Operation by Switchlist
I might add that step 1 of this process might be to put your railroad on the map. This mental exercise might help determine how cars are handled on your layout.
For example:
--\\\------------------------------//-\\--------------------------------------------------------//--
Southern Railway 001 ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,NF&G Railroad 002,,,,,,....,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, NYC RR 003
If your railroad the NF&G existed as a short line sandwiched between the SR and NYC, cars interchanged from the SR for unloading on your railroad might predominately bear initials from SR or roads that connect with SR such as ACL, SP, SCL. Cars from NYC in addition to NYC cars might be PRR , NW, and other eastern roads dependant on commodity.
A simple switchlist can keep track of where the car originated as this is where it should be returned when empty.
Ex.
NFG Railroad Switchlist Feb 29th 1973
Car # ---Taken from--- Left at--- Load/Ety--- Commodity--- Notes
NFG 13 ----002--------- 002-------- E--------------------- Caboose
ACL 13456 -001 ---------002-------- L-------- tractors----- team track
NFG 77 ----002--------- 002-------- L--------- rails--------- re-spot
NFG 79 ----002--------- 002-------- L--------- rails--------- re-spot
SR 67345 --001--------- 002-------- E---------------------- Box Factory
NYC 56342 003---------- 001-------- L--------- wigits
SP 56844 --001----------002-------- L--------- lumber-------Box Factory
NFG 7566-- 002--------- 002-------- L----------------------- Locomotive
In the above simple switchlist is a simplified example of a work record for a local train operated on the NFG railroad with locomotive 7566 on Feb 29th 1973. The last car on the list is the caboose, cars are always listed in reverse order because this list is compiled by the conductor and his office is the caboose. Don't let any engineman tell you he is in charge of the train!
Next car the ACL 13456 was taken at location 001 the SR interchange and delivered to the NFG team track with a load of tractors. The information contained on the switchlist is critical to determining the routing of the car once it becomes empty. Basic Car Service Rules specify that the car will be returned to it's home road via reverse routing. On a short line railroad like this when it's time to move the empty car back it's easy to verify where the car came from simply from observing the previous operating session(s) handling of the car.
Next two cars are NFG cars of Rail that have been respotted from the yard to a spur track where the rails will be inventoried by the MOW department. When empty they should be placed back in the NFG yard at 002 as they are home road cars
Next Car SR 67345 is an empty taken from the SR interchange 001 to the Box factory at 002 for loading. As the NFG does not have any cars that can go offline they rely on emptys from the interchanging railroad.
When this car is loaded from the box factory something must be devised to determine where the load will be routed. As owner of the RR you may determine that the box factory delivers all it's loads to the northeastern cities, therefore all loads are sent to NYC interchange 002. A more interesting scenario is that 80% of all loads go to the northeast but 20% goes to the southwest via the SR interchange. To determine the route of this particular car a DIE may be cast to determine which route the car is to take. Example. Rolling a 1 would have the car routed via SR 001, rolling a 2-5 would have the car routed via NYC 002. A 6 might mean that the car is not yet loaded.
The next car NYC 56342 is a load of wigits that is being "bridged" over the NF&G from an SR interchange to a NYC interchange. The particular story of this car may be of no interest to the operator, but how it's handled is. When this car is delivered to the NYC interchange no other action is required of the NF&G railroad. The NYC is the homeroad and will spot the car at location 003 or (likely)somewhere else on the NYC system or it's connections. Under normal circumstances the empty will not be routed NF&G
SP 56844 is a load of lumber bound for the box factory at 002 from SR interchange 001. When empty return via SR interchange 001. When is this car empty? Usually the car can be empty within one day. However if the car is delivered late, it might take another business day to complete the task. Recording the delivery time under notes or simply applying the DIE principle to determining when the car is empty.
NFG 7566 is the locomotive, some switchlists don't have the locomotive on them, it depends on the railroad or the operators.
This is a simple example of how a small railroad could be operated by switchlist and car cards are not necessary. On larger railroads switchlists could still be used, but at the end of the day someone might have to compile an 'on hand' list of cars with critical information. Staging between sessions and creation of switchlists may have to be performed on off hours time.
A friend of mine had a layout where most of the cars operated in through service and only a handful were regularily spotted at industries in his town. Swichlists were only compiled for these cars which were segregated in the consist at the front of the train. Any car not on a switchlist went through.
Some people insist a computer is necessary to compile switchlists. Computers are great tools , but they require a certain amount of programming and data entry to track down and make corrections for cars that were not spotted as per the plan.
Once again the first step is to put your railroad on the map and plan out a logical operating scheme. Everything else will fall into place in time.