VIRTUAL SWITCHING ON THE NCIR!

I've met a lot of great people in this hobby.  Ken, who's Dawson Station Layout is a small masterpiece, generously created a virtual version of my New Castle Industrial Railroad.  Thanks to Ken's creativity, you can now try your hand at shifting the mill.  (Please note that this simulation combines the dock and warehouse  tracks into a single spur.)     

Simply click on a specific car to view its destination.  Zoom in and out using the '+' / '-' keys, or move the layout left and right using the arrow keys.  Click on the switches to throw them.  

I've included a switch list below, similar to what crews would receive at the beginning of the day.  For a bit of background, you may wish to refer to my Trackplan and Operations and Layout Tour pages.  Have fun!  

You can scroll all the way down to the end of the page to see how the work was done on the 1:1 :-) 

NCIR Work Order:  PCA -- New Castle   1 November 2005

PCA DOCK

ABX 552     Paper Scrap     No Bill  (Car goes on storage track b/c rr hasn't received paperwork) 

CSX 866     Paper Scrap     Pull  (Car goes to interchange)

PCA WAREHOUSE

NS 638       Empty     Pull   (Car goes to interchange)

RBX 251     Empty     Pull   (Car goes to interchange)

RBX 801     Empty     Respot - Dock  (MTY car goes to dock for scrap paper loading)

NS 621       Empty     Pull    (Car goes to interchange)

STORAGE

RBX 605     Linerboard     Spot - Warehouse

CSX 174     Linerboard     (This car not needed, stays on storage track)

AGR 034     Linerboard     Spot - Dock

CLX 012     Corn Starch    Spot - Warehouse 3rd from door

INTERCHANGE

CSX 514     Linerboard     Spot  - Warehouse

CSX 258     Linerboard     (This car not needed, goes to storage track)

RBX 772     Linerboard     Spot - Warehouse

One way of doing it:

Run locomotive down and couple to cars on the interchange track.

Inspect all cars and conduct brake test (on the layout this means admiring my cars and locomotive:-)

Uncouple RBOX 772.  Pull the other two inbound cars clear of the switch.

Still holding the two inbound boxcars, shove ahead and couple onto the cars standing on the storage track.

Pull everything clear of the switch.  Then shove ahead on the interchange track and couple to the lone RBOX 772.

Make a cut and leave the CCLX 012 starch hopper and AGR 034 with the RBOX.

Pull back clear of the switch.  Shove ahead into the storage track and set out  all four loaded boxcars that remain coupled to the engine. 

Pull back again to clear.  Run ahead onto interchange and couple to the three cars.  Make a cut , then pull back with just the AGR 034 to clear the switch.

Shove into the storage track and couple.  Make a cut and drop CSXT 174. 

Pull back to clear with all the other cars.

Shove ahead onto the interchange track and drop RBOX 605.  

Pull back, then drop CSX 258 on the storage track, coupled to the CSX 174 car you dropped earlier.  Make sure to leave enough headroom on the storage track so you can drop one more car in there a bit later.

Pull back, then shove onto the interchange track and set out CSX 514 and AGR 034.  Now all our cars are lined up for spotting on the PCA spur.  

Pull back. (Now you just have the light engine).  Go into the plant spur.  Couple all cars together from dock and warehouse.  

Pull back until the last car (NS 621) is just short of the fouling point.  Cut and leave the NS car on the spur.

Pull back to clear the switch.  Shove ahead and drop RBOX 801 with the cars already on the interchange track. (Now we have all 6 of our cars for the warehouse and dock lined up in spot order).

Pull back to clear switch.  Shove into the spur and grab the lone NS car (621).  

Pull everything back again to clear the switch.  Shove ahead and couple to cars on the interchange.  

Pull the whole string clear of the switch.  Then shove ahead into the spur.  Spot the 4 warehouse cars.  Then cut, pull back and spot the two dock cars.  

Pull everything else back to clear the switch.  The "no bill" ABOX 552 should be coupled right to the engine, followed by all the MTY's destined for the interchange.

Shove ahead and drop the 4 MTY's on the interchange.  Pull back.

Shove ABOX 552 into the storage track.  Pull the engine back to clear the switches.

DONE!!

OPERATIONS ON THE NCIR

The NCIR  classifies inbound cars off CSXT and spots them as requested by customers.  The NCIR is one division of parent company Pioneer Railcorp, and crews are dispatched to work the various lines as required.  The best way to get a feel for operations is to picture yourself as a conductor working the line: 

Packaging Corp. of America requested a 7:00 am shift this morning.  They are anxious for a couple hot cars that came in overnight off CSXT, along with a couple more loads from the storage track.  They also have an empty car to be respotted for scrap paper loading. 
 
Here again is the layout of the branch line:

Here is a picture of your morning's work:

Start:

End:

And here is your work in switch list form:

Note that there are no cars for Premier and Dal-Tile did not request a shift today.  You'll only be drilling PCA.  Now it's up to you to get the work done.  No pressure, but remember the day shift manager at PCA is waiting for those hot cars...:-)

I've been operating the NCIR, in its final form, for about a month now.  Most sessions average 1 hour. ..just what I had in mind.  There are so many variables (e.g. number of inbounds, spots, respots, cars on/off the holding track, loaded scrap paper cars that must be held because billing is not completed etc.) that no two sessions are ever the same.


**Thanks to FrogRail for the GIF's!**