jis
Permanent Way Inspector
Staff member
Administator
Moderator
AU Supporting Member
Gathering Team Member
I wonder if baggage checked between MKE and CHI gets carried on the Empire Builder rather than the Hiawatha. Just because a train uses NCPU "Cabbage" cars doesn't mean they always use them for baggage. The Downeaster for example.According to the current information gleaned from the reservation system, painstakingly I might add, since there appears to be no simple way bypassing the well known British Library Algorithm that is still true. Baggage Service only at CHI and MKE.
I wonder if baggage checked between MKE and CHI gets carried on the Empire Builder rather than the Hiawatha. Just because a train uses NCPU "Cabbage" cars doesn't mean they always use them for baggage. The Downeaster for example.
These schedules look so real that they will need a disclaimer stating that they are not official. Or maybe I should fake a schedule for the Pioneer and put into the company mail ?
In the past I've been able to check it on the Hiawatha train and it arrives with the corresponding Hiawatha train (not later in the day or the next day when the Builder comes through.) It also shows the checked baggage service on each individual train, which only occurs if that particular train carries baggage (not just if baggage service exists between those two points.)
I could absolutely use this. Thank you. I will follow up on it after I've done some higher-priority stuff (baggage baggage bagggggage)The OTOL mileage database is in MS Access and has all the timetable mileages for each station and each service - what I called the station "mileposts." These mileposts were entered the hard way - manually, one-at-a-time from the Amtrak system timetables (after first having produced a table of every Amtrak station, also manually, one-at-a-time). The database currently has 621 active stations and 1095 active mileposts. It was a lot of grunt work at the beginning, but now is fully automated only requiring tweaking if a train changes route (Cascades/Coast Starlight Point Defiance bypass) or a station is added or moved (MSP).
When a trip is entered for mileage, the train number finds the train name, that points to the correct set of mileposts, and the start and end station mileposts calculate the trip length. The end result is mileage that matches the mileage on the Amtrak timetables (at least when there were Amtrak timetables).
If it would be any help to you, I could provide the currently accurate train, train name and milepost tables in a csv files.
Hope you will be able to display all services on a route in addition to individual trains such as the Silver/Palmetto trains.
Could I use this as well for my trip tracking spreadsheet?The OTOL mileage database is in MS Access and has all the timetable mileages for each station and each service - what I called the station "mileposts." These mileposts were entered the hard way - manually, one-at-a-time from the Amtrak system timetables (after first having produced a table of every Amtrak station, also manually, one-at-a-time). The database currently has 621 active stations and 1095 active mileposts. It was a lot of grunt work at the beginning, but now is fully automated only requiring tweaking if a train changes route (Cascades/Coast Starlight Point Defiance bypass) or a station is added or moved (MSP).
When a trip is entered for mileage, the train number finds the train name, that points to the correct set of mileposts, and the start and end station mileposts calculate the trip length. The end result is mileage that matches the mileage on the Amtrak timetables (at least when there were Amtrak timetables).
If it would be any help to you, I could provide the currently accurate train, train name and milepost tables in a csv files.
Storing this data in a text format (like csv) in a versioned repository (like GitHub) seems like a good way to go.We should collectively figure out the maintenance and upkeep issue for @PRR 60 's mileage database. It will change over time as routes are added/modified, and the updates will need to be captured. Some gentleman's understanding of synching should be in order. But it is easily done as long it is kept in the workflow for generating new releases.
I cloned the project from GitHub, then installed the dependencies noted in README.rst (GTFS Kit, PANDAS, Weasyprint). Weasyprint had the most issues on my Windows 11 machine. I then starting running timetable.py and resolving issues. With the Crescent work, there seem to be issues with the GTFS data - multiple instances of the same train. I commented line 269 of feed_enhanced.py to work around this.I've got some questions for you about installation. It looks like you didn't manage to download/install the fonts and icons. How did you do the install? I'd like to get the font & icon installs so they'll work for you.
Not surprised about the GTFS issues. :-( I've already found several. For most of the trains, you can usually get better results by picking a different reference date withI cloned the project from GitHub, then installed the dependencies noted in README.rst (GTFS Kit, PANDAS, Weasyprint). Weasyprint had the most issues on my Windows 11 machine. I then starting running timetable.py and resolving issues. With the Crescent work, there seem to be issues with the GTFS data - multiple instances of the same train. I commented line 269 of feed_enhanced.py to work around this.
--date 20220401
Golly, things sure have changed since I was coding COBOL IMS and DEC applications some 20 years ago and more.Not surprised about the GTFS issues. :-( I've already found several. For most of the trains, you can usually get better results by picking a different reference date withor similar; the multiple trains are usually only on one day or something like that. There are a few where the problem covers the whole calendar, though.Code:--date 20220401
I'm not sure why you're not picking up the fonts and icons, but I know my process for loading resources (load_resources.py) is somewhat hackish and questionable (I overloaded the jinja2 system). You might want to poke around there.
Also... are you picking up the fonts and icons in HTML and not in Weasyprint? If so, that would be a clue. Weasyprint is basically reading an HTML file, and has to find fonts and icons as external items like it would if it were looking at a web server, which makes the path lookup rather fragile.
(Try looking at tt_crescent.html in a web browser and see if you pick up the baggage icon and the font)
updated pdfs with correct fonts - thanks neroden for helping with where to lookThis is a very exciting open source project! See attached Crescent/Carolina/VA timetables that were quite easy to produce.
Thanks for the suggestions! Issue was that I am running timetable.py down in amtrak\timetables so that I can stay separate from your work. fonts and icons are relative to working directory rather than timetable.py. I'm not a python person, so i really don't know what best practice is. I made a copy of fonts and icons down in my timetables folder and it works much better.Not surprised about the GTFS issues. :-( I've already found several. For most of the trains, you can usually get better results by picking a different reference date withor similar; the multiple trains are usually only on one day or something like that. There are a few where the problem covers the whole calendar, though.Code:--date 20220401
I'm not sure why you're not picking up the fonts and icons, but I know my process for loading resources (load_resources.py) is somewhat hackish and questionable (I overloaded the jinja2 system). You might want to poke around there.
Also... are you picking up the fonts and icons in HTML and not in Weasyprint? If so, that would be a clue. Weasyprint is basically reading an HTML file, and has to find fonts and icons as external items like it would if it were looking at a web server, which makes the path lookup rather fragile.
(Try looking at tt_crescent.html in a web browser and see if you pick up the baggage icon and the font)
Thank you, Mr. Kittle, for these Crescent-specific timetables! As one who rides the Crescent anytime I want to go anywhere on Amtrak, these are extremely helpful to me!This is a very exciting open source project! See attached Crescent/Carolina/VA timetables that were quite easy to produce.
Enter your email address to join: