Switchlists Used for Operation

This page describes how switchlists generated by a commercial software
package called RailOP are used to provide train crews and yard personnel
with the information and instructions they need to accomplish the job of
moving trains over the line, setting out and picking up cars as they go.

This is an example of a RailOP switchlist for a through freight train. It contains the train ID (CWM-28 from Conway Yard to the Western Maryland Interchange in Cumberland, MD)and crew instructions as to the route, speed limit, work to be done, etc. The command control address for the locomotive(s) is also shown along with the specific cars that are to be set out and picked up along the way. The list is color-coded with setouts in green, pickups going to the final destination in black and pickups to be set out before the final destination in red.
Here is the second page of the CWM-28 switchlist showing work to be done in the town of Franklin and the cars to be taken into Cumberland (a hidden staging yard).
Here is a switchlist for local freight AV-40/41. This train leaves Annville Yard, runs eastbound as AV-40 to the towns of West Valley and East Valley, switches those towns, then changes designation to AV-41 for the westbound return to Annville Yard.
Passenger train have switchlists, too. This one is for local train 53 and contains a switching move to set off an express boxcar at Railway Express in Annville. The crew instructions show all station stops that the train is expected to make.
The Annville Yard Switcher also gets a switchlist. This list shows all trains that require yard work, in the approximate order that they will arrive in the Yard. The cars that need to be ready for each train to pick up are shown (Marshal for Pickup) and the cars to be pulled from the train are also shown (Set Out Cars From Train). I annotate the setout list to show the outbound destination for each arriving car. The yard switcher then can prototypically classify cars upon their arrival, with no "cherry picking" needed to build later trains.
Here is the crew for local passenger train 53 checking their switchlist during a station stop in Lebanon.
Here at Lebanon, train PC-5 waits in the hole as Train CWM-28 pulls into town on the main behind a pair of Alco RS-1's. Both engineers have their switchlists in hand.