Car Cards & Waybills on the N.Y.C.T.L. Part 3

Greetings All,

Welcome to part three of the car cards and waybill series!

Items To Be Covered Today

#1 Dispatch of the Bedford Turn, Train BT-27, a local train that works Bedford industries and drops cars for Bedford Park Yard.

#2 Dropping and pulling freight cars at Bedford industries using car cards and waybill instructions.

#3 Dealing with customer needs along the way using the car cards, waybills and empty car requests.

#4 Clearing Terminal Yard for the next operating session.

#5 Summary

Lets Get Started   

The Terminal Yard yardmaster has the Bedford Turn freight cars waiting in track 6.

Before leaving the yard master checks the Empties request box to see if any Bedford or Bedford Park customers have reported they are in need of empties today. 

In the PC box Heileman Brewery, an on layout shipper, is requesting an empty general service box car, AAR code XM, for shipping beer to Ralph's Grocery Warehouse in Empire City, an on layout consignee. Empty NYC 40' boxcar 161938 was available in the yard and gets the assignment. 

Train BT-27 is assembled, the power is coupled on, the air test is done and it is time to go.

BT-27's first stop is Hudson Coal where we see an empty flatcar and a 40' boxcar.

A check of the car card box tells us these cars are both empty and are to be pulled out of Hudson Coal.

The empty cars and waybills are pulled. The loaded Dresser Magcobar 50' RBL is spotted and the car card and waybill are left in the box. The car cards for the empty boxcar and flat car are clipped with the rest of the car cards for this train.

BT-27 rolls into Bedford. With no cars to drop off at the three industries located here the conductor will still check the waybills and car cards for each industry to see if any work needs to be done. This is easily accomplished as the train slowly rolls thru the scene. A quick look tells us Hostess is holding some empties that need to be pulled and other work awaits at University Mill Work. 

The two empty covered hoppers that will get pulled have their car cards clipped into the train stack. The waybill will remain in the Hostess box until a future op as their is no car request attached to it.

Farther up the line BT-27 arrives at Heileman Brewery where we definitely have work. In addition to the cars we have on BT-27 the Heileman waybill box is pretty full.

From the waybill box; TP&W boxcar is being unloaded and stays, three NYC boxcars are loaded and are to be pulled and there is an empty car request for a general service boxcar.

BT-27 pulls out the three loaded NYC boxcars. Spots the NYC boxcar brought from Terminal Yard and spots the empty 40' boxcar picked up from Hudson Coal after it is accepted for loading. 

Our work at Heileman Brewery is completed, the waybills and car cards are exchanged and it's time to go. It's also time to put Bedford Station back in place after it was removed for the photo.

The BT-27 engines have run around their train and are now shoving towards Bedford Park. 

A block of five cars are left on the Bedford Park Yard lead and the waybills and car cards are left with the Bedford Tower operator. The paperwork will be picked up by the Bedford Park Yard crew when they come and get the freight cars.
The work at Bedford Park is done and BT-27 rolls towards University Mill Work. The car card and waybill box told us they have a pair of loaded RBLs to be pulled from their siding. 

The BT-27 caboose couples up to the HR and FEC RBLs that are to be pulled.

The RBLs are coupled into the train and their respective car cards and waybills are clipped into our train paperwork.

Lets closeout Train BT-27s run

BT-27 returns to Terminal Yard with seven freight cars and places them on track 9. From here the engines will head back to the engine terminal. 

The BT-27 waybills and car cards are delivered to the yard office.

After being checked and verified the car cards and waybills are put into the track 9 slot. Note the clip is to the side. These cars will still need to be worked by the yard job and placed into their appropriate trains.

It's Time To Clear The Yard

The late Andy Sperandeo of Model Railroader magazine always advised that the yard was not a destination. So as the day ends we'll clear out Terminal Yard with Train SV-1 heading for Chicago.

SV-1 is Auto Racks and TO.F.C. only with no flexi vans today.

With no readily available loads or requests for any of the long string of foreign road empties in track 2 they need to be sent out to both clear the yard and cut the per diem charges. They will be dispatched to Putnam Jct as Train DOJN.

Train DOJN heads for Putnam Jct. Penn Central policy was to not hold cars for prospective loading and to dispose of foreign equipment promptly. Personally having some empties available sounds like a good idea to me but for today we'll cycle these cars off the layout.

Now's a good time to sit and rail fan. It's been a hard day's work on the model railroad! Most of these trains will be going back into their boxes. Enjoying them is a perfect way to end the op for today. 

Terminal Yard is now ready for the next inbound onslaught. The commuter train F7A needs to be turned and we have inbound trains from Empire City, Pier 16 and the LIRR waiting to arrive for the next car card and waybill operations!

End of Series Summary

Car card and waybill operations can be as simple or as complex as you wish to make them. Operations can start and stop at any time or place you wish.

Waybills can be moved from one like car to another. This varies what freight cars deliver to what industries. Waybills can have anywhere from one to four cycles.  

Prototype freight car utilization can be used to enhance model railroad operations.

Certain freight cars in dedicated service should be returned in a timely manner to a RR agent as directed by the writing on the car.

The randomness of freight car destinations on the waybills adds a prototypical feel. I know the cars are coming out of a box and going back into a box but having a waybill that says the car came from Whirlpool in Marion, Ohio and needs to go back there empty for reloading gives the whole thing some imaginary purpose.  

That concludes the three part car cards and waybill series.

Thanks for reading!!!

See you soon!!!