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Most activities usually have us drop off some cars or pick up some cars. Realistically, most customers served by rail are volumn shippers that need cars REPLACED. If you pick up a load of lumber the customer should be requesting an empty car for the next load.Quite a few of the existing activities could have this action added by placing cars at the drop off locations and adding cars to the starting consist to replace the pick-ups.I know I'm making it sound way simpler than it probably is for the activity developers.. Just a thought that occurred to me as I was doing a switching run recently.When we do switching exercises on my local train club layout we typically plan switch lists that have cars "swapped" at the majority of the customer locations. This vastly improves the interest in the activity and puts that extra complexity in the switching. You will typically need to pull the pick-ups "out of the hole" and replace them with the drop-offs. This will sometimes make the work THREE times what a simple drop or pick will take. Our branch line engineers love this kind of action and we usually have to draw lots to see who get to run the branch as opposed to running the main line through trains.
RE: More switching in same space ??, CWA13000, Jan-30-03, 10:19 PM, (1) RE: More switching in same space ??, johndww, Feb-02-03, 00:02 AM, (2) RE: More switching in same space ??, tulsarailfan, Feb-05-03, 09:00 AM, (3) RE: More switching in same space ??, MSG Redleg, Feb-05-03, 09:12 AM, (4) RE: More switching in same space ??, kevarc, Feb-05-03, 09:38 AM, (5) RE: More switching in same space ??, Homerjay, Feb-10-03, 12:52 PM, (6)
You need to try the PO&N. Take one of the open-ended activities provided and add the consists that you wish to swap and start running. I typically load-up the route with my favorite cars and pickup and deliver for days at a time. If you like cars that are not visibly emty or full one could run forever. Cars like coal or plywood haulers tend to look goofy being run back to where they should have started and I usually restart the activity after exhausting these possibilities. Or, make your own. The two secrets to open-ended activities are the way Sniper uses manuel switches and also you have to delete the default event that ends an activity at the end of a normal path.
Try some of my activities for Cajon, Marias, the NEC, Newark and New Jersey and Ohio Rail. Nearly all of them are exactly as you suggest. I'm more a railfan than a simmer so I try my best to make the activities as prototypical as possible (as do many other authors, I'm certainly not saying I'm alone in that regard!).Go to the download section here at train-sim.com, search for Freight Activities, use "Davis" as the keyword and you'll see all of the activities I've posted. All involve switching and for most of the industries being switched you'll be picking up and setting cars at each industry.
I've ran every "Davis" activity I can find. Excellent work and well thought out, realistic, work assignments. The acitivities that nag me are those with steam era cattle cars with no caboose being pulled by an SD70 thats used as a switcher.(exagerating)Is there any "rules of thumb" for laying out one of these type activities? Would one need to have "Ship-It" or some other program for generating traffic?