I hope that one of our JMRI experts might have a suggestion for me regarding this situation. I’ve tried to distill it down to the pertinent facts. If you have the patience to read through it then I would appreciate your thoughts. Here goes:

Location is a turnaround point on the schedule.

Location has one yard track with a capacity of nine boxcars and one spur track with a capacity of four boxcars.

Spur track holds three empty boxcars

Train arrives with four loaded boxcars

Train sets out three loaded boxcars on yard track

Train sets out one loaded boxcar on spur track

Since this is a “turn” train, the train picks up the three empty box cars on spur track, leaving one loaded boxcar on the spur track and three loaded boxcars on the yard track

My goal is to move the three loaded boxcars from the yard track to the spur track thereby clearing the yard track completely.

I set up a “switch” schedule and “train” to work the yard. It successfully moved the three loaded boxcars to the spur track, but it also moved the loaded boxcar already on the spur track to the yard track and changed its load to “empty”.

Is there a way to tell JMRI to ignore the boxcar already on the spur so I can place all four boxcars on it?

Thanks for your help!

MY suggestion would be to lengthen the spur track in JMRI so it will hold 4 cars. As it is, JMRI is seeing the spur as “Full” so the extra car won’t go there.

If JMRI moves a car it automatically changes the load status. Full loads become empties; empties become loads. No way around that that I know of.

Personally, I don’t care if a car is called a load or an empty in JMRI. I know what they should be based on the industry.

I figured it out! I went into Edit Spur. It gives you the option of excluding routes or trains for set outs or pick ups. I excluded my “Switcher” train from pick ups at the spur. Now it will only do set outs. I can clear the yard track, provided space is available on the spur, and it will not move anything from the spur to the yard track.

Since the exclusion is defined by train, I can create another Switcher train if I want both pick ups and set outs.

I am a nerd…