Model Railroading > Off spot cars question

I have a question for you operations mavens. In both the model world and prototype, how does a crew know they have a known offspot car to deal with, either to park or spot? Is it accounted for when switch lists are generated?

VB, when we were operating at the IP, several things were going on.  If I came to the yard and a car for an industry was there it was spotted first.  Other wise I looked at my train to see what was to be spotted and in which order.  That is, perishables, if any, first at the proper door(s).  The rest were spotted according to the industry.  Any left over went in the yard for the next time.

When I have a car that will fit on the assigned industry spur, but not at the comsignee's loading or unloading point, I add small slip card into the waybill/carcard packet noting that the car is off spot and should be placed at the correct loading/unloading point as soon as the proper spot become available, normally in the next operating session.

If a car will not even fit on the consignee's spur, it goes back to the yard for a respot in the next session.

Art House

If you're using card cards, some guys I know have a fourth pocket for a given area: Spot/Hold/Pickup/To Be Spotted.
When a train arrives to work that area, they check the boxes and spot the TBS cars first, then whatever else fits.  
Cards for the leftovers go in the TBS slot.  FWIW.

Nick Tharalson,
Marion, IA

It's quite common to place excess cars on a nearby siding. Those will be placed first the next time the switch job comes around. There are a couple of steel yards on the railroad I work for that do this on a regular basis. We charge them a switch fee to respot the excess cars and demurrage if the cars are not unloaded during a grace period.

Ted Curphey
Ontario, OR

On the railroad that  worked for, the excess cars that had to be squirreled away off-spot somewhere were called "sluff". Sluff was also a verb, for example, "We'll have to sluff off that car to the runaround."

Sluff was placed wherever it was convenient, and as with all other other cars of any sort that were handled, its location was reported by the conductor to the appropriate car clerk. Note that even re-spots, cars that were moved by the crew from one spot on a platform to another at the customer's request - were reported by the conductor, because railroads charged for re-spots. In reality, if the customer was, say, a beer distributor, a re-spot was not reported to the clerk in favor of a six pack of mordita for each crew member. This latter point might be fun to simulate in HO (-:

EO

 

EO, we both worked for the same RR where plenty of lumber loads were spotted at lumber yards. Does this mean that on occasion a crew might have gone off duty with each member heading to his car carrying his gift of a long 2 x 4? Now you have me thinking... Maybe each guest at an HO session could be given a toothpick.  

hogheaded Wrote:
... if the customer was, say, a beer
> distributor, a re-spot was not reported to the
> clerk in favor of a six pack of mordita for each
> crew member. This latter point might be fun to
> simulate in HO (-:...

> EO

hogheaded Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> On the railroad that  worked for, the excess cars
> that had to be squirreled away off-spot somewhere
> were called "sluff". Sluff was also a verb, for
> example, "We'll have to sluff off that car to the
> runaround."
>
> Sluff was placed wherever it was convenient, and
> as with all other other cars of any sort that were
> handled, its location was reported by the
> conductor to the appropriate car clerk. Note that
> even re-spots, cars that were moved by the crew
> from one spot on a platform to another at the
> customer's request - were reported by the
> conductor, because railroads charged for re-spots.
> In reality, if the customer was, say, a beer
> distributor, a re-spot was not reported to the
> clerk in favor of a six pack of mordita for each
> crew member. This latter point might be fun to
> simulate in HO (-:
>
> EO
>
>  Thanks for using the term   "  Sluff "   I used to hear that at Amtrak in LA

Westbound Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> EO, we both worked for the same RR where plenty of
> lumber loads were spotted at lumber yards. Does
> this mean that on occasion a crew might have gone
> off duty with each member heading to his car
> carrying his gift of a long 2 x 4? Now you have me
> thinking... Maybe each guest at an HO session
> could be given a toothpick.  
>
> hogheaded Wrote:
> ... if the customer was, say, a beer
> > distributor, a re-spot was not reported to the
> > clerk in favor of a six pack of mordita for
> each
> > crew member. This latter point might be fun to
> > simulate in HO (-:...
>
> > EO

This certainly is something to consider if one wants to operate prototypically!

This sort of thing could get out of hand, however. Once, when eleven lumber cars in my train wound up derailing into the Sacramento River, the M/W guys floated the lumber  about a mile downriver, where they had set up a weir to collect it. Later, they all had new garages and sheds.

All that I can say is that I'm not sure that I can afford to host operating sessions featuring this sort of simulation, especially since in the old days we operating employees were natural-born criminals when given the opportunity. I dubbed one of the first industrial switching jobs that I worked as the "Looters' Special", for example. Judging by the disappearance of my beer supply during operating sessions, model railroaders aren't far behind in this regard. My resources tend to be depleted-enough as it is.

EO
 

Some switch lists will have the following info to the right of each car:
Yard block: 88501, customer track along with spot placement like 01 02 03 04 etc. If no specific spot, each car is just 01.
Code for type of work: SPOT, PULL, INTERPLANT SWITCH.
Date wanted by: self explanitory.

Traimaster or electronic work orders will let you know what has been ordered, of look on computer yourself.

Special switch requests will be faxed or emailed. Most interplant switches will be handled like that. Cars parked in a non-customer storage track due to hours of service will still show spot; storage tracks at the customer facility will show interplant instead. You technically spotted them once but they didn't need the car yet. Clever way to get the car out of the railyard and off demurrage everyday it sits. All they have to do now since its in their property is pay a single fee to have a crew return when they are ready.

Now if the spot was screwed up or "off spot" due to crew error, they customer will report and the crew goes back without charge.

Sometimes a spotted car will not get loaded/unloaded as it was sold off to another customer. That car yard block will change, still show spot, not pull. Pulling it is implied to move it to its new buyer.

Say a spotted load becomes an empty. That code changes to PULL with future order notice and want date i.e., centerbeam lumber unloaded and empty flat, instead of leaving town, stays and is rebilled to pick up drywall. Once want day is met, spot code appears with new yard block.

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Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/27/16 12:34 by Hookdragkick.