DV 605 Hauptzettel examples

Hauptzettel for regular freight loads

Hauptzettel are found in a frame on the outside of freight cars behind a wire mesh (see this post for examples). So far I've used examples for these forms found on the Internet. I didn't know what exact time frame they were from, but adjusted for my needs to guide making car cards and way bills that resemble the prototype forms.
Now that I have the appendix for DV 605 from 1970, the next time I revise way bills I can try to replicate the look of these forms as much as feasible to fit the time frame of my layout.

Of course, I just finished making car cards and way bills for most cars on my layout. I'm not going to throw away that work, but rather try out the system for a while and then make adjustments as needed.

Hauptzettel for preferred freight loads

Hauptzettel for express freight. There are lots of variations of this form...

Preferred freight where the whole car goes to the same destination freight terminal

Preferred freight as before, but the car takes a specified route / trains.
There's a similar form for cars where part of the freight is loaded/unloaded en-route.

As you can tell, the look gets increasingly complicated as transport patterns get more complicated. I'll try to keep this simple for now and iterate slowly. 

Next order of business is to finish clean up on the Welztalbahn and get operation sessions going again.

Gluehwein in Ludwigsburg

Fourth Christmas market visit within a week. This time in Ludwigsburg. We've been here before, so I didn't take any photos of the market. ... And only noticed that when I got home. So I leave you with Gluehwein (hot mulled wine) instead.

Drizzle

Well, the snow was gone quickly. As I walked to the bakery this morning to get fresh rolls, Monday's snow fall was replaced by a light drizzle.

Weihnachtsmarkt Colmar

"Another day, another Christmas market", you might say. And you might be right. Nevertheless, here we are after a 3 hours drive to Colmar across the border in Alsace. I have never been here before, but was thoroughly impressed.

Most of the houses in old town Colmar are lovingly restored. A large part of old town is a pedestrian zone. In addition, several streets are blocked off during the Christmas season, creating a large walkable area in the middle of the city. On the  squares and streets throughout old town various stands were offering food, drink, and present-worthy wares.

By accident we wandered into the covered market. What a treat! Culinary overload.

In case you are wondering, ... yes, it was cold, only a couple degrees above freezing temperatures. We had a lot of fun, though.

Right next to the covered market starts an area known as Petite Venise, "Little Venice". Named quite appropriately, it reminded me of the canals in Amsterdam, too, but with its own unique character.

Here I finally managed to take photos that capture the atmosphere of the town. Charming, nicely restored houses, side-by-side, not quite straight, with lots of character. Most of the houses in Petite Venise are smaller than the rest of old town, and I'm sure this was the poorer part of town in the Middle Ages.

Today, it's probably the most photogenic part of town.

They even have boat rides on the canal.

As we walked the streets, dusk set in, and "La Magie de Noel" really started to show. The lights in the houses and streets turned this charming town into a life-size Christmas village.

It was a really long day and a long drive, but very much worth the trouble.

Blue wins

A Settlers of Catan drama tonight. Blue wins without building even a single street. 2 cities, most knights, and four (!) winner point cards. well done, Pascal.

Weihnachtsmarkt Esslingen

The Christmas Market in Esslingen is one of the nicest markets in the area. There's a "regular" christmas market and right next to it is the Medieval Market. It's fun to stroll over the markets in late afternoon and browse what the stands have to offer. But the real magic starts to happen at dusk when the lights come on for full effect.

February 1987: Ludwigsburg Bhf

Given the white fluffy stuff outside today, it seems appropriate to post some of the photos I took 30+ years ago.

On a rather cold Saturday morning in February 1987 I asked my dad to take me to  the station in Ludwigsburg to see what the winter weather was doing to train traffic. It had snowed over night and the white fluffy stuff was all over the place. The photos shown here are scans off color prints. The quality varies a bit. I hope my readers enjoy them nonetheless.

Let's start with snow and ice on a couple cars in what I believe is train 53911 bound for Kornwestheim.

I was taking pictures of passenger trains from the platform on track 2, when my favorite locomotive class 151 pulled with train 53911 into track 5 and to my delight slowed to a stop.

The engineer has pulled forward as far as it can go on track 5 without fouling the exit signal. The diversity of cars on this train is very interesting and quite typical for mixed freights in the mid-eighties. We can see box cars, a BASF chemical tank car, an auto rack car, ... as well as the two cars above: a Td car with movable roof, a french Fcs two-chute hopper car belonging to SNCF, ... 

While 53911 is waiting in track 5, another freight is coming through track 4 at speed. Given it appears to be made up exclusively of box cars I suspect it would have continued to Stuttgart Hgbf, the freight facility next to Stuttgart main station, now replaced by office and apartment towers, malls, and the new city library.

Quite a spectacle with lots of noise and swirling snow. The going away shot shows another nice example of snow and ice accumulation on the cars.

Speaking of passenger trains ... Here's an Eilzug doing its station stop on track 1. The car at the rear is a MDyg express freight baggage car. The cart used for loading and unloading express freight is barely visible under the platform roof. This people-intensive service wouldn't last much longer.

Finally, a passenger through train with a baggage car in the middle of the train. I can't quite make out what kind of cars are ahead of the baggage car. They don't look like German cars. Looks more like a red/grey tone. Maybe Italian or Austrian cars?

The old station building is still standing in this photo. Demolition of an annex to make room for the new central bus station had already started, and the main building would start to come down in the fall of this year to be replaced with rather ugly new construction that combines a ticket office with stores and a super market.

"Do you want to build a snow man ... ?"

Franziska decided to take a break from homework and build a snow man with a distinct spring flavor.

Schneezauber

We woke up to snow today. What a nice surprise. 

Wagenuebergangsuebersichten 1984/85 und Richtpunktcodes

[An English version of this post can be found here]

Eine weitere Ebay Auktion. Ein weiterer Stapel Altpapier. Diesmal ist es ein deutsches Gueterzugkursbuch mit dem Jahresfahrplan 1984/85. Das Gueterzugkursbuch zeigt fuer jeden Bahnhof welche Gueterzuege wann wohin fahren. Was kann man damit anfangen? Mal sehen ...

Letztes Jahr habe ich einen Artikel geschrieben in dem ich spekuliert habe was der Richtpunktcode auf einem Hauptzettel bedeutet, den ich im Februar 1987 auf Gleis 5 in Ludwigsburg fotografiert habe. Hier ist eine Ausschnittvergroesserung des Hauptzettels von diesem Foto.

Ein paar Sachen, die mir gleich auffallen: Die handschriftlichen Eintragungen oben rechts sind Gewichte fuer Wagen (19,2), Ladung (22,1), und Gesamt (41,3) in Tonnen. Unter den Gewichten ist die Wagennnummer 21 80 238 4? 831-1? . Die Nummer ist schwer zu lesen, daher muss ich fuer einige Zahlen raten.
Der Wagen wurde in Neheim-Huesten mit Stueckgut beladen, und geht nach Leonberg. Der Wagen laeuft direkt vom Versendungsbahnhof zum Zielbahnhof ohne Zwischenhalte. Ich vermute, dass der Wagen von einem Versender zu einem Empfaenger unterwegs ist. Vielleicht lief die Rechnung auf Basis von Stueckgutraten?
Ich weiss nicht fuer was die Nummer 2196 steht, oder was die kaum lesbaren Zahlen unter dem Richtpunktcode bedeuten.

Schauen wir mal mit welchen Zuegen dieser Wagen unterwegs war. Ich glaube, ich habe den Wagen damals an einem Samstag in Ludwigsburg fotografiert.

Die Reise begann in Neheim-Huesten. Hier ist die entsprechende Seite vom Gueterzugkursbuch.

Neheim-Huesten hat Richtpunktcode 246. Von hier werden mehrere Satelliten in der Naehe, die in der unteren Haelfte der Tabelle aufgelistet sind, bedient. Fuer regulaere Wagen gibt es nur eine Route von Neheim-Huesten, und das ist Zug 65536 nach Hagen-Vorhalle, Abfahrt in Stunde 19 (also zwischen 18:00 und 18:59). Hagen-Vorhalle hat Richtpunktcode 230.

230 Hagen-Vorhalle ist ein grosser Rangierbahnhof in Norddeutschland wie man an der grossen Zahl Zuegen sehen kann. Die schmale Indextabelle auf der linken Seite zeigt, dass Zug 65536 der letzte Zug ist, der in Stunde 19 ankommt, und weisst ihm Wagenuebergangsnummer 198 zu. Die Wagenuebergangsnummer wird zum Finden des Anschlusszuges benutzt, auf den es ein Wagen schaffen wird.

Jetzt betrete ich das Reich der Spekulation. Der Planer im Rangierbahnhof hat eine Tabelle, die per Richtpunktcode und Wagenuebergangsnummer den Anschlusszug auswaehlt. Ich vermute, dass in dieser Tabelle fuer code 731 ein Anschlusszug nach 720 Kornwestheim ausgewaehlt wird (Ich erklaere den Grund fuer meine Vermutung weiter unten).

Oben auf der rechten Seite ist eine direkte Route von 230 Hagen-Vorhalle nach 720 Kornwestheim. Da ich vermute, dass ich den Wagen in Ludwigsburg an einem Samstag gesehen habe, muesste er also Freitag abend in Hagen-Vorhalle gewesen sein. Wagenuebergangsnummer 198 faellt in den Bereich 54 - 250 von Zug 53911, dessen Verkehrstage in einer dreistelligen Zahl codiert sind. Eine Tabelle zum Aufloesen dieser Zahlen liegt dem Gueterzugkursbuch bei. 062 bedeutet Dienstag bis Samstag. Dieser Wagen sollte also Hagen-Vorhalle mit Zug 53911 Samstag morgen in Stunde 2 abfahren (also zwischen 1:00 und 1:59).

Eine Anfahrt nach ein Uhr morgens bedeutet, dass der Rangierbahnhof 6 Stunden Zeit hat die Wagen von Zug 65536 in die ensprechenden abgehenden Zuege zu sortieren. Wenn man aber die Uebergangszeiten in Hagen-Vorhalle durch sieht, sieht es so aus, dass die kuerzeste Uebergangszeit nur 90 Minuten ist. Das ist ganz schoen knapp. Der Zug muss ankommen in die Ankunftsgruppe, die Kupplungen geloest werden, und ueber den Ablaufberg geschoben werden, um die Wagen zu sortieren. Kurz vor Abfahrtszeit des Zuges werden die Wagen zusammengeschoben und gekuppelt, und die Bremsen getestet.

Nun schauen wir in die Tabelle fuer 720 Kornwestheim. Das Foto zeigt die zweite Seite der Tabelle fuer Kornwestheim. Der erste Zug in der Tabelle ist 53911. Wie praktisch.

53911 ist der letzte Zug, der in Stunde 11 ankommt. Damit liegt die wahrscheinliche Uhrzeit zu der ich den Wagen fotografiert habe zwischen 10:30 und 11 Uhr morgens, ... wenn wir mal annehmen, dass der Zug puenktlich war. Die Indextabelle weisst 53911 die Wagenuebergangsnummer 49 zu. Es gibt eine direkte Route nach 731 Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen von Kornwestheim, und dies ist die Erklaerung fuer die Vermutung, dass Hagen-Vorhalle Wagen fuer Richtpunktcode 731 nach Kornwestheim schickt.
In der Abfahrtstabelle fuer 731 Stg-Zuffenhausen finden wir fuer Wagenuebergangsnummer 49 Zug 64157 als die regulaere Variante, aber heute ist Samstag, und 64157 faehrt heute nicht. Stattdessen schauen wir unter Abweichungen in der Zeile fuer Fr127-Sa78 finden Zug 64159 der in Kornwestheim in Stunde 21 abfaehrt und nur samstags faehrt (Verkehrstagcode 002).

Endlich kommen wir nach Zuffenhausen, dem Ziel-Richtpunktcode 731. Zug 64159 kommt in Stunde 21 and und bekommt Wagenuebergangsnummer 40.

Der Zielbahnhof des Wagens ist Leonberg, der ein Satellit von Zuffenhausen an der Strecke nach Calw ist, die ich schon mal in diesem Blog erwaehnt habe. Die Tabelle unten zeigt, dass Montag bis Freitag Zug 69100 um 6:00Uhr morgens nach Leonberg faehrt. Samstags faehrt Zug 69102 um 9:00Uhr morgens. Sonntags sind keine Anschlusszuege vorgesehen.

Somit wird der Wagen seinen Sonntag in Zuffenhausen verbracht haben, und am folgenden Montag mit Zug 69100 die letzten paar Kilometer nach Leonberg gefahren sein.

Ich hatte viel Spass mich durch 30 Jahre alten Papierkram zu wuehlen, und heraus zu finden wo ein Wagen den ich als Teenager fotografiert habe her kam, warum er dort war, und wo er danach hinging.

Wagenuebergangsuebersichten 1984/85 and Richtpunktcodes

[Eine deutsche Version dieses Artikels ist hier.]

Another ebay auction, another chunk of "Altpapier". This one contains tables for freight car routing in Germany for 1984/85. What can I do with this? Let's see ...

Last year I wrote a blog post speculating about the meaning of the Richtpunktcode on the Hauptzettel (~waybill) attached to the outside of a box car I photographed on track 5 in Ludwigsburg in February 1987. Here's a close-up of the Hauptzettel in that photo.

A couple things to note: The hand written numbers in the top right are weights of car (19.2), load (22.1), and total (41.3) in tons. Below the weights is the car number 21 80 238 4? 831-1? . It's hard to read, so I'm guessing for some of the numbers.
The car was loaded in Neheim-Huesten with Stueckgut (less-than-carload, LCL freight), destined to Leonberg. However, the car appears to travel directly from origination to destination with no intermediate stops, so I'm guessing it was loaded by a single shipper going to a single delivery point. Maybe it was charged at LCL rate?
I don't know what the number 2196 stands for, nor the barely legible number at the bottom of the form.

Let's take a look which trains this car was likely on. Based on the above, I assume it was on the train through Ludwigsburg on a Saturday.

We start our journey in Neheim-Huesten. Here's the respective page from the book.

Neheim-Huesten has Richtpunktcode 246 and also serves several satellite locations in the vicinity, listed in the lower half of the table. There is only one outbound route for regular freight cars and that's train 65536 to Hagen-Vorhalle leaving in hour 19 (i.e. between 6:00pm and 6:59pm, 18:00-18:59). Hagen-Vorhalle has Richtpunktcode 230.

230 Hagen-Vorhalle is a rather large yard in northern Germany as you can tell from the number of trains handled here. The narrow index table on the left shows train 65536 as the last train arriving in hour 19, and assigns "Wagenuebergangsnummer" (transfer number) 198. The transfer number is used to look up which outgoing train an incoming car is supposed to get on.

Now I'm entering some speculative territory. The planners in the yard had yard-specific lookup tables indicating which trains to route cars on by Richtpunktcode and transfer code. I'm assuming such table would show that cars for code 731 would be routed via code 720 Kornwestheim (I explain my reasoning for that assumption further down).

There is a direct route between 230 Hagen-Vorhalle and 720 Kornwestheim at the top of the right-hand page. I assumed I saw the car in Ludwigsburg on a Saturday, so it would be in Hagen-Vorhalle on a Friday evening. Transfer code 198 falls into 54 - 250 range of train 53911 which runs on days indicated by code 062 (which happens to be Tuesday to Saturday). This car should go on train 53911 leaving Hagen-Vorhalle in hour 2 on Saturday morning (ie. between 1:00am and 1:59am).

Departure after 1am means the yard has at most 6 hours to shuffle the cars from train 65536. Looking at transfers to other trains in Hagen-Vorhalle, it appears the minimum scheduled transfer time was about 90 minutes! Quite tight considering that this includes pulling the train to the arrival group, loosening all couplers, pushing the train over the hump and sorting the cars into the respective departure tracks. Once the departure time is coming up, the cars are pushed together, couplers hooked and tightened, the outbound train brake tested, and departure.

Now let's look at the table for code 720 Kornwestheim. The photo shows the second page of the table for Kornwestheim, and the first train listed in the index table on the left is 53911. How convenient.

53911 is the last train arriving in hour 11, which puts the time I photographed the car closer to 11am than 10am, assuming the train was on time. The index table assigns transfer code 49. There is a direct route to code 731 Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen from Kornwestheim, and that is the explanation for assuming Hagen-Vorhalle puts cars for Richtpunktcode 731 into a train to Kornwestheim.
Looking up transfer code 49 in the outbound table for 731 Stg-Zuffenhause shows train 64157 as the regular option, but because it is Saturday, it doesn't run today. Instead, we need to look at the deviations row Fr127-Sa78 and find train 64159 which leaves Kornwestheim in hour 21 and only runs on Saturdays (traffic code 002).

Finally, we get to Zuffenhausen, the destination Richtpunktcode. Train 64159 arrives in hour 21 and gets transfer code 40.

The final destination of the car is in Leonberg, which is a satellite of Zuffenhausen on the line to Calw mentioned elsewhere on this blog. The table below shows that on regular weekdays Leonberg is served by train 69100 leaving by 6am, and on Saturdays by train 69102 leaving on 9am. There are no trains scheduled on Sundays.

Thus, this car likely spent its Sunday in Zuffenhausen and was put on train 69100 on Monday morning for the final few kilometers to Leonberg.

I had a lot of fun exploring 30 year old paper work to figure out how a car I photographed when I was a teenager got on that train, why it got there, and where it went.

Third Sunday of Advent