switchlist and "situational modeling"

[Gary S]

I'm liking the switchlist idea more and more. It may be possible to create a large box of "customer needs (waybills)" that can be placed in a pseudo random order. This would be based on "industry A needs on average 3 empty boxcars each week, industry B ships 2 boxcars each week, industry C receives 8 covered hoppers each week etc." Then before each operating session, draw however many you want and then make the switchlist from that. Of course, we would have to track the cars already on the layout too. Also, any empties on the layout could possibly be used for shipments from your customers which were headed back to the home road.

Seems that getting ready for an op session is going to take more time than the op session itself!