granddad gnome
Registered
would like a simple system ( computer or other wise) to help record all my freight stock and wagons and how to make them up into trains. Any help please.
make up freight trains.
- Thread starter granddad gnome
- Start date
Lobethalbahn2
Registered
There is also Switchlist for Macs:
http://www.vasonabranch.com/railroad/switchlist.html
http://www.vasonabranch.com/railroad/switchlist.html
There is another way, by using Playing Cards or Dice. First you need to think about which sidings on your line will take which Wagons.
Example
Station A
Coal Siding - Opens with Coal
Goods Shed - Vans
- Opens with Misc say Wood or Containers
Factory - Opens with Coal, Oil Tank Vans for Outwards Loads
Station B
Wood Yard. - Flats with Logs
- Opens with Coal for the Boiler
- Opens with Timber Out
-Vans with Board Out
You start with your stock equally split around the layout. Then deal a card to each wagon
Ace to 5 Wagon does not move.
6-9 Station A
Jack to King Station B
Of course if you have more Stations you just vary the way that the Cards are Dealt works. It also helps if you have a Small Marshalling Yard. This could be just a Couple of Sidings or even a Fiddle Yard.
Then depending on colour you could allocate these to a Train in your Timetable, or if not a Timetable Diamond Today, Club tomorrow etc. cheep easy to do and gives endless fun. Sometimes your trains are busy others quiet. Just like the real thing. Its all in the Cards!
JonD
Example
Station A
Coal Siding - Opens with Coal
Goods Shed - Vans
- Opens with Misc say Wood or Containers
Factory - Opens with Coal, Oil Tank Vans for Outwards Loads
Station B
Wood Yard. - Flats with Logs
- Opens with Coal for the Boiler
- Opens with Timber Out
-Vans with Board Out
You start with your stock equally split around the layout. Then deal a card to each wagon
Ace to 5 Wagon does not move.
6-9 Station A
Jack to King Station B
Of course if you have more Stations you just vary the way that the Cards are Dealt works. It also helps if you have a Small Marshalling Yard. This could be just a Couple of Sidings or even a Fiddle Yard.
Then depending on colour you could allocate these to a Train in your Timetable, or if not a Timetable Diamond Today, Club tomorrow etc. cheep easy to do and gives endless fun. Sometimes your trains are busy others quiet. Just like the real thing. Its all in the Cards!
JonD
D
Deleted member 1986
Guest
Following on from dunnyrail's suggestion , http://www.wymann.info/ShuntingPuzzles/SPL-operate.html
Near the bottom of the page is a link to either a downloadable piece of software or an on line version.
The Shunting Puzzle Website has a wealth of information that may be of use to you.
Near the bottom of the page is a link to either a downloadable piece of software or an on line version.
The Shunting Puzzle Website has a wealth of information that may be of use to you.
The Devonian
Registered
It will depend on what you are modeling and which railway system, if any, you emulate.
I have quite a lot of 1:29 rolling stock and a smaller amount of 1:22.5. I usually do not mix these. I run the Bachmann now and again but mostly the 1:29. I model a short fictitious line running through the Shenandoah Valley which theoretically link the major railways to the north and south of it. My operating procedure is to run mixed freights and the occasional passenger - old time style. I think some research can be useful into what ran and how in the era - if any - you model. I chose 1950 - 1970 which was amidst the steam'diesel change over.
Personally some of the fun in railroading is making choices of what you do and when you do it. I would not let my choices be done by other methods.
I have quite a lot of 1:29 rolling stock and a smaller amount of 1:22.5. I usually do not mix these. I run the Bachmann now and again but mostly the 1:29. I model a short fictitious line running through the Shenandoah Valley which theoretically link the major railways to the north and south of it. My operating procedure is to run mixed freights and the occasional passenger - old time style. I think some research can be useful into what ran and how in the era - if any - you model. I chose 1950 - 1970 which was amidst the steam'diesel change over.
Personally some of the fun in railroading is making choices of what you do and when you do it. I would not let my choices be done by other methods.
ntpntpntp
Registered
On the other hand, having an external process provide the reasons for stock movement and train formation, especially with some form of randomising element, can simulate the way the real life demands of business and passenger loading dictate what the railway has to do to fulfill that requirement. Hence this provides you with "challenges" to solve. It's not something I've ever tried with my layouts but I can see the attraction.The Devonian said:
As long as such dispatching and timetabling doesn't become the "be-all and end-all", like some of the exihibition layouts I've encountered over the years where it gets to the point that you spend ages waiting for something to happen! Probably why with my exhibition layout we settle for buzzing trains round and keeping things moving for the viewing public.
The Devonian
Registered
The shunting puzzles and in particular the inglenook track set up has been posted here a few times in the last few years.
Getting the impression that the winter might be cold or wet I constructed an inglenook yard in my garage. It gave me quite some interest during the colder days. Now the spring is here and hopefully warmer days to come I decided to dismantle it - probably to be set up again next autumn.
The dice, playing cars and random selection web sites could be quite useful in this particular instance.
Getting the impression that the winter might be cold or wet I constructed an inglenook yard in my garage. It gave me quite some interest during the colder days. Now the spring is here and hopefully warmer days to come I decided to dismantle it - probably to be set up again next autumn.
The dice, playing cars and random selection web sites could be quite useful in this particular instance.
ge_rik
British narrow gauge (esp. Southwold and W&LLR)
I have posted about my approach to freight operations on here before, so my apologies to those who have seen this previously.
Until recently, I have used a my own computerised freight generation program based on a relational database which came on the cover-disk (remember those?) of a computer magazine - see http://riksrailway.blogspot.co.uk/2008/12/progress-report-16-freight-operation.html
It`s not very sophisticated but it does keep track of what is where and generates trains based on pre-determined `likelihoods` that a particular wagon will travel from one station to another. I am in the process of writing a new version of this software as the database on which it was based is not compatible with Windows 7 onwards. If I get the new version working satisfactorily I will let anyone who`s interested have a copy - it should be compatible with W7 onwards and should also work on tablets (so it is claimed). I`m not a computer programmer and so its development is based on how quickly I learn to code each stage,
Indoors I use binary cards and roll a die for freight operations on my 00 layout. The cards are stored in a rack showing their present location (ie either in the station or as part of a train).
When the train arrives at the station the die is rolled and a screwdriver passed through the relevant hole in the stack of cards for that train. Cards which remain on the screwdriver are shunted into the station and the ones which fall remain on the train. The process is repeated for the wagons presently in the station to determine which ones remain and which join the train. The fewer slots which are cut into the holes, the more frequently the wagon will move.
Rik
Until recently, I have used a my own computerised freight generation program based on a relational database which came on the cover-disk (remember those?) of a computer magazine - see http://riksrailway.blogspot.co.uk/2008/12/progress-report-16-freight-operation.html
It`s not very sophisticated but it does keep track of what is where and generates trains based on pre-determined `likelihoods` that a particular wagon will travel from one station to another. I am in the process of writing a new version of this software as the database on which it was based is not compatible with Windows 7 onwards. If I get the new version working satisfactorily I will let anyone who`s interested have a copy - it should be compatible with W7 onwards and should also work on tablets (so it is claimed). I`m not a computer programmer and so its development is based on how quickly I learn to code each stage,
Indoors I use binary cards and roll a die for freight operations on my 00 layout. The cards are stored in a rack showing their present location (ie either in the station or as part of a train).
When the train arrives at the station the die is rolled and a screwdriver passed through the relevant hole in the stack of cards for that train. Cards which remain on the screwdriver are shunted into the station and the ones which fall remain on the train. The process is repeated for the wagons presently in the station to determine which ones remain and which join the train. The fewer slots which are cut into the holes, the more frequently the wagon will move.
Rik
D
Deleted member 1986
Guest
Fascinating insight and approach using Livecode, thanks for sharing. 8)
ge_rik
British narrow gauge (esp. Southwold and W&LLR)
I discovered HyperTalk which was the high level programming language behind Apple's HyperCard many many years ago and loved it. It was so high level it was almost conversational. When Apple stopped using and developing HyperCard I was gutted - and I needed to go over to PCs for my job so it faded into obscurity for me. It was only recently I discovered that HyperTalk is now not only revived but flourishing under the banner of LiveCode and that, for non-commercial use, it's free.Arthur Aardvark said:
It's taken me a while to get back into the logic of the language but it is a lot more intuitive than other programming languages and so the learning curve is quite shallow. This suits my learning-style - I'm much more of a hands-on, get-stuck-in learner, rather than being bothered with reading-a-manual-from-cover-to-cover type of learner. I'm sure my coding is not the most elegant, but as long as it works...........!!
Rik
Well it could be 2-6 if you must! A and Joker can then be used as wildcards with a separate placement of a second card which uses a second set of Burgeration Factors. Say 3 Vans urgently required at Station B for a mass shipment of Condoms to somewhere or other, probably the Fiddle Yard! Or perhaps the Freight Today is Cancelled and all the Wagons need to move tomorrow.chris beckett said:
JonD
Rik,ge_rik said:
That livecode sounds interesting, though I was in the IT game for most of my working career I have never been able to manage the logic of Programming. Something like the ability to juggle 6 variables in the ether and work out where they are going to land. My brain (whats left of it anyway) does not work in that way. Be interesting to see if what you have managed in the way of a Wagon Movement System and if it can run on an iPad.
JonD
ge_rik
British narrow gauge (esp. Southwold and W&LLR)
Isn't that what is at the heart of this discussion? Sometimes, I like to run my railway as prototypically as I can - following a timetable, marshalling freight trains as realistically as possible (ie loaded cattle wagons nearest the loco, tanker wagons as far away from the loco as possible, etc). I then spend as long as it takes to shunt wagons at each station according to a semi-randomised system which for me mirrors real life. I will happily spend the day lost in my own little world. On other days I just get a couple of locos out and grab whatever stock comes to hand and happily sit and watch them trundling around. I'm even considering using an auto feature inherent in the latest version of the r/c controller I use to get them to stop at the stations. When non railway friends visit, I wouldn't dream of running the timetable or spending the day shunting. Quite apart from their boredom, I'd be concerned they would think I'd a screw loose.ntpntpntp said:
Surely, there is room in this hobby (and on this forum) for all sorts of backgrounds and interests?
Rik
ge_rik
British narrow gauge (esp. Southwold and W&LLR)
Hi Jondunnyrail said:
According to the hype on the LiveCode website, once a program has been coded it can be exported as a standalone app on any system (Apple, PC, Android, and presumably iPad). I have no way of checking this out as I don't have any Apple products (more's the pity - my last Apple was a Mac Classic). When/If I get to the stage where it seems to be running, I'll try exporting it and will be happy to let anyone have a copy - bearing in mind it's been written by a self-tutored amateur.
Rik