2.3.9 Wheel Report

 Prototype Information

Conductor wheel reports are many and varied among railroads. Originally hand written they varied from daily book pages identifying what cars went where to reports gathered by key punch cards and printed by teletype. 

The names were varied too .On the New Haven it was called the Conductors Car Report, on the Pere Marquette it was called the Freight Train Conductors' Wheel Reports.

No matter what it was called or how it was maintained, the Wheel Reports were designed to provide invaluable data on freight train consists that tell us what kinds of freight cars were in use at given times and places, in which trains they ran, what kinds of lading each car carried, which customers they served, and which other railroads’ freight cars were interchanged and operated on the railroad. 

Northern Pacific’s wheel reports included a train identifier corresponding to the direction of travel, and timetable or scheduled number and section of the train; date, time and location the report was filed; the lead engine number (used to dispatch the train); and the conductor’s last name. These were followed by several columns of data, a row for each car including reporting marks or other shorthand identification of the car’s owner; car number; whether the car was empty (E) or loaded (L), alphanumeric classification of the car type and capacity, tonnage estimate for loaded cars, a shorthand note on contents of loaded cars (including notes about hazardous or rush loads), numeric identifier for the station destination of every car, and miscellaneous remarks, which often included additional shorthand notes on customer or consignee or station agent destination. At the bottom of the form were summary data including total train tonnage. It's got the look and feel of a switch list on steroids.

You can find a variety of NP wheel reports at http://www.nprha.org/Lists/Wheel%20Reports/AllItems.aspx

The WWSL

As a short line the WWSL certainly would not have a punch card and teletype operation. What i wanted was something easy to create that gave me some indication about where my car movement activities were generally going.

I found in the May 1984 Model Railroad an article on Jim Hediger's Ohio Southern discussing his Conductors Wheel Report. It was just what i needed. I shamelessly copied it ... minus the neat graphics.