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Marien Industrial District: About | Track Plan | Operations | Photo Gallery   WESTERN OHIO MARIEN SWITCHING DISTRICT TRACK PLAN (Full Size) OPERATING PLAN 1. Operating Session Prep The layout uses car cards and waybill (Paperwork) to direct layout operations. Prior to each session, a set of waybills is pulled from the stack of available waybills. The number of waybills pulled is based on the number of cars returned during the previous session. A minimum of four waybills, and a maximum of eight waybills are pulled for each session. Because the length of time each car spends at its destination varies, the number of cars returned will vary from session to session. The waybills are then matched to available cars in Marien Yard. In thoery, Western Ohio manifest trains traveling east and west have passed through Marien overnight, picking up the outbound cars and dropping off new deliveries. The cars in the yard at the start of each operating session represent cars to be spotted. The car cards, with the waybills inserted to the first position are then stacked into the order to be switched. The Marien Yard ladder is at the east end of the yard, so cars are pulled from the west end of the block first to the east end of the block. The block order is... Knott-Fitfur | Miss Terri | Buckeye Mills Shipping | Buckeye Mills Grain | Ohio Valley Lumber | Premier Plastics The last step of the operating session prep is to turn all the waybills for the cars currently spotted at the local industries. Each waybill has four instructions on it, numbered from 1 to 4. You simply turn each card to the next number and place it back in the car card pocket. The operating session prep may sound like a lot of paperwork for those of you not familiar with car cards and way bills. But the truth is, it only takes a couple of minutes. And by giving you specific directions to follow, gives the layout purpose and eliminates the challenge of deciding what moves to make. 2. Building Outbound Train Operations begin with the Marien Yard crew picking cars destined for the local industries from the yard. Following the blocking instructions listed above, cars are placed on the mainline until the train is complete. Once the train is complete, either the yard crew moves to the east end of the train, or a road crew assigned to switch Marien moves to the east end of the train. The crew used to switch depends on what engines I want to run... the yard crew uses NW2 number 15 while the road crew uses one of the Western Ohio's GP38-2s. 3. Switching The West End Only two industries have westward tailing tracks, and they share the same siding. Ohio Valley Lumber is at the far west end of Marien, with Premier Plastics just to the east. When the train is blocked, cars destined for these industries are at the east end of the train. After pulling the train forward, cars to be dropped at these locations are cut from the rest of the train. Pulling to the far east end of the layout, the crew clears the east end of the long passing siding. The crew then backs to the switch leading to Ohio Valley Lumber and Premier Plastics. Cars to be picked up are pulled from the siding first. Because there are two industries on this siding, some switching has be to done occassinally to get the drops in the right order. Once the cars are in the right places, the crew pushes loaded bulkhead flat cars to Ohio Valley, then pulls loaded covered hoppers to Premier Plastics. The empties picked from each industry are then pushed to the far west end of the layout, clearing the west end of the passing siding. 4. Switching The Animal Feed Company The next move only happens if Knott-Fitfurr requires switching. This can be the result of a drop headed to Knott-Fitfurr, or a need to pick up a car from the same location. If a tank car is to be delivered, the crew will move to the west end of the train and couple on to the tank car in this position. The train must be pushed far enough east so the switch leading to the yard lead track is clear. The crew will then back west beyond the switch to the yard lead track. If no drop is required, but a pick is needed, the crew will skip the previous step. Still pulling the cars picked up from the west end, The crew moves west down the yard lead track. Knott-Fitfur is switched, and any tank cars picked up are pulled back across the crossing. Any pickups are left on the yard lead track. The crew then backs back on to the west end of the main. Pulling forward, they couple to the back of the train. The pickups from the west end are left on the main line, clear of the switches at either end of the passing siding. 5. Switching The East End Having dropped the west end cars on the main, the crew pushes forward beyond the east passing siding swith again. The crew then backs onto the passing siding. Cars for Buckeye Mills are pulled and switched, with covered hoppers for the grain elevator behind the box cars for the warehouse. After finishing at Buckeye Mills, Miss Terri Meats is switched. Pickups from Buckeye Mills and Miss Terri are then pushed back onto the east end of the main. The crew runs around the cars left on the main from the west end, returning back to the main at the west end of town. Pulling forward, any tank cars from Knott-Fitfur are pulled from the yard lead, coupled to the back of the west end cars, which are then pushed beyond the east end switch and coupled to the east end cars. The entire cut of cars is pulled back to the main parallel to the passing siding. The engines then run around the passing siding to return to the east end of the train. The cut of cars then push back beyond the switch leading to the yard lead, where the train is left for sorting. 6. Sorting Outbound Cars The yard crew then picks up the train off the main and pulls it onto the yard lead. At this time, the mainline is clear for any through traffic that has been waiting for the local crew to complete its work. The yard crew then sorts the cars based on eastbound or westbound destinations identified on the waybill. Once the train is sorted, the operating session is complete. 7. Post Operating Session Paperwork At the end of the operating session, the waybills are pulled from the returned car cards. The spent waybills are left on a table... the number of waybills will be how many new waybills are pulled to start the next session. The car cards are put into card boxes for Marien Yard. Each yard track has its own box.

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