Waybills, Part 131: model bill production

A recent inquiry made me realize that my ongoing method of producing waybills has never really been presented in its current form, though one could infer it from earlier published articles as well as posts in this blog. In the description below, Rather than cite previous relevant writings, I’ll present as full an account as I can.

First of all, the waybill format I adopted more than 15 years ago, closely adapted from the AAR standard waybill form, cut down for model use. It is a 2.5 x 3.5-inch format, chosen to fit into a baseball-card-collector clear plastic sleeve. The sleeves are evidently produced in large volume, and are quite cheap from on-line vendors, barely a penny each. A blank waybill looks like this: 

These blank waybills are Photoshop tiffs, and are filled out with the type tool in that application. I have made them in 1200-dpi bitmap mode for sharpness. Then to print them, I have created an InDesign template (though any layout app would work) for 8.5 x 11-inch paper, with guidelines for placing waybill images on the page (the light vertical and horizontal lines), and heavier cutting guides (only at top). At top center there is also a place to note the date printed.

 

When all nine cells on the template are filled with waybill images, and the light guide lines removed, a page ready to print looks like this. Cutting guides at top remain. These happen to be waybills for perishables, so will use the AAR-recommended pink stock. I noted this along with the printing date at the top.

When these are printed, I cut them with a rolling paper cutter (mine is an old Rodahle 51200) for clean cuts and safe handling. Each will then be paired with its appropriate Empty Car Bill (yellow, as were many prototype ones) in the plastic sleeve. I got the idea of the sleeves from the late Bill Neale’s article in the February2009 Model Railroader. 

This description should update what has been presented in past years, and clarify my process. If any part of it isn’t clear, please feel free to ask further.

Tony Thompson