So you've got a model railroad and you want to operate it. Before you can host an operating session, an operational strategy must be developed -- how do trains move? How do cars move? How do crews communicate? The scope of questions goes well beyond this article.
One of the methods for freight car movement is the use of "Car Cards and Waybills". This was popularized as the "McFall" system decades ago, and forms for manual creation are available from MicroMark. A number of software products are also available to generate waybills, including Albion's popular ShipIt program.
I personally favor Shenware's MiTrains and Waybills for creation of car cards and waybills, respectively. They are available as a bundle for a very reasonable price.
When it comes time to create actual waybills, both shippers and receivers must be defined. The industries on your model railroad may be either, or both, but one needs another industry at the other end of the transaction. One can make up industry names or locations or...
The OpSIG
Some time ago, the OpSIG created text files of prototype industries to support model railroaders in the creation of waybills. These are offered as four files of approximately 10,000 records each, representing the North East, South, West, and Mid West. There is also a condensed sample file available. The challenge became finding an efficient way to use this data.
Shenware's Waybills application has a component called Protoype Industries. It is designed to allow one to enter off-layout industries for use on waybills.
As a result of the availability of the OpSIG files, ShenWare published a free versioon of the Prototype Industriesfunctionality called Industry Manager (IndMan) for perusing and searching these files.
Both Industry Managerand Prototype Industriescan use the same files, though their originally intended field use differ slightly.
The PENNSYRR.COM Contribution
The OpSIG files include many industries that were served by the Pennsylvania Railroad, but PRR model railroaders may very well desire more choices.
The PRR periodically published books (CT1000) containing listings of all industries located online. The final version was published in 1945.
Available to you, through this site, are industry listings taken from the CT1000, division by division.
File Format
The format for the tables used by Industry Manageris open so that users may merge or use alternate files as their source. How Industry Manageruses the tables may vary from source to source, so what follows is a cross-reference table.
| Waybills' Prototype Industries / Industry Manager | OpSIG | PENNSYRR.COM | |
| 1 | Unused | Era or approx date of facility observation (eg 50 for year 1950) - > means "after" | |
| 2 | Industry/company name | ||
| 3 | City | ||
| 4 | State (two letter code) | ||
| 5 | Serving railroad initials; if model railroad, follow with "*" |
||
| 6 | S=ships, R=receives (predominant type of shipment) - "blank" means either S=ships or else "not sure whether S or R" | ||
| 7 | Commodity (principal product[s] shipped or received) | ||
| 8 | Group | STCC (commodity grouping code) if available | Unused |
| 9 | Notes | Where shown, "yes" means open to reciprocal switching, "no" means not open | [Division][- Branch] [- CT1000 Location] [- Other Notes] |
| 10 | Unused | Source of data (from whom received) | pennsyrr.com [source] |
Waybills' Prototype Industryfiles have a file extension of IND.
OpSig files have the file extension of .TXT and have the file name prefixed with "OpSig".
All files are in ASCII text delimited by the TAB character. They can be read by spreadsheet programs such as Microsoft's Excel.
PENNSYRR.COM Table Contributions:
These tables are provided at no cost to end users with the only stipulation being that column 10, the source, must remain in the data. Files are ready for import into Industry Manageror Waybills. They may also be viewed in Excel or imported into a database.
Many industries are known only by name, with no understanding of the nature of industry, products received, or products shipped. If you have any of this information to contribute, please contact this site and the source tables will be updated.
Some industries had multiple sidings/entries at the same location. If specific siding use is not known, as is usually the case, they are combined into one entry.
- Baltimore & Eastern R. R., 1945 PRR CT1000E (71 records)
- Central Railroad of New Jersey (PRR trackage rights), 1945 PRR CT1000E (4 records)
- Huntingdon & Broad Top Mountain Railroad, 1942 H&BTM ETT (82 records)
- New York & Long Branch R. R., 1945 PRR CT1000E (164 records)
- Pennsylvania Railroad Atlantic Division, 1945 PRR CT1000E (235 records)
- Pennsylvania Railroad Delmarva Division, 1945 PRR CT1000E (365 records)
- Pennsylvania Railroad Maryland Division, 1945 PRR CT1000E; includes Rosslyn Connecting Railroad and Union Railroad of Baltimore (1350 records)
- Pennsylvania Railroad Middle Division, 1945 PRR CT1000E (735 records)
- Pennsylvania Railroad New York Division, 1945 PRR CT1000E, includes Hudson & Manhattan Railroad Company (1268 records)
- Pennsylvania Railroad Philadelphia Division, 1945 PRR CT1000E (1326 records)
- Pennsylvania Railroad Philadelphia Terminal Division, 1945 PRR CT1000E (1498 records)
- Pennsylvania Railroad Pittsburgh Division, 1945 PRR CT1000C (963 records)
- Pennsylvania Railroad Wilkes-Barre Division, 1945 PRR CT1000E (526 records)
- Pennsylvania Railroad Williamsport Division, 1945 PRR CT1000E (730 records)
Industries for a few fictional railroads are provided below:
- Jerry Britton's Pennsylvania Midland R. R. - under development
- Bob Martin's (deceased) Central Pennsylvania R. R.
- Dave Rohrbaugh's South Penn R. R. - under development
Future, if there is sufficient interest:
- Monongahela Railway, 1945 PRR CT1000C
- Pennsylvania Railroad Buffalo Division, 1945 PRR CT1000C
- Pennsylvania Railroad Chicago Terminal Division, 1945 PRR CT1000W
- Pennsylvania Railroad Cincinnati Division, 1945 PRR CT1000W
- Pennsylvania Railroad Cleveland Division, 1945 PRR CT1000C
- Pennsylvania Railroad Columbus Division, 1945 PRR CT1000W
- Pennsylvania Railroad Conemaugh Division, 1945 PRR CT1000C
- Pennsylvania Railroad Eastern Division, 1945 PRR CT1000C
- Pennsylvania Railroad Erie and Ashtabula Division, 1945 PRR CT1000C
- Pennsylvania Railroad Fort Wayne Division, 1945 PRR CT1000W
- Pennsylvania Railroad Grand Rapids Division, 1945 PRR CT1000W
- Pennsylvania Railroad Indianapolis Division, 1945 PRR CT1000W
- Pennsylvania Railroad Logansport Division, 1945 PRR CT1000W
- Pennsylvania Railroad Monongahela Division, 1945 PRR CT1000C
- Pennsylvania Railroad Northern Division, 1945 PRR CT1000C
- Pennsylvania Railroad Panhandle Division, 1945 PRR CT1000C
- Pennsylvania Railroad Renovo Division, 1945 PRR CT1000C
- Pennsylvania Railroad St. Louis Division, 1945 PRR CT1000W
- Pennsylvania Railroad Toledo Division, 1945 PRR CT1000W
- Winfield Railroad, 1945 PRR CT1000C
