I completed operating #118 LaSalle Turn this evening. I departed the yard with a seemingly basic list of duties. I must say, it is surprising how involved this local can be. Each industry has certain spots for the cars which requires additional moves.
Then moving the sand. That's really when you get the wrench thrown into your plans. Out of the empties departing PQ, majority go to Belrose, but you have one or two going back to the Ottawa Agent for repair or storage. Same thing with Belrose. You pick up a long cut of loads. Majority go to PQ, but a few scattered in the cut are traveling to glass plants elsewhere. All this requires additional moves and switching which takes time.
Then, I weighed the sand. Out of 9 cars, 4 were overweight. I might need to adjust that range down on the WeighStation. I followed procedure setting those cars to be reduced, moving the others to PQ. I then had to re-weigh them, record the weights, and finally move them over to PQ for delivery.
As complex as this local was today, I didn't even have to deal with through trains or the blue flag lights at Westclox.
In summary, I don't see anything that needs to be changed on this local. I figure crews will get faster at it over time, but that's expected. I will try to rotate the guys out so no one person is on the same job session after session. That will help keep the familiarity down.
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