Car Cards & Waybills on the N.Y.C.T.L. Part 1

Greetings All,

Welcome to my three part series on getting up and running with car cards and waybills.

Introduction

The Micro Mark car cards and waybills from left to right; the car card, waybill, empty car request and freight waybills I printed out previously using the EMRI database.

The car cards have been folded and taped according to the instructions. 
Card 1: Left:  GATX 43212 is a black tank car. Its AAR code is TM. The waybill states the car is to be loaded at Drywell Ink, an on layout shipper, with ink for U.S. Printing in St Charles IL, an off layout consignee, served by the C&NW RR.

Freight Waybill: Center: Waybill #1: Shamrock, an off layout diesel fuel supplier, will be sending diesel fuel in tank cars to Terminal Yard, an on layout consignee. In waybill #2 Shamrock will send diesel fuel to the LIRR Richmond Hill Engine Terminal an off layout consignee.

Card 2: Right: GATX 6115 is a silver tank car lettered for Shamrock. AAR code is TM. When empty at either the Terminal Yard or LIRR consignees the waybill will be pulled and the car will be forwarded back to Shamrock in Amarillo Texas, definitely an off layout shipper! 

An empty car request and an empty car request with waybill attached. The empty car request is one of my favorite pieces of paper work so far. This form lets the railroad know that a shipper needs a specific type of freight car(s) for shipping it's products to a customer. The blue card can be written out or as I have done below attach a waybill to it.
Example car cards and waybills using the Empty Car Requests: 
Card 1: P&LE 40' boxcar #30890 is filling an Empty Car Request and needs to be moved to shipper Terminal Warehouse, an on layout shipper, where it will be loaded with general merchandise for All City Storage, an on layout consignee in Bedford Park. Once loaded the Empty Car Request card is removed and the car proceeds to All City Storage. 

Card 2: P&LE 40' boxcar #5290 will be going empty to Berk Enterprises, an on layout shipper, to be loaded with printed cartons for Sunshine Biscuits, an off layout destination via the LIRR.

Organization and Storage

Now that we have some car cards and waybills we need a place to hold them. My original plan was to buy the car cards, waybills and waybill boxes in one shot and get up and running as quickly as possible. I wanted to use 20 waybill boxes ranging in size from a single slot to a ten slot box. When I tallied up the cost of buying the boxes I decided to forgo that plan and make them myself.

I checked various modeling websites and saw a modeler make his out of black foam core board. For my project I used Elmer's black sturdy foam core, Elmer's Glue All, a straight edge and a few single edged razor blades.

Here are a couple for Bedford Park and Ford.

 The Ford waybill boxes are installed with track nails and ready.

Bedford Park industries and yard tracks are ready.The boxes are very light and very sturdy.

The Empire City West Side is ready. That controller is what I use when working industries on this side of the layout. Not exactly a walk around throttle but if I walk around from the other side of the layout it is.😉 This is a very convenient place for that card box.

The big daddy of waybill boxes! 10 slots for Terminal Yard tracks and the fuel car unloading rack. Two five car boxes from Micro Mark cost $19.95 plus shipping. The twenty boxes I made cost me less than $12.00. They did take me more than two days to make.  

Getting Ready for Operations

Looking at the N.Y.C.T.L. I decided that I could use four ways to get freight cars on and off my layout. 
#1: Selkirk Yard: The most common route used by the NYC / PC to reach Empire City and Terminal Yard via the upper level of the Empire City Peninsula.
#2: Putnam Jct.: A new route to some NYC/PC industries and an interchange with the NH along the Harlem Line for forwarding cars to Cedar Hill Yard in New Haven CT. This route is accessed using the lower level of the Empire City peninsula.
#3: Pier 16 / 12th Ave: A small hidden staging track with an 8-10 car capacity. Used to interchange with NYC waterfront industries and other waterfront freight yards like the LV, B&O and EL using an imaginary 12th Ave running track to connect the above yards with my Pier 16 yard.
#4: Long Island RR / L.I.R.R.: Interchange at Empire City's North Side Yard which is operated by NYC / PC subsidiary Empire Belt RR. Freight cars from Selkirk, Putnam Jct or Pier 16 for the LIRR travel via transfer runs from Terminal Yard to North Side Yard for pick up by the LIRR. Freight cars coming from the LIRR are dropped at North Side Yard and then transferred to Terminal Yard by the Empire Belt RR. 

Shippers and Consignees

As seen in the above examples freight waybills need shippers and consignees. I used information from the below links to find the AAR codes and off layout sources for freight traffic; 

AAR Codes to classify your fleet if interested.
Shippers database for model railroads from NMRA OPSIG.
LIRR Freight Sidings A detailed list of LIRR freight customers.
Erie Lackawanna freight ops and facilities.
Lehigh Valley Modeler. A good source for LV info including freight customers.

Next Installment We Operate!

On Wednesday we'll start our first car card and waybill operations with train JNDO from Putnam Jct. arriving with freight cars for both on and off layout destinations.

Here is a sneak peek at the status of the yard as JNDO arrives. The JNDO card cards and waybills are clipped above the yard boxes. 

Here are some additional links you may find interesting.

Recommended Reading:

Car Cards and Waybills by Andy Sperandeo: A three part series.

Other links

Computer Based Operations

Easy Model Railroading Inventory / E.M.R.I.

Java Model Railroad Interface / J.M.R.I.

Thanks for reading!!!

See you Wednesday!!!