Author Topic: Preliminary breakdown of a bridge route  (Read 1951 times)

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wcfn100

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Preliminary breakdown of a bridge route
« on: July 03, 2008, 02:32:38 AM »
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I've been slowly going through and breaking down switch lists for the CGW on their Des Moines district (the best district  ;)) and wanted to post the results so far in case others are interested in this type of thing (there really isn't a good catagory for this).  It was good to know all the stuff I was buying for years was useless and that I passed on quit a bit of what I needed.



Needless to say, I've been trying to catch up on my Santa Fe and Canadian roads.  And I'll probably never see enough different types of tank cars of trailer flats to buy in my life time.


Jason
« Last Edit: July 03, 2008, 04:16:31 PM by wcfn100 »

asciibaron

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Re: Preliminary brakedown of a bridge route
« Reply #1 on: July 03, 2008, 07:32:56 AM »
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is this a listing of car reporting marks - how many are numbered different - i would assume there would be several switch lists with the same car on them.


this is a breakdown of the #2-262 from Harlowton heading to Chicago on 11/1/1973 - notice there are PRR cars in the 79 car consist



-Steve
« Last Edit: July 03, 2008, 07:50:17 AM by asciibaron »
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soo

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Re: Preliminary brakedown of a bridge route
« Reply #2 on: July 03, 2008, 08:39:40 AM »
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Wow, nice work!  I have broken down my car fleet by the register of car types nationally, and found myself to be heavy on box cars, and light on tankers and chemical covered hoppers, which I am working to correct.  I am also trying to figure out how to incorporate auto rack and intermodal trains, where one train can simulate several different ones!

But, I have never had the patience to actually go through switch lists of my modeling area to determine exactly the loads of cars I would need.  And, I presume it would vary in the midwest with the season - with more grain cars showing up in fall?

amato1969

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Re: Preliminary brakedown of a bridge route
« Reply #3 on: July 03, 2008, 10:14:26 AM »
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Yeah, it's pretty amazing how BIG the GATX and UTLX fleets were back in the day when you look at an old ORER.

wcfn100

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Re: Preliminary brakedown of a bridge route
« Reply #4 on: July 03, 2008, 01:33:36 PM »
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Quote
is this a listing of car reporting marks - how many are numbered different - i would assume there would be several switch lists with the same car on them.

Actually, out of the several thousand cars so far, the same number almost never shows up.  Even on the cars that were assigned to John Deere in Waterloo for the ATSF and SOO don't repeat and those series only have a handful of cars in them. NP had gondolas constantly coming into Waterloo with steel or scrap from the 51xxx series and just the one repeat with the empty being returned presumably back to the Twin Cities through Randolph, MN.

NP   51319   SCRAP   G
NP   51319   X   G
NP   51343   SCRAP   G
NP   51364   STEEL   G
NP   51371   STEEL   G
NP   51406   STEEL   G
NP   51450   STEEL   H
NP   51459   SCRAP   G
NP   51497   X   G
NP   51508   SCRAP   G
NP   51519   SCRAP   H
NP   51553   SCRAP   G
NP   51579   SCRAP   H
NP   51582   SCRAP   B
NP   51604   SCRAP   H
NP   51674   STEEL   G
NP   51707   X   G
NP   51737   X   G
NP   59491   STEEL   G


You do get some Potash and Phospate cars that go back empty but not too much else compared.  I still have a couple thousand to fill in so no doubt there will more duplicate cars along the way as I get into later dates.

edit:  The chart represents about 4500 cars and the CGW is about 10% of that.

Jason
« Last Edit: July 03, 2008, 01:38:19 PM by wcfn100 »

cv_acr

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Re: Preliminary breakdown of a bridge route
« Reply #5 on: July 04, 2008, 01:03:06 PM »
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I've been slowly going through and breaking down switch lists for the CGW on their Des Moines district (the best district  ;)) and wanted to post the results so far in case others are interested in this type of thing (there really isn't a good catagory for this).  It was good to know all the stuff I was buying for years was useless and that I passed on quit a bit of what I needed.

Interesting breakdown. Switchlists are certainly the best look at traffic on any railroad. I wish I had more switchlists to look at from my chosen railroad!

CGW Fan

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Re: Preliminary breakdown of a bridge route
« Reply #6 on: July 11, 2008, 07:06:09 PM »
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Good Information.  I am in the final planning stages of a CGW layout from DSM to Waterloo.  It is going to be a time extension of the CGW as it will be set in the 1980's and the MERGER did not happen.  :-) 

I would be curious to see any other data you have. 

/Jeff

wcfn100

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Re: Preliminary breakdown of a bridge route
« Reply #7 on: July 11, 2008, 07:49:37 PM »
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I'll have a somewhat better idea as I get through the lists.  I am trying to compile a roster of cars to represent the district with a focus on the setouts and pick ups at Waterloo.  But like most RR projects, it's hard to stay disciplined.  I just found the other day a block of ATSF stockcars that were not a common occurance (at least not in '65) but with IM coming out with what would seem to be the appropriate car, it's hard not include them.  I have started a list of druthers when it comes to rolling stock by picking out interesting mid-west roads that repeat like MNS, DMIR and FDDM.  But, of course, I can't even find pictures of some of these cars.  I was hoping to be able to do this with a couple hundred freight cars using four 40 cars trains (nos. 41,42,43,92) and 40 other cars for Waterloo.  But that is way too restrictive.  I'll probably end up with 20 cars per train that are 'generics', 10 cars for setouts, and sets of 10 cars that can be put in the train that shouldn't always be there like autoracks/auto parts, covered hopper blocks (TLDX), stock cars (ATSF and CGW), one wreck train and blocks of asphalt to name a few.

Of course, if I purge my MT collection of 40' standard box cars with a build date prior to '47 (before the ps-1 came out), that should clear a lot of space.

You'll probably see this thread back in couple months as I'm able to pair down the roster.  At that point I will speek more to why particular cars were chosen which maybe could be useful for you in the big picture.

Jason