mpty) and two other loads.

Before I started all this I had noticed that the Interchange track at A had a move count of zero, whereas at B the move count was 24, hence my desire to improve movement.

Next I constructed a schedule for the Interchange at Location A of about 12 boxcars, each set to receive a custom load and send empty, and vice versa.

Hey Presto, upon building the train for the next Ops Session 6 cars were set out - a record!

So the way to go is to finish this schedule for all cars and all loads, this will take time.

I would welcome your advice:-

Do I need to enter to receive each custom load and ship a corresponding empty and the reverse, receive empty and ship each custom load?

Would it be better to have the Interchange Spur as part of the classification location, this may help as the yard switcher could do the set outs etc along with it's normal duties.

I hope all this makes sense.

Regards

Brian Clark

Bedford UK.


 

Brian,
?
If I'm following,
  • the Interchange Spur is in the same location (town A) as the classification tracks, and allows the Thru Manifest to Pick up and Set out.
  • The Thru train's route had pickups before setouts, which led to the lateral "Move" of the 2 cars with default "L"s.
  • The Interchange Spur at location (town B) is serviced by the Turn only, which returns the cars to town A, into the classification tracks.? This Spur has a schedule which supplies custom loads/(E)mpties for exchange.
  • The Interchange Spur at town A now has a schedule which lists up to 12 lines for Boxcars, each with its own custom load-->(E)mpty and (E)mpty-->custom load specific pairs.
  • After making the schedule, there were cars set out at Intch (A) when the Thru train was built.
Couple of questions...
  1. After adding the schedule, did the Thru train pick up any cars from Intch (A)?? or just from the classification track meant for it?
  2. Do you have all the columns in the schedule lines filled in?? I.e. do the Receive/Ship/Destination/Track columns for each Boxcar line have info?
  3. Are you planning to convert the whole operation over to custom loads/(E)mpties?
If you want to cut down the scope of what's listed on each schedule, you can limit the loads allowed to leave staging on the Thru trains (I usually exclude "E" and "L").? This will allow you to choose which loads can be generated for each Interchange.? So, say you have 20 products that can be sent in a Boxcar.? If they are "allowed" to Ship in a Boxcar from staging, then you can set up different schedules for each (town A & town B) Interchange and the program will fill Boxcars with appropriate product and assign them to go to the correct Interchange Spur.? Or if you want all products available to go to both Intch Spurs, then use the same schedule at each Spur.
?
Intch A Spur
Schedule in use = "Interchanges"
Allowed trains to set out and pick up = Thru manifest + Yard sw
?
Intch B Spur
Schedule in use = "Interchanges"
Allowed trains to set out and pick up = Town-B Turn
?
Schedule name: Interchanges
Car type? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?Receive? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?Ship? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?Destination? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Track? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Boxcar? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? (E)mpty? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?Accordions? ? ? ? ? ? ??
Boxcar? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? (E)mpty? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?Bicycles
Boxcar? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? (E)mpty? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?Carpet
Boxcar? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? (E)mpty? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?Dishwashers
Boxcar? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? (E)mpty? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?Engines
Boxcar? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? (E)mpty? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?Feed
Boxcar? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Accordions? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?(E)mpty
Boxcar? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Bicycles? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?(E)mpty
Boxcar? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Carpet? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? (E)mpty
Boxcar? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Dishwashers? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?(E)mpty
Boxcar? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Engines? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? (E)mpty
Boxcar? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Feed? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?(E)mpty
?
Keep in mind that if you leave off Destination and/or Track, the program can use Staging locations as a final destination (if you've allowed the customs into Staging).? And, the schedule as I've shown here, can be used in either Sequential or Match mode, since it will rotate thru the lines of the schedule each time a Boxcar is checked for assignment from Staging...
Also, if the product is only received by your Staging locations, it will not be given a destination of any spur on the layout.? This is a handy way to have a car set-out to the layout, but only travel from there to off the layout!
?
Happy to help, hope it helps,
<Pete Johnson>