Our Session takes place in the early 1990s Era. This page presents the documents used for one OPS Session of 20 trains. Included are the Industries, Shipments, Waybills, Manifests, Session Timetables, Wheel Reports, Train Switchlists, Train Schedules, and Consist Orders.
Dispatchers use the timetable.
Yardmasters and InterchangeMasters use the Wheel Reports.
Conductors normally use a Switchlist and a Schedule.
Hostlers use the Consist Orders.
For this session we will run mostly 4th Class Locals (aka Turns) from three yards for the Industries served and 2nd Class Fast Freights to move empty and full cars between the yards and interchanges involved in the Industry orders and shipments. We can add Unit and Passenger as Extra Trains if our crew is outperforming schedule expectations. All documents are in PDF format and can be marked up as completed for quality control. Paper or Electronic (if available on your device) markup is supported.
The Industries using our Railroad ship about 40 types of commodity, aka Lading. We currently have 84 Industries defined but only about 60 are working for this session. Here are the Sellers of the Ladings carried and here are the Buyers of the Ladings carried. Industry work starting datetime is 12/30/1990 00:00
As of Session 1 datetime 01/03/1991 21::00, we have created 118 Shipments since Industry work started 12/30/1990 00:00. These shipments are created by our simulator which is stepped by the hour and hence has run 117 hours. This start-up lag is needed for the Shippers to build inventory and for Consignees to create Orders!
A sample of a Shipment report is shown below.
A summary of the Session's Shipments is captured in this file
For each shipment we display the Shipment #, Shipper, Consignee, and Lading. Each shipment is routed from Shipper Industry to Consignee Industry by one or more "Legs". Each Leg generates one or more Waybills. The status of each Leg completion is shown as is the Shipment Leg number associated with each Leg. Our convention is to use "Leg 0" as the request for an empty (MT) car by the Shipper from its Homeyard (or, if available, from its Siding) and "Leg 99" as the return of that (those) MT to the Consignee's Homeyard.
As of Session 1 date/time 01/03/1991 21::00 we have created 385 Waybills and completed 240 Waybills. These Waybills are assigned to train manifests which in turn produce Switchlists and Schedules. A Waybill to transfer Grain from the ADM plant in Cleveland, via the Cleveland Interchange with the R&C Keystone Division, to the Philadelphia Yard serving the ADM Granary in Philadelphia is shown below.
Each shipment creates an average of four waybills to perform the following. Typically,
However, this four waybills scenario is not prototypical in many cases. On our railroad, the number of waybills per shipment may be as few a one - for example to move a Full or an empty (MT) car between two yards. Some other Shipments may require a lot more than four waybills. If the Shipper and Consignee are served by different Homeyards, at least one more Waybill will be required and, depending on whether there are other yards or interchanges that must be traversed to deliver the Full car to the Consignee. Think about returning the MT to its correct Homeyard after this journey. We have three major yards and three interchanges working on our railroad at this time but because of the multiple stops planned for our Fast Freights, most of our shipments can be delivered with at most five waybills.
See the our OPS_Sessions car cards set that is an alternative to the switchlist based session approach.
Each Train requires a Manifest. The Freight Forwarder assign an appropriate list of eligible waybills to each train. We have some automation tools to assist us in these assignments. The twenty manifest used in Session 1 are accessible via the following list.
This session has 20 Regular Trains which are nominally scheduled to depart hourly (every six fast minutes). There are fourteen 4th Class Local and six 2nd Class Fast trains defined for this sessions. We have 4 Unit trains ready as Extras (Logs, crude oil and two coal unit trains. We also have two Passenger Trains ready as Extras (East-West and West East)..
The regular session of 20 trains is presented on two ledger size pages - 1 to 10 on first page and 11 to 20 on second page. Click on the highlighted text to see Session 1 Timetable example page 1 and page 2.
The header line defines the Session number (left side) and the Train Start sequence numbers. The Manifest number (xx), Train Consist number (yyy) and Start time (hh:mm) are below the Start sequence number in the format Mmm#ttt:hh:mm.
For each train the schedule stop sequence and time of arrival and departure are displayed. The Stop sequence number is followed by a slash (/) then the arrival time (24 hour time), then the Stop Name then the departure time. If a train revisits the same stop, the 2nd stop results in a second line. (In a few cases a third visit occurs - shuttling cars between yards and their nearby interchanges. However, where a third stop occurs , only the stop sequence number is displayed.)
The first train is scheduled to depart on 1/3/1991 at 0200 and the fast clock is set at 10 to 1. The crew should arrive about an hour before the Operating Session begins. According to the info created for this session, almost all train runs should be completed in 24 fast hours or less than three real hours.
The timetables are used by the Dispatcher and are available to all crew members.
Arrival and Departure Wheel Reports are created for each Yard and Interchange master so each can plan for the blocking of departing trains and can classify incoming cars for future departures.
A portion of an Arrival Wheel Report page is shown below.
For each train Conductor we create a switchlist. A sample page 1 of 3 follows below. Most of the data is likely self explanatory but there some we must point out. The ID Field defines the date "01031991" for the Era being used. The Conductor field is blank and is to be filled in.
The Stops and Pickup/Setouts follow this header. The square on the left before each Pickup or Setout is to be marked (X) when the action is performed. LCL are cars that are "Less Than Carload". LCL car setout on mainline or bypass trackage must be pickup'd within 30 fast minutes for loading or unloading time. Note that stops "Drake Well Oil" , "WillLumbShpgStop" and "ScrantonSteelStop" are on normal sidings while stop "ScrantonFabricsSp" is on a Bypass (or Main Line) track and so LCL rules requires a Pickup within 30 (fast) minutes after a Setout!
The Switchlists for the twenty trains in this session are specified below. Click the name top see the switchlist.
Each Train schedule specifies the stops where the Conductor needs to Pickup or Setout cars. Only those stops where activity is required are listed. Other potential stops on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th class trains are dynamically excluded from the schedule if there is no waybill requiring a pickup or setout stop.
A sample of a Schedule is shown below.
Homeyards may be Yards or Interchanges. A Homeyard might also be certain Sidings that host Industry owned cars. See the Stops on all of these Homeyards.
The complete list of Stops served by the Philadelphia Homeyard are:
The Foreign Railroad Industry Stops accessed via our Interchanges are listed here.
The Homeyards for the Rolling Stock used for this session are shown here. The "A" in the rightmost column indicates that it is assigned to a Waybill if it is a car or to an assignment if it is a locomotive or caboose. A "U" in the rightmost column indicates that it is Unassigned to any job at this time.
The 20 schedules for the trains on this session are:
For each scheduled or extra train, a Hostler will pickup the required locomotive(s) and a caboose, if used, for each train and deliver them to the yard or interchange master responsible for assembling the Consist. After the Train reaches its destination, a Hostler transfers the locomotive(s) and caboose to their defined homeyard. The 20 Consist Orders for the trains on this session are: