The TT-OPS software will create switch lists:
- Create Switch Lists for Yard/Terminal Crews to Build Trains
- Create Switch Lists for Train Crews to Service Local/Industrial Customers
The TT-OPS software will create a complete T-TRAK operating session with a timetable for the session and Track Warrants for each
train. The program assumes:
- A T-TRAK layout consists of many modules
- Normal T-TRAK modules, brought to the layout by many different people
- OPSmods, which are a group of modules (such as a yard or interchange) which
have operational properties, and are used as a single-unit when designing an operating session
- The Red Line can be thought as of a single loop of track, starting at some arbitrary point, circling the layout, and
returning to the exact same point.
- The layout and each OPSmod's properties can be defined
- The circumference of the Red Line loop is known and therefore, at any scale speed, the time to complete one lap is known
- The travel time between any two OPSmods is uniform; this assumption might be relaxed in future versions of the software
- The time for a train to arrive at an OPSmod, perform operational activities, and depart can be expressed as a probability
distribution (one aspect of this distribution would be certainty)
- Travel around the Red Line might be fixed in the normal counter-clockwise direction or might allow for travel both
in the counter-clockwise and clockwise directions
- When counter-clockwise; there might be other trains running on the layout of which
the program is unaware, but the trains of the OPS-Session can freely enter and exit the Red Line to perform operational activities
- When both directions of travel are enabled; only trains of the OPS-Session will be present, and:
- There will be adequate passing sidings to enable meets
- There will adequate signaling to let train engineers to know where/when to wait for a meet
- There are seven different types of OPSmods, each with their own properties. Only certain OPSmods can originate or terminate trains. Only certain OPSmods
have passing sidings. We can define how long operational activities at each OPSmod will take
- Staging: may or may not have a passing siding and can originate and terminate both freight and passenger trains
on a fixed schedule.
- Interchange: do not have a passing siding and cannot originate or terminate trains. They will have a trailing-point spur for each direction of travel.
- Siding: a small group of modules that do not have a passing siding and cannot originate or terminate trains. They will have one or more
trailing-point spur(s) for each direction of travel. They will usually have a passenger station.
- Passing Siding: always part of another OPSmod but located in a different "logical" place on the Red Line. Needed as a separate OPSmod for determining meets.
- Industrial: will have a passing siding but cannot originate and terminate trains. They can be thought of separate switching layouts
such as a port or industrial area. Each train will originate at a yard, travel to the industry to do work, and return to a yard at which
it terminates. The switching work will take most of the operating session time.
- Yard: will have a passing siding can can originate and terminate freight trains. Each yard can keep up with the flow: as arriving trains terminate, their cars
are classified and then built into new trains which originate and depart on a known schedule.
- Terminal: will not have a passing siding but can originate and terminate passenger trains. Each terminal can keep up with the flow:
as arriving trains terminate, their cars are classified and then built into new trains which originate and depart on a known schedule.
To use the TT-OPS software, you first create an account. Your email address is used as your User Name as
it is easy to remember and will keep your layouts separate from those of other users. The password is used
to avoid accidental changes to your layout by others. Do not "waste" a good password as this is a hobbyist
site and not well protected. Next you need to name a layout which will be associated with your email address.
This layout will consist of several
OPSmods which you describe and then define their operational settings that will determine how the operating
session proceeds. You can define more than
one layout, each with its own OPSmods and properties. One advantage of the TT-OPS software is the ability to create
an operating session (with a timetable and
Track Warrant for each train) and then create a different operating session using different properties (and/or
different OPSmods) and finally compare the two sessions.
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