Firstly and most importantly, let me say that if you are not already familiar with my choice of car forwarding operation, that I do not use the typical car card and waybill (CC&WB) system that most layouts use, be it the "classic Old Line Graphics-style, the more recently popular "simplified" or color coded system, or the even more recent "super detailed" waybill-only system that is popular on layouts here in Northern New Jersey.
Now while I certainly enjoy the look of the realistic waybill-only system and have been championing it's use at various RPM and NMRA convention/meets since 2006 (though I do not claim to have invented any of it, mind you), I instead found out that because of the operational nature of my layout, it was actually too much information and thus, too much work to create for too little return on investment. Now, I know that I could have set up a mail merge system in MS Word like my friend Dave Ramos did for his waybills (www.nyhrr.com), but I just didn't want to get that into it, as most of the cars traveling across my Code 83 rails are through cars, and thus, WHO CARES! I sure don't (much)!
OK, I can go on and on explaining my view point and the pluses and minuses of this topic, but let me get get down to brass tacks here and show you what I'm doing......It's really kind of simple, actually.
First up, this is the standard defacto car tag that will follow thru cars traveling Eastbound to the carfloats and the 13 different harbor destinations, or for cars coming off the carfloats and moving across the layout to one of three "gateways" for traffic moving West/North/South. This tag is as simple as it gets, and is based off many prototype cards as seen here -
The "real" thing......And my version......
This is just enough info to get the car from the west end staging yard (typically the LV's Oak Island Yard, where all classification was done) to Jersey City (where the car floats were, and the modeled part of the layout) and onto the right carfloat. Typically, the cars were sent east in bunches via a Pullout (LV-speak for a transfer run) for a particular interchange destination, and a scheduled carfloat "floating", so the cars wouldn't sit around taking up space (much, that is)
Now, in my travels across the 'net in search of more car tag examples, I have come across some "specialty" tags, for specific types of ladings and/or industries, car requirements, and even LCL....
These car tags in particular are great for when you have large industries that have multiple tracks, or at least handle multiple inbound and outbound loads. Come to think of it, these would be great for that MR Beer Line project RR.....
And speaking of LCL, this kind of traffic is a big part of my layouts operating scheme, and something I want my crews to pay attention to when transferring cars across the layout. Along with cars being dispatched and also terminating on the layout at the grand Street LCL Freight Station/Transfer, there are also thru cars moving from eastern carfloat connections to the west via Oak Island yard, and vice versa. Since my transfer runs have a strict car limit of 15 cars, and there may be more than that that require transfer between yards, I wanted a way for my crews to be able to tell an LCL car from your typical boxcar load at a quick glance. I have LCL waybills and LCL waybill pouches from various railroads, but until I got my hands on the PRR prototype sample below, I never knew LCL car tags existed (lucky me!)
As you can see, I patterned mine in a similar manner, and even used a colored cardstock to make it stand out, though you can't tell by the image below.....
And as you can see, TOFC traffic is also important traffic on the layout (the LV had it's first TOFC "terminal" here in Jersey City in 1954), so I just used the same "template" to draw attention and prompt handling to this traffic with the following car tag......
Now, lest we forget about local (on layout) car deliveries, I have these two cards (but not waybills!) to designate and route cars (non-LCL and TOFC) to the various industries located within the terminal area. This Erie card "inspired" me to design my version, as well as an LIRR Car Placement Slip (not shown)
And lest we forget about empty cars, here's what we use for them...Pretty self explanatory, used for stealing those otherwise thru cars to load on the layout! Not sure which RR I patterned this one after......
As you may have gathered along the way of me explaining this, not a one of these car tags is based on a specific Lehigh Valley car tag, but that's only because I haven't found one yet!
I'm pretty sure the LV had to have used them since almost all the other NY Harbor area RR's did, too, so it's perfectly logical to assume, as well as prototypical, to operate my LV like this (not to mention it's simpler!)
I have found that these tags were used in large terminal settings like St. Louis, Chicago, and Kansas City, where there seemed to be many more railroads and railroad lines coming together, as well as the presence of terminal switching/connecting/belt railroads, which is something the NY/NJ area did not have.
Not to mention, the terminating railroads around here didn't for the most part, play well together and share terminal operations, but instead had a yard here, there and everywhere, instead of having one large yard where everything, and everyone else, came and went to, in order to exchange cars. But I digress once again.....
During the last two shakedown session, we have started to use these car tags, and they have been generally received well by the yard crews. The simple nature of them is important, and while I want my guys to pay attention to the details and intricacies of car movements, I also want them to not have to think too much about where a car has to go, and how it needs to get there. I think I'm on the right track, so to speak, but time will tell....
All for now,
Ralph
