05-10-2012, 08:34 AM
Les and I exchanged a puzzlement as we discussed how to handle an empty returning to my layout from his. Les wondered if empty cars have waybills, and I'm almost certain they do, because a waybill is needed to move any car. But this raises the fact that modelers' discussions of operations are light on how empties are handled. I read an account by a guy who worked summers in the Erie's Hammond, IN yard office, and empties were a big part of his job. I think where they went depended on the season of the year, but empty boxcars were typically routed to the UP in Omaha. (Nor were these necessarily just UP.) And I assume some sort of waybill was needed to do this. Does anyone know more?