Hi everyone, in USA I know of running session were players use so called 'car cards', I believe this is their name.
Practically every goods wagon has associated to it a card describing the type of load and the destination. Trains are made by aggregating various wagons and then dispatching it for a session of play.

Do any of you use this system ? Is there a software to do this ? Suggestions on how to put it into practice ?
I tried searching in this forum history but nothing comes up.

Thank you
Marco

I think operating this way is quite rare on European model railways. There is a user on YouTube, "robert van ooyen", with a large Marklin layout who uses this sort of system (see his vlog 45).

Carim

Marco

This week I attended a train club meeting in Houston Texas where a model railroader described the operation of his HO layout in which cars are added and dropped at five freight yards along the way . He uses as many as 20 operators to run his railroad and it can take a full hour to run a train from one end of the layout to the other. Cards are kept that show the contents and destinations of each car in the train. This system would not work for us for two reasons , first few of us have the space for such a large layout and secondly , the Maerklin cars would not be suited for switching because of their light weight and awkward couplers.

I operate my layout without switching and use a metal dispatch board to show the locations of each train . Each train has a magnetic marker with the code number of the locomotive . Trains are run one at a time and after each movement the markers are relocated.