Car cards and waybills are the original paper-based system that prototype railroads used to route freight cars — and they're the most popular method for running realistic operations on a model railroad. RailScanPro's RailCommand system generates them digitally, printed on paper or displayed on a tablet.
The 4-Cycle Waybill System
Each freight car cycles through four routing positions on a single waybill card:
- Position 1 — Load: Car goes empty to a shipper. It's loaded with a commodity and waybilled to a consignee.
- Position 2 — Delivery: Car arrives loaded at the consignee's industry. It's spotted, unloaded, and becomes empty.
- Position 3 — Return: The empty car is routed back (perhaps to a different empty storage location or returned to the shipper).
- Position 4 — Staging: Car waits in staging or a yard for the next operating session.
The card rotates one position each session, so a single car has four different "personalities" that cycle continuously.
Setting Up Car Cards in RailCommand
Step 1 — Define Your Industries
In the Track Schematic editor, each industry spur is defined with:
- Name — "Walnut Street Coal Tipple", "Ajax Lumber Company", etc.
- Commodity received — what cars deliver here
- Commodity shipped — what cars pick up here
- Car type restrictions — e.g., only hoppers at the coal tipple
Step 2 — Assign Cars to Waybill Routes
- Go to RailCommand → Waybills → New Waybill
- Select a car from your inventory
- Select the 4 routing positions: load origin, load destination, empty return point, staging location
- RailCommand generates the physical car card and waybill automatically
Step 3 — Print (or Display Digitally)
Print car cards on 3×5 index cards (standard OpSIG format) or display them on a tablet in the RailScanPro mobile app. The digital version updates automatically when you mark a car as spotted or picked up during the session.
Running a Session
At the start of each ops session:
- Go to RailCommand → Ops Session → Start Session
- RailCommand generates switch lists for each crew assignment: crew A handles the north end, crew B handles the south end
- Crews pick up their switch lists (printed or on mobile)
- Cars are moved per the switch lists; the operator marks each move complete
- At session end, RailCommand advances all waybills to the next position, ready for the next session
The Paper Option
Many operators prefer physical paper cards — there's a tactile satisfaction in handing a conductor their switch list. RailCommand generates:
- Car cards — 3×5 format, one per car, with car type, reporting mark, road number
- 4-cycle waybills — sized to fit in a slot behind the car card
- Switch lists — formatted per NMRA/OpSIG standards
Print from any printer on cardstock. Laminate if you run frequent sessions.
Tips from Experienced Operators
- Start with 20–30 cars — enough to make it interesting without overwhelming a first-time crew
- Balance commodity types — mix loads going in both directions so all crews have meaningful work
- Include at least one "through freight" — a car that traverses the entire layout without local spotting, adding mainline traffic
- Rotate crews — after a few sessions, switch crew assignments so everyone learns the whole layout
Next Steps
- Operations Intro — understand the broader system
- Track Schematic Editor — define your industries and trackwork
- Operations Daily Puzzles — practice car routing with daily challenges