First of all, the ugly guts of the system: The Car table in its raw form. This shows some pieces of data that users won't see, but that are necessary for the functioning of the reports and user interfaces seen below. Some examples are the TonsEmpty, TonsLoaded, and Length fields, which are used to provide prototype weight and length info on the reports, which in turn allow my crews and me to make prototype decisions on tonnage, siding capacity, etc. in prototype units of tons and feet.
For locomotives, TonsEmpty is the actual weight of the unit, while TonsLoaded is the locomotive's tonnage rating. The latter field is displayed in the Locomotive Management form, where it provides info for assigning power to specific trains. By: Joe Atkinson
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The main menu of the system. As with everything I've attempted to recreate with this system, this is based on prototype IAIS menus. I tried to get as close to the look of an IBM terminal emulator as I could within the confines of Access. By: Joe Atkinson
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The Car Management screen, reached by clicking on the first menu button. This originally started off as a simple means of generating yard reports, showing the location of all cars spotted on the layout. However, I soon realized that the Track and Seq fields could serve double duty. They were originally intended to specify the track to which a car was spotted and its sequence relative to other cars on that track (1 being the east-most car, 2 being the car west of that, etc.). However, adding train and interchanging railroad identifiers to the list of valid track values also allowed me to generate train lists and interchange reports using the same data. Now I can update all my car information in one place and then generate all reports my crews need for an operating session. By: Joe Atkinson
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Another view of the Car Management screen showing a few of the values I programmed into the Commodity field. Since I have a complete record of car movements from my prototype during my era, I used that commodity information to populate this drop-down. By: Joe Atkinson
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Locomotive Management screen, reached by clicking on the second menu button. This allows me to assign locomotives to a particular train in the order in which they'll be placed in the consist. The Trainmaster (me) refers to the tonnage ratings here, and the tonnage included in the train list and tonnage forecast reports, to determine the power that'll be necessary to move expected traffic. By: Joe Atkinson
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BICB train list, generated by pressing the third menu button. Here you can see the results of the locomotive assignments made on the previous screen, and the car data seen on the Car Management screen. This report is used to inform crews of where the cars in their train should be set out. The summary information at the bottom - loads, empties, tons, feet, etc. - is all generated from the "LE" (load/empty) indicator, associated loaded or empty weight, and length defined for each individual car and locomotive.
As with all reports generated by this system, the only information the user has to input is the date in which the operating session is set. Everything else is generated out of the Car table seen in the first screen shot above. By: Joe Atkinson
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The Tonnage Forecast report for train CBBI (Council Bluffs-Blue Island), generated by pressing the fifth menu button. In setting up my first operating session since creating this system, I realized that, while the train list for train BICB (Blue Island-Council Bluffs) would tell me that consist's tonnage westbound to CB, I had no easy way of knowing the tonnage, and thus the power needs, for its eastbound counterpart, CBBI. Since CB is the railroad's western terminus, that train is built entirely from local industry pulls and inbound interchange from the BNSF, Council Bluffs Great Western, and UP. I wrote this report to provide me a snapshot of the tonnage moving east out of CB from each of those endpoints. By: Joe Atkinson
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The Yard Report for road jobs, generated by pressing the sixth menu button. This is used to inform crews of what cars to pull from local spurs and yard tracks and what to leave on-spot. By: Joe Atkinson
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The Interchange Report, generated by pressing the eighth menu button. This is used to inform CBSW (Council Bluffs Switcher) crews of what cars to expect inbound from the BNSF, CBGR, and UP. By: Joe Atkinson
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New IAIS dispatcher/clerk desk for my layout. On the right is a retired prototype IAIS West End train board (from the original Iowa City headquarters building), IAIS train sheets, pens and pencils, and an era-appropriate ORER. The new Car Management System I developed is up on the computer screen, based on IAIS screen layouts. Wireless fast clocks are provided courtesy of Iowa Scaled Engineering, http://iascaled.com . By: Joe Atkinson
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The timetable I include in my Special Instructions cheat sheet for crews. This was taken from a prototype IAIS timetable and modified for layout use. The siding lengths are in HO scale feet. Circled length for Atlantic corresponds to length in Atlantic track chart to the right. By: Joe Atkinson
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First of all, the ugly guts of the system: The Car table in its raw form. This shows some pieces of data that users won't see, but that are necessary for the functioning of the reports and user interfaces seen below. Some examples are the TonsEmpty, TonsLoaded, and Length fields, which are used to provide prototype weight and length info on the reports, which in turn allow my crews and me to make prototype decisions on tonnage, siding capacity, etc. in prototype units of tons and feet.
For locomotives, TonsEmpty is the actual weight of the unit, while TonsLoaded is the locomotive's tonnage rating. The latter field is displayed in the Locomotive Management form, where it provides info for assigning power to specific trains.
The main menu of the system. As with everything I've attempted to recreate with this system, this is based on prototype IAIS menus. I tried to get as close to the look of an IBM terminal emulator as I could within the confines of Access.
The Car Management screen, reached by clicking on the first menu button. This originally started off as a simple means of generating yard reports, showing the location of all cars spotted on the layout. However, I soon realized that the Track and Seq fields could serve double duty. They were originally intended to specify the track to which a car was spotted and its sequence relative to other cars on that track (1 being the east-most car, 2 being the car west of that, etc.). However, adding train and interchanging railroad identifiers to the list of valid track values also allowed me to generate train lists and interchange reports using the same data. Now I can update all my car information in one place and then generate all reports my crews need for an operating session.
Another view of the Car Management screen showing a few of the values I programmed into the Commodity field. Since I have a complete record of car movements from my prototype during my era, I used that commodity information to populate this drop-down.
Locomotive Management screen, reached by clicking on the second menu button. This allows me to assign locomotives to a particular train in the order in which they'll be placed in the consist. The Trainmaster (me) refers to the tonnage ratings here, and the tonnage included in the train list and tonnage forecast reports, to determine the power that'll be necessary to move expected traffic.
BICB train list, generated by pressing the third menu button. Here you can see the results of the locomotive assignments made on the previous screen, and the car data seen on the Car Management screen. This report is used to inform crews of where the cars in their train should be set out. The summary information at the bottom - loads, empties, tons, feet, etc. - is all generated from the "LE" (load/empty) indicator, associated loaded or empty weight, and length defined for each individual car and locomotive.
As with all reports generated by this system, the only information the user has to input is the date in which the operating session is set. Everything else is generated out of the Car table seen in the first screen shot above.
The Tonnage Forecast report for train CBBI (Council Bluffs-Blue Island), generated by pressing the fifth menu button. In setting up my first operating session since creating this system, I realized that, while the train list for train BICB (Blue Island-Council Bluffs) would tell me that consist's tonnage westbound to CB, I had no easy way of knowing the tonnage, and thus the power needs, for its eastbound counterpart, CBBI. Since CB is the railroad's western terminus, that train is built entirely from local industry pulls and inbound interchange from the BNSF, Council Bluffs Great Western, and UP. I wrote this report to provide me a snapshot of the tonnage moving east out of CB from each of those endpoints.
The Yard Report for road jobs, generated by pressing the sixth menu button. This is used to inform crews of what cars to pull from local spurs and yard tracks and what to leave on-spot.
The Interchange Report, generated by pressing the eighth menu button. This is used to inform CBSW (Council Bluffs Switcher) crews of what cars to expect inbound from the BNSF, CBGR, and UP.
The timetable I include in my Special Instructions cheat sheet for crews. This was taken from a prototype IAIS timetable and modified for layout use. The siding lengths are in HO scale feet. Circled length for Atlantic corresponds to length in Atlantic track chart to the right.
Fascia track chart for Atlantic.
All images on this site are copyrighted by their respective creators, and used with permission.
