NS West End Dispatcher for TD3

[csx6900]

Hi all-

I wasn't 100% sure where to post this topic, so please excuse me if this seems like the wrong board for the thread.

I just began working on the NS West End Dispatcher desk for Train Dispatcher 3.  I have pretty good sources for the track layout (I have timetables and track charts), however I may need some help with train schedules and ID's.  If anyone has any information on trains that run the West End Dispatcher's territory (especially on the K&O Line) as well as approximate schedules, please feel free to post them here.  I know most of the manifest ID's and schedules (such as 111, 112, 125, 126, 131, 132, 134, 135, 15T, 16T, 162, and 163) and intermodal (202, 22A, 23G).  The main trains I will need help with are the locals.  Cleveland, Calhoun, and Loudon-based locals are ones that I have absolutely no idea about.  If Emmett is receptive to the idea, I would like to make the completed territory available on the JREB site.  Any other ideas, questions, etc are welcome.  Thanks in advance!

-Evan

[lwjabo]

The Yard engine at Cleveland when it went into AB was and extra and 140 and 139 ran on another train schedule. I have took down green and white flags when swapping out on 139. The Calhoun Local ran out of DeButts in late evening and turned at the paper mill. I can't remember it number as it changed several times. The Cleveland Yard job was a day job. Was 6 days a week till the contract change. Wished I could help more.

[E.M. Bell]

you get it together, and I am sure we can find a place to put it up....no problem.

[GP30Rider]

Locals working north out of Knoxville include T-12 working from Sevier Yard to Clinton.  He sets out for the KXHR at Coster then swaps cars at Clinton.  T-12 will also go to Blair from time to time.  T-34 works the day shift in Clinton and works around Clinton, in the industrial park at Clinton, and works to Blair for the HR when necessary.  T-35 works out of Clinton at night and usually works up the K&O to Champion Paper at Royal Blue and the coal load-out at Newcomb.  There is currently no unit coal traffic up the K&O...neither at Turley or on the other side of the CSX toward Clairfield.  You also have the occasional CSX coal train between Oliver and the Kingston Steam Plant.  NS will also have coal trains to Kingston from time to time, but I have not seen one of those go in from the Knoxville side in a good while.  Doesn't mean that it don't happen though.  Finally, there are several grain trains each week from Harriman to Knoxville (loaded) and on toward the Staley Plant at Loudon. Empty grain trains running the reverse route.  22A and 112 are usually anytime in the afternoon.  I've seen 111 at all times of the day but many times early morning.  This time of year, catching anything going up the K&O toward Jellico in the daylight is just about impossible.

[csx6900]

Thanks for the help, guys!  That gives me just about anything I need to know for the K&O Line.

Thanks for the input, lwjabo, but I'm looking for more current information if possible.  I appreciate the help, though. 

Attached is a screenie of the track plan and labels as they stand now.  Not as clean as I usually like it, but I think it's the best I can do with what I have.  I obviously took some liberties with the TWC side of things, but I planned it all around making it as easy and proto as possible... without crowding up the screen unnecessarily.  All that's left to do is add trains, track permits, and slow orders.  Any comments, suggestions, etc are appreciated.

-Evan

[Ns Railfan]

Here some info off the top of my head. Train 134 only runs between Knoxville an Linwood NC not on the west end don't forget about T09 an T10 to an from Middlesboro Ky to Sevier via the CG line, also on the CG line there is a 65W empty to Lutrell an 64W loaded limestone that runs 4 or 5 times a month an every once in a while 77G will come down from Middlesboro with coal loads.  Also T34 is the 1st trick an T35 2nd trick out of Clinton they both work the Clinton area. T69  "West local" has been getting out of Sevier around 4 pm daily. T21 has been running at night as of late an gets back to Sevier around 8 am. The most frequent coal train I've seen as of late are 724, 725, 710, 730, 731. A week ago 890 went west to Harriman via the west end not the K&O. 42G, 44A, 52G and 56G are common loaded grain symbols Harriman to Loudon an 55a is a common empty symbol. Remember all the grain trains change crew an Baxter ave on the Coster line. There is a local out of Sevier that serves Coster area an downtown to the CSX interchange. If you need an more info send me a pm an we can go from there.

Jacob
Knoxville TN

[csx6900]

Thanks, Jacob!  That helps a lot.  I'll try to incorporate all of the mentioned trains.

As far as 134, all of my sources say Chattanooga-Linwood.  I could swear I've seen 134 on the West End, but I could easily be wrong.  Just to make the sim more interesting though, I'll leave it on the schedule.

Thanks for all the extra symbols!  I'll put all of them in.

I think the downtown local you're referring to is TK23.  I'll include him for sure.

-Evan

[csx6900]

A few more questions regarding trains for the territory:

1. What days of the week do each of the locals run?  In Florida, it seemed that all of the locals were M-F, but here they seem to have weird schedules like Tu-Su.  If I can get the days of the week for each local (specifically T09, T10, T12, T21, T34, T35, T36, T69, T73, TK23, and the Calhoun/Cleveland locals) individually, I'd appreciate it.

2. Do trains coming off the I-Line from Cohutta to Cleveland change crews in Cleveland?  If so, where exactly?

-Thanks in advance,
Evan

[lwjabo]

Georgia trains swap with Knox crews at the depot. Some times they tie the trains down on the I line or siding because there is no crew to swap out with. They have even tied them down in the yard. That goes for Knox crews. As far as I know they have not installed run through there. There has been talk of it but the Georgia side can get jammed up way to fast and thatkeeps it from happening. Train 139 going to Atlanta was always running for the law. There was talk of closing the old depot and putting a trailer next to Bradley for the crews to use.

[E.M. Bell]

TK06 is (was)  the local that works out of sevier, down to city yard where it works both sides, then down to that one factory just west of the CSX Diamond. They will also work Knox Metals on the Coster line, and the wheel shop at Coster (if that is even still there??) That job used to be a pain in the butt for us when I was working at the KXHR..we where always in each others way..

Be sure to "pad" the work times of T12 at Coster, they would sometimes take a hour or more to work the oakwood tracks.

Dont forget the KXHR moves on the Coster line, city yard, and on the K&A. I am not 100% sure, but I think the K&H keeps an engine on the South Knoxville side now, and the K&A local sets off / picks up for them right at the south end of the river bridge, shoving up towards Chapman Highway.

[csx6900]

Thanks for the info, guys!

A few questions about your suggestions, Emmett:

1. Where is Knox Metals on the Coster Line?
2. What do you mean "pad" the work times?
3. What are the Oakwood tracks?
4. What work does KXHR do on the Coster Line other than swing moves to/from Coster Yard and transfers to KLW?  FYI, KXHR does keep a locomotive on the South Knoxville side so I don't think I need to add any K&A-Coster (and vice versa) moves.  I think T21 works that interchange at Chapman Highway like you said.

-Thanks,
Evan

[etalcos]

I can help with a few:

Knox Metals is gone -- Now PSC Metals out at Forks of the River
T-12 for various reasons I won't address here takes 3 to 4 times longer than any other train on the railroad to do anything.  So you should "pad" their schedule or put another way, add time to it.  If it takes a normal crew 15 minutes to set out one car it takes T12s normal crew 30 to 45.
The Oakwood tracks are the KXHR/NS interchange tracks at Coster.
KXHR picks up their interchange for South of the River at City Yard from TK23/TK06.  NS picks up KXHR's south of the river interchange on the K&A local when he returns from Alcoa
KXHR picks up the unit ethanol trains on the mainline at Coster.
To my knowledge there is no active local industry between Coster and City Yard anymore.  However, Holston Gases has bought the Old Brookside Mill property on Baxter Av. and I have to think that they will want rail service?

[etalcos]

EMB, unfortunately the wheel shop is now a gravel parking lot.  Anymore its getting hard to tell that Coster ever even existed.

[csx6900]

Thanks, etalcos!  That helps a lot.  I knew KXHR got ethanol cars, but I didn't know they got unit trains.  What symbols do the ethanol trains usually run as, and from where do they run?  Also how often?

-Thanks,
Evan

[Ns Railfan]

Here is some more info I gathered up.
T09/ T10 are daily, t10 goes up early in the morning T09 returns late in the evening usually around 9.
T21 operates Tues-Sat
T34/T35 Mon-Fri
T38 ties down at the Charleston depot an work across the river at the small yd
T44 Chattanooga to Calhoun TN Mon- Sat turn
T69 Mon-Sat
T71 Cleveland Switcher Mon-Fri
T72/T73 Loudon local works Mon-Sat, the 73 will come up towards Bearden an work JFG
TK10/TK01 work the receiving  yd an occasionally pull out to West Sever to get on another track.
25N auto racks train from NC to Louisville Ky operates via the K&O
Tk53/ TK63 are the Knoxville area locals.
If 890 runs west to Harriman on the K&O they will have a pusher all the way to Laural then the pusher returns to Sevier as a T7E.
Once or twice a week there might be a 53r empty grain from NC that runs up to IN on the K&O.

[csx6900]

Thanks for all the info!  That's a BIG help!

Two more questions...

1. What are the reverse speeds for trains running through spring switches?  The spring switch at West End Two Tracks has a 25 MPH reverse speed for westbound trains according to my timetable, but it doesn't list speeds for any other spring switches along the route to Cleveland.

2. How many days a week does T12 run, and when does he usually depart Sevier?  I know I've seen him at Coster around noon before, so I'm guessing 11 AM?

-Thanks,
Evan

[csx6900]

Well, I'm making several minor adjustments as I go along to make the territory as prototypical as possible.  I'm very happy with the way it is turning out so far.  The only problem I have is that the run times seem rather fast (only 2 hours for the average train to get from Knoxville to Cleveland, barring any meets or other delays).  But when you add in opposing traffic, track warrants, slow orders, etc, you can get a good 4-5 hour run out of it.

I finished all of the schedules, slow orders, and track warrants for the Sunday simulation the other day.  When I played the day through to check for issues, I was bored to death.  With the lack of locals and the bare minimum of trains running (only the regular 100 and 200-series trains), traffic was light.  Although there were 25 trains scheduled for the day, there wasn't a whole lot going on.

Things got a lot better when I created the schedules, etc for Monday, though!  The usual traffic plus all of the locals, KXHR, and others make the simulation much more interesting.  I might have had a maximum of only 4 or 5 trains on the screen at one time during the Sunday sim, but with the Monday sim, I easily average 8 at most times of the day, and sometimes more.

Anywho, here's a pic of my testing for Monday.  There are several things happening in this picture (from top to bottom):

1. 15T is meeting a Calhoun-bound T44 at Cleveland.
2. 125 and 701 are both making their way west to a crew change at Cleveland before heading down the I-Line towards Atlanta.
3. A track inspector has gotten time from Boyd to Bearden after the 701 clears.
4. T34 is working the Clinton area before heading over to Omega Plastics at East Siding.
5. 112 and T12 are racing each other out of Sevier Yard towards Coster.  Since T12 will tie up the main to work the KXHR interchange, 112 gets the signal onto the single track at Beverly ahead of him.
6. After a long journey over the West End with plenty of meets, coal empties in the form of train 714 are rolling by the West End Two Tracks and approaching a crew change on the Sevier Yard bypass track.

As always, questions, suggestions, etc are welcome!

-Evan

[lwjabo]

Have they made the siding between Dockery, Bradley and Lyle a signal siding?

[csx6900]

My August 2008 timetable shows Dockery-Lyle as a controlled siding.  Why?

-Evan

[lwjabo]

I'm a retired Conductor from the Atlanta north. Just wondering what changes have been made.

[Ns Railfan]

T12 gets out of Sevier between 12 an 1 Tues through Fri an Sat usually a little earlier.

[csx6900]

I'm a retired Conductor from the Atlanta north. Just wondering what changes have been made.

Very interesting.  What years did you work for the railroad?  If you don't mind me asking...

T12 gets out of Sevier between 12 an 1 Tues through Fri an Sat usually a little earlier.

Thanks!

-Evan

[lwjabo]

I hired on Southern 1971 and retired December 2005. I worked Atlanta to Chattanooga and Cleveland. both the K line and C line to Krannert. The C line from Green to Cedartown and the M line from Griffin to Columbus.

[csx6900]

Now that would be an interesting job.  I'm glad to know someone with so much experience.

-Evan

[csx6900]

Just a quick update guys.  I've been busy with life lately, so I haven't had much time to work on the territory.  I did find some time to do it tonight though, so I completed the programming for the Wednesday simulation and added in all of the programming for the Thursday simulation.  Only Friday and Saturday left before the territory is ready for beta testing.  Please shoot me a PM if you are interested.  It is preferred that you know the general operations in the territory so as to identify any [blatant] mistakes.

-Evan