I would agree with the other responses that modeling this aspect of prototype railroading is totally unnecessary and will not add to the realism of your operations.
However, for those that just can't believe that it could take the average freight car almost a month between loads, let me assure you that, during the 1970's and 1980's at least, this was sadly true. I worked for both Southern Railway and Chessie System/CSX in the freight car utilization sections. Studies of general service boxcars clearly showed that the average trip (not including bad order or stored time) averaged between 3 and 4 weeks. When you added in bad order and storage time, the average boxcar produced just under 12 loads per year. Pity the poor railroads that would invest in a $50,000 piece of equipment that would carry only 12 loads per year! And competing against truckers who were turning their equipment in about 3-7 days per load, depending on length of haul! Just be happy that we are in MODEL railroading! Dan Vandermause Ellicott City, MD --- In [email protected], "nmueller4" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Hello, all! > > For those of you who try to operate their layouts prototypically: > > I have read several times that the average turnaround time for a > freight car is one month. In other words, the typical freight car > gets loaded 12 times a year. > > Even with only a few customers, you would need quite a fleet of cars, > so I'm sure most people use something less than a 30-day turnaround. > It could also get to be a paperwork nightmare. > > How do you handle this situation? > ------------------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
