Greetings and happy holidays.

Over the last couple years I have been toying with the concept of creating 1/4 sized waybills that could be used as, instead of, car cards.  After several fits and starts I have completed a modification of my existing MS Access car card and waybill generator to become a waybill generator.

IMPORTANT POINT :  This application is written as an MS Access database application and you MUST have a copy of MS Access 2000 or newer on your computer to open it.  It does NOT work with spreadsheet programs or any of the Open Office software.  Sorry.  Maybe after I retire I have time to learn SQL or Java and write stuff in a universal platform.  Until then I'm working in Access.  Don't waste your time whining about the MS evil empire.  Don't care, and its not going to change anything.  As with all my previous databases, its not compiled so anybody is free to rewrite this app in the language of their choice for their personal use or as shareware.  I digress.

I have 3 formats of waybills.  A one quarter size waybill that duplicates a standard US waybill from about World War 1 to the present, a smaller version of that waybill that when folded in half will fit in a typical car card box (2" x 4") and a smaller version in a pre-WW1 format (since I model 1900-1905 I thought it only fair to make something I could use myself if I wanted).   The waybills are two sided.  One side is either an empty car order (outbound loads) or an empty car return (inbound loads) and the other is the loaded move waybill.  In addition the application makes empty car return waybills for distributing empty cars or returning them home.

Since this duplicates a real waybill, this application is not for the faint hearted.   It requires a LOT of time to print and cut the waybills.   It requires a LOT of data input to feed the waybills.  Fortunately most of it is menu driven once you set it up.  It doesn't automatically match shippers and consignees nor does it  assign waybills to cars.  Both of those processes are manual.

Basic summary of how it works.  The user enters all the stations and industries that will handle shipments to or from his layout.  Every industry is associated with a station.  The user will define which commodities in which car types each industry ships or receives.  Down side, lots of data entry.  Up side, very, very flexible.  User then creates and saves waybills that match a shipment in a particular car type from a specific shipper to a specific consignee (plus a bunch of other Technicolor on the waybill). 

To use the waybills select the ones you want to print.  That can be done manually or there is an option to "randomly" select waybills.  When you create a waybill you assign a frequency (always, normal, low) that the system uses to help pick the waybills.  Once selected the waybills are printed in the desired format and cut apart.  To "bill" a car, the user writes the car initial and number on the document.  The waybills are intended to be use folded in half lengthwise.  The left half of a prototype waybill contains the information necessary to move the shipment.  In all the yard offices in which I worked the waybills were handled folded.  When the car's status changes the (load is emptied or empty is loaded) the waybill is folded over to the other side, the car initials and numbers are written on that side and the next move occurs.

This is the beta test of this app.  The copy I'm sharing has all the tables cleaned except the station, state, industry, commodity and road names.  You may not want all of those, but you will probably use some of them  The car types are AAR two letter codes.  Pretty much all of the look up tables have forms to make it easy to edit or add to the look up tables.  If you are familiar with access you can import or paste append data from other sources.

This application does not create car cards, passenger car cards or engine cards.  It does allow you to inventory engines, cars, structures, track components, electronics and your library.

There is a zipped copy of the MS Access Database attached to this message.

Feel free to try it.  Its obviously not for everybody, but some may find it useful.  It is not compiled so you can modify it if you so desire.  Enjoy and happy New Year!