Train Dispatcher Simulation

[jis]

Just for reference they do work fine more or less on Windows 10. I am thinking of getting back into it with some more seriousness than occasional dabbling, which is what I have been doing for the last five or so years.

The thing is, the only thing around here in Florida east coast is FECR/Brightline, and their schedules and traffic density are downright bucolic compared to the NEC High Line in NJ. It is hard to beat 26tph with multiple stop patterns and requirement to maintains strict time table order of arrival into Penn A interlocking for things to work just right. Now that is dispatching pressure!

Speaking of UK, I wonder if anyone has ever attempted Clapham Junction, though there the flows do not intermingle much and pretty much stay on their assigned subset of the tracks, which makes it a little easier. Back in the days when I used to spend several months each year in the UK on work, I often used to take the Southwest service out of Waterloo to Bracknell/Winnersh Triangle on work. It was way cheaper than taking the much much faster rush hour Great Western to Reading and trecking back on Southwest.

 

[dan]

I wish someone would make a train dispatcher app for Apple OS.

 

[BlackDiamond]

I recently found my passwords and serial number so I installed TD and TB on my Win10 machine and they run fine.

I am thinking about a simulation based on my recent trip to Ireland, from Dublin Heuston to Galway which includes a bit of the main line used by all the trains out of that station so the first bit should have decent traffic. Much of the line beyond Portarlington where it branches off the Cork mainline is single track making dispatching interesting. Need to find out more of the somewhat rare freight service on this line.

 

[BlackDiamond]

Dublin to Galway. Finally done entering the 200 or so weekday trains scheduled. Now undergoing testing. It is quite a challenge keeping things moving at peak hours.

 

[BlackDiamond]

Continuing to work on Dublin - Galway. After a few test runs with discouraging results, many trains 30 minutes or more late, I realized that my blocks were too long some were 4 km so when one train gets delayed by another in front it is running at 20kph for 4km before it can increase speed. Since I don't have any information on the true block lengths of the actual line I guessed at 1km. In order to do this I had to do a major revision of the layout to add space to allow a quadrupling of the number of blocks, at least from Portarlington to Hazelbach. The rest was already ok. Haven't had a chance to test the revised layout yet as we are on the road

 

[dan]

I wish someone would make a train dispatcher app for Apple OS.

So do I.

 

[BlackDiamond]

I wish someone would make a train dispatcher app for Apple OS.

So do I.

What would be ideal is if the makers of the original TD could release the source code so that it could be taken over and ported, or enhancements made. Similar to what happened with the Microsoft Train Simulator product with Open Rails, although in that case they essentially reverse engineered the product to work with the existing files. There are several areas where I am sure the product could be improved.

 

[BlackDiamond]

I'm the year or so since my last post I have worked on a couple of other TD/TB projects.
-Finished the Ireland project
- Amtrak / CTRail New Haven to Springfield, including CSOR freights. A nice simulation that is busy enough to be interesting without being overwhelming.
- Empire Service Poughkeepsie to Schenectady. On this one I am hung up on getting the split/join of the Lake Shore Limited to work properly, not easy to do in TD.
- I started London Underground Metropolitan Line from Baker St. to Amersham/Chesham/Watford. A lot of trains to enter. It is currently on the back burner while I do other stuff. One thing cool is that you can download the employee timetables from the TfL site.
- Current project is NEC from Wickford Jct. to Attleboro basically modeling the Providence RI area, based in my recent travels in the area.

 

[TrackWalker]

Just ordered TD. Should be interesting.

I will admit I spent years being an armchair dispatcher while waiting for trains.

TMDS

Edit: 12 minutes later....well, that was quick. Already received & downloaded.