Prototype operations help

I am looking to add some industries to a route and am trying to sort out what would be the prototype operations for this. If there is a reference for this sort of thing please point me too it.

I have included a diagram to help me explain what I am after. Since i can't insert an image into a post
here is a link: BTW I tries adding the image to Mytrainz her and flickr nothing seemed to work anyway....

Assumptions:

1. Main line is double tracked.
2. All branch lines are single.
3. A-F are various industries or car drop off points.
4. Late steam time period (30s-40s).

There is a consist of 4 cars heading out.
C1 to A
C2 to B
C4 to D
C3 to F
There is a pickup on C to return to yard.

I assume I am going to need some run around tracks on each branch or off the main line. I assume steam locomotives do not do as much pushing over any great distance. Is that a wrong assumption?
The only way I can see it really working is to Build the consist of C3-C4-C2-C1-Loco. Drive to first branch. Run the loco AROUND to the rear of the consist then push C1 and C2 into position. Pull C5 out and connect to C3. This is where I have a problem. Would the Steam engine then have to reconnect to the rear of the consist and PULL the three remaining cars (C4,C3,C5) out to the main line then have another run around track there to switch ends back to the front? This had to be a common issue on branch lines. Did they have turntables or Ys to reverse the engines? If someone has a good reference source for operations that would be great.

I'm not so sure about steam operations myself, having been born way too late to see it, but I think there are two ways to do this.

The engineer runs around his train...

He uncouples from his consist which he leaves on the "main", runs down the spur and pulls out the empties/loads from the industry then pushes these freight cars on to the passing siding, couples up to the fresh cars, pulls those back and puts them into the industry. Once everything is in place at the industry, he then runs up and around and couples on to his train and moves on to the next location.

This is possible, but there seems to be too many forward and back movements to do this efficiently.

Why wouldn't the steam engine push the cars down the line?

If the engineer pushes the freight cars down the single track, he can use his train to retrieve the empties/loads from the industry, back out of the siding and push these cars up then push in the cars he needs to deliver into the industry.

To post an image, you need to use an image hosting source such as www.imgur.com

Upload your image
Click on the uploaded image
Click on the down-arrow on the right
Click on share options
Highlight the bb-forums
Click copy
Paste here

For railway terms see http://doot.spub.co.uk/code.php?value=704. Steam trains were normally tank engines when it came to shunting as they had low power and small coal loading so the driver could see both ways. The brakeman was in charge of uncouple and braking of wagons put into sidings. He would stand on the last wagon and use a signal lamp swinging it to let the driver know how far to go.

thx John! got it to work.

Steam engines would never push a consist any great distance. Highly dangerous and nor would a diesel for that matter. Engine must always be at the front. However a steam engine would run tender first if there was no turntable.

To the best of my knowledge this would be solved by those cars being dropped off in a yard farther "east" of that picture and the local responsible for them going from that yard back "west". That way all moves would be behind the loco, and it would be a fairly mundane matter of pulling all the cars you need out and spotting the ones you need to spot. And if not economical (say the next yard is 40 miles "east" and there are no other industry's to serve that way) then there would probably be a siding either next to these industry's, or the branch's would come off the siding itself.

Could always drop the cut in the spur with a flying switch, then go in and drill from the West end

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1xb1F3VsyI