Gregg Mahlkov writes:

Several on here have mentioned the utter lack of train consists from times
past. Having dealt with same for much of my railroad career, consider how
ephemeral the data in a consist is to the railroad. It usually showed the
car initial, number, load/empty status, gross weight, commodity,
consignee, destination and offgoing junction and road. It does NOT show
origin, shipper, or full route, only enough information for the yard or
connecting carrier to properly handle the car at the destination of the
particular train.

Actually in the case of my 1949 frt conductor's book, some of the above is
not true. In many, many cases, a car's destination is recorded...at least to
the final RR facility. Thus, several cars on one train may have a
destination of Kansas City while others have Omaha...obviously the cars
being separated and placed in different trains. Other cars might be going to
obscure destinations such as Norfolk, Neb. Destinations on other RRs are not
given. Some cars have the point of pickup as well...

Mike Brock