Operator's Helps - Bill Boxes

How things used to look - notice the switchlist and the "car transfer form"

Long time readers may recall that my operating systems have varied over the years - from switchlists, to a hybrid using "car transfer forms" to, now, waybills. 

While I - and many of my operators - prefer switchlists, I never could figure out a good way to deal with cars that have to be handed off from one local freight to another during a session (hence the contrived "car transfer form" above). And as fun as the "pre-ops ops session" was (honestly!) - it would also take me just about as long to set up the session as the session itself.

Switchlists are certainly a great - and usually the fastest - way to get ops going on your model railroad, but I think I've finally settled on a version of waybills to move cars on my railroad.

Of course, that means I need bill boxes. Enter Josh from Cohn's Custom.

Josh had seen me mention on the Valley Local Facebook group what I had been using for waybills (wooden box below, with pencil/pick tube), and what I was going to start using (cheap cellphone holders above). He offered to help, but needed a design.

I started the design process like I do everything on this railroad - by consulting the prototype. Unfortunately, despite my best efforts, I couldn't find out what a New Haven Railroad bill box looked like. So I improvised by finding the closest match I could to a font on some NHRR paperwork, and basically made up the rest . . .

And here's what we came up with:

During the course of developing these boxes, I decided on a car car/waybill form factor based on a 3x5 index card. So these boxes will accommodate those, as well as include a tube on the side for a pencil and an uncoupling pick.

The "N.Y.N.H.&H." is as close as I could come to the font the NHRR used on its paperwork at the time - "FetteEgyptienne" and the word "BILLS" is just a regular sans serif font that looked right to me. I guesstimated the sizing as well.

But I think you'll agree that they look "right" - especially with some prototype-looking NHRR bills in them. And they look even better installed on the layout.

Now that I've installed them, the only thing I'd change on these is the mounting holes. I planned to mount them with regular #6x1-1/4" drywall screws . . .

But the tapered head didn't allow the screw to fit flush . . .

Josh graciously agreed to do a little redesign and the final product is perfect, allowing the screwhead to sit nice and flush like you see on the left screw in the pic below (I'd reamed out the test print to get the effect):

Unfortunately, when I mounted the boxes to my 1/8" masonite fascia, I discovered that the screw - now that it sits so nice and recessed - no longer had but one or two threads biting into the fascia(!) It's really easy to overtighten slightly and strip the hole in the masonite, preventing the box from being mounted as tightly & securely as you might like. If I had it to do all over, I'd probably just live with the un-countersunk screw heads - or choose screws with a different head.

But none of that diminishes by one iota how FANTASTIC these boxes are and I can't thank Josh enough not only for reaching out with his offer to help, but for all his patience through the design process and for creating a product which truly sets my layout apart from many others. There's certainly nothing wrong with the MicroMark boxes, but I think you'll admit these are a step WAY above (and when was the last time you could even get the MicroMark boxes?? They've been out of stock forEVer!).

Now, you may have noticed a few more "helps" mounted on my fascia in addition to the cool bill boxes. Waybills need a place to be sorted, clip boards need a place to hang, and - if you're so inclined - beverages need a place to sit. As you might have guessed, I've been all-in lately on creating "operator's areas" on my fascia in time for my next op session, so stay tuned for a couple posts on the things I've built and installed to help my operators. . .

In the meantime, be sure to check out Josh's website to see what wonderful products he has to offer!