Hi Everyone'
I got a question for Jib228 and would like other opinions.
Lets take Livingston and make it a Loading INDs Place and all the others a Unload places.
This way if a car is empty then everyone will knows it's goes to livingston yard.
The yard master will have a list of where each car unloads and what track to put car in to go to the proper yard where it will be-sorted to go to the INDs in that yard arier.
Each yard master will have a list of the the INDs in His/her arier and what IND unloads what.
Logan Yard will be a coal yard with loaded trains for East and West and a track for empties.
The Yard master here will see that the empties are loaded and brought back to the yard.
To start with there should be trains in livingston yard ready to go to difference yards (East & West) I find that most people like to take a train and just drive.
Now having loaded trains in Billings that i will be working in then that gives me something to do tell the train arrives from livingston.
If someone would like to work a yard let us know.( livingston,Helena,logan, or laurel)
I'm working on a list of stations starting at each end of the route and if they load on the East or West bound side.(tring to keep from running east on a west bound track.)
With the way MRL is set up, and I kinda hate to say this to any idea, but it is a bad idea. Splinting the railroad like this would mean that both Billings and Helena would be responsible for making trains for at least 150 miles of track each. This means that a local would have to run about 300 miles a turn, or for at least 4 or 5 hours not counting switching at an industry. While this would be prototypical, it is not practical in the MP or even model railroading sessions. SOme of us do have 4-5 hours to speed in sim, and some of us dont.
This is why I have always divided the railroad into 3 "divisions." Each division had a main yard, and a set of industries it serves. The best way to do it I have found is to divide as such: Every thing from Huntley to Columbus is Division 1. From Columbus to Logan is Division 2. And division 3 is every thing from Logan to Helena. And of course the branch line to Great Falls.
So if there is an industry at Park City which is between Huntley and Columbus, it is in division 1. Laural and/or Billings yard(s) would be responsible for that Division as they fall between the division points. So if our industry at Park City loads goods and needs box cars, it falls to the yard crew/master in Laural or Billings yard to make up a local for Park City. Once the now loaded box cars are in Billings or Laural, its up to that yard master on where to send them off. They can be put on a Yard Transfer for Livingston. Or they can be sent on another local in division 1. Its all up to the yard master.
What I did for when I worked Livingston yard. I took a sheet of paper and I make, with a black pen, a lie across it. Then, with black pen, I wrote in order from West to East the names of every town and the yard. Then, above the line with a blue pen, I wrote all the things that that town produced. I didn't put the industry name, just the commodity and the car type needed. Then under that line, with a red pen this time, I put what the town consumed. This way, I know what cars I needed to send where. And even what cars that I needed from other divisions and what ones I didn't need at all.
One other thing Danny, the only East/West Bound track-age we have is between Billings and Laural. All other track-age is bi directional, meaning that a train can run ether way on it. And on that note, lets look at the old, and still active train orders for the only 2 passenger trains on MRL:
Train 100A/100B 101B/101A
These are the two passenger trains that run the route. 100A/100B is the big one that starts out in West End. It makes stops in Helena, Livingston, and Laurel. It starts out as 100A until reaching Laurel, then it reverses stopping at Livingston then Helena as 100B. Each time it changes from east bound to west bound it changes from A to B. (A is East bound B is West bound) 101B is a small commuter that works the same as 100A/B, but 101B starts in Huntley and stops at every depot till Helena, then it too reverses back to Huntley as 101A.
Now these orders do not cover any other passenger trains that may arrive via iPortal, but there shouldn't be any sent to MRL via iPortal any ways.
