I'm torn over whether the outbound cars are directed by spot
(ie, track 3 spot 1 *always* goes to Chicago

Dennis,

I don't know if you were looking for prototype examples or not, but this is the way it worked at
the Monon Freight house next to Dearborn Station in Chicago. There were four tracks there with
eight spots each. Incoming LCL freight was routed to the correct car with chalkmarks using the
shorthand 2-6, 3-1 etc. for the (track #)-(spot #). All of the cars were 40 feet long to
facilitate the use of bridge plates between tracks 1-2 and 3-4. Daily cars went from here to
Knoxville, Atlanta, Jacksonville, Louisville, Indianapolis, Bloomington, Lafayette, Monon,
Bedford. In addition cars were loaded for specific locals (Lafayette to Bloomington for example).
12-15 cars were loaded each evening and taken down by a special midnight transfer run to South
Hammond yard for inclusion in the appropriate freight.

Regards,

Mike



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