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Märklin Digital for Dummies ® Software ® Implementing This section presents in summary how I am using Railroad & Co, described with content in the following main chapters:
Controlling locomotives
Designing the switchboard After a while, you probably want to utilize the power of the computer, by designing your layout in graphical terms. Below, you will find my current switchboard.
Random operation with the Dispatcher To enable random (or time-table) operation with the Railroad & Co Dispatcher, the following objects have to be defined:
Blocks The purpose of defining blocks on your layout, is to make sure that trains don't collide. A block is a piece of track that includes one or several Occupied Track feedback indicators. With reference to my contact track map below, as an example, "AV1" is one of my blocks, defined as the "First track in Andreasvik (AV), order from north". The block comprises both the AV1W (West) and AV1E (East) indicators.
The trains reserve blocks during their travel. In general, only one train is allowed per block. You can also allocate block signals to the layout, indicating that trains are allowed to enter the block or not. The procedure is very convenient. Note that signals on your layout in general only are included for visual purposes, i.e. they don't affect stopping areas (as described below). You can also set maximum speed etc. for the current block. Lines Lines specify how a train will run from one block to another. Railroad & Co uses a very powerful methodology when defining trains as running in "East" or "West" direction. This really simplifies life. In my case, all trains heading from Andreasvik to Mattiasberg are running in East direction, and vice versa. Note that this is not depending on if the train itself is running forward or backward.
Why talk about West or East direction? Well, by point-and-click (no coding, remember!) you can assign a certain set of rules to your block that are connected to your indicators. A, B and C above are indicators as described in the Occupied Track feedback section. For the line "East Block 1 - Block 2", the indicators are included as follows:
The acceleration at start indicator "A", is defined by the Loco properties. There, you enter also the "threshold" speed, which is the minimum speed at which the engine runs smoothly. Indicator "A" is close to the end of Block 1. At the "B" indicator above, the train will be decelerated to the set threshold speed, i.e. this will ensure that it continues to the stop indicator, "C", probably close to the end of Block 2. Note that the "B" and "C" events only will occur if the train not is allowed to enter Block 3 immediately. However, all these rules are valid only for trains heading East, You may define a different set of rules for trains heading West. The system takes care of all information, where the trains are, and in which direction they are heading, i.e. there is no need for having direction sensitive indicators on your layout. Railroad & Co also provides the use of "Virtual Indicators" on your layout. This is helpful, soon you will se that you could get use of many more indicators compared to what you actually have installed. I often use virtual indicators for the "C", stop, event above (if the track length is considerable, i.e. the train does not have to stop at a certain specific spot every time). In this example, I would define this virtual indicator on the switchboard, and enter indicator "B" as a reference for this, saying e.g. that "C is 40 cm East of B". It works well, and the fact that they are virtual makes it of course easy to move them when you are tuning the operations. Routes A route is more or less a path from one indicator to another, via a certain numbers of turnouts. Routes can also trigger any operation, like switching a signal to green etc. Note that routes are defined on the switchboard, i.e. not in the Dispatcher, and may therefore be used also when operating the trains in manual mode. (Blocks, lines and schedules can only be used by the Dispatcher, i.e. not in manual mode.) In the example below, the "West MBL1-MB2" route is indicated with yellow color. When the route is executed, it's no longer highlighted.
The most "extreme" route on my layout is controlling (and reserving) 6 turnouts. In the image above, you will also find the "Inspector" which is available in all areas of Railroad & Co, decribing the current object. When a line is passing turnouts, routes should be included in the line. However, using Märklin M tracks, you only need to control turnouts when passing in one direction. This will increase performance when operating the layout. The Inspector above is also describing "Contained in Lines", and this route is included in the "Sub West MBL1-MB2" line. "Sub" line? Read about this in the Reversing Loops example below. Schedules The schedules, finally, enable my objective of having the computer operating the layout (but still being able to control some trains on the switchyard manually). These are the general features of schedules:
A schedule may e.g. have the condition that it can only be selected if the target track 1 is free on the switchyard. If track 1 is occupied, the Dispatcher will select a schedule having the free track 2 as target etc. This is easy to define, and now you can arrange automatic free track search for train passing at meeting points etc. You can also add conditions saying that certain trains are not allowed to enter certain schedules. The procedure to start a train with the Dispatcher goes as follows:
Having finalized also the schedules, we can now achieve e.g. the following scenario: At the end of one schedule, when a train arrives in front of a station, a signal is sent from one Occupied Track feedback indicator to the computer. The computer will test all available succeeding schedules, as all tracks in the station also have (several) related Occupied Track feedback indicators. The following could occur:
Using a proper software, no relays are needed and no programming is required. And you still have the option to run some trains manually. However, some time ago, I experienced that the wrong track was selected at certain conditions (in front of a station), which of course ended up in crashes. I tried to debug this; Is there a mechanical error in the turnout? Is my computer too slow? Is there a bug in the software? The answer is: No. Unfortunately, by mistake I had assigned the same digital address to two turnouts in the software. The turnout was initially switched correctly, and later switched again by another route somewhere else on the layout. Well, we learn every day... Other challenges As described in the Layout section, I am dealing with two reversing loops. In addition, both my loops includes switchyards. As you know by now, the logics in Railroad & Co is very much based on the directions of trains, East and West. Somewhere in the loop, the succeeding line will be defined in the opposite direction, as defined below: In the example, trains come from the Meeting Point (MP) - Mattiasberg (MB) track, i.e. the MPMB track, and goes into either Mattiasberg or the Mattiasberg reversing loop (MBL) first.
However, this will not work. The trains will switch direction, i.e. a train running forward will suddenly start to run backward. Solution: Introduce sub lines, in Railroad & Co called "stages". The superior line will manage the fact that the chained sub lines are defined with opposite directions. Using this principle (also described in the image below), the train will e.g. enter the loop heading East, and leave the loop heading West. All options of random operation are still here: Are we going to enter the loop via "East MPMB-MB1" or "East MPMB-MBL2"? Having selected East MPMB-MBL2, are we heading towards block MB1 or MB2? Sit down, relax and experience the show.
Below, you will find an example of how to manage longer single tracks of your layout. The example goes from Andreasvik (AV) to a Meeting Point (MP), i.e. the AVMP track. Instead of defining the blocks AVMP1, 2 and 3, I could have used one single block only. However, this would restrict me from the objective of optimizing the operation of the layout: Imagine that train A and B is waiting in AV to enter AVMP. Train A enters AVMP and reserves the block. Train B cannot enter the block before train A has reached MP, which is not very efficient.
Here you get use of more blocks, and to manage the lines as sub lines again (as in the "Reversing loops" example above), included in a superior line, e.g. "East AVMP" and "West AVMP". The sub lines will reserve - and release - the blocks in stages. When train A has finished on sub line "East AVMP1-AVMP2", it releases block AVMP1, and train B can start on sub line "East AV-AVMP1". This really looks impressing! You will also meet a challenge here: When train A enters the "East AV-AVMP1" sub line, in parallel, a train C enters the track on the "West MP-AVMP3" sub line. This is possible, as with this method, we are reserving - and releasing - blocks in stages. We will get into a "deadlock" situation, where probably none of the trains will be allowed to enter block AVMP2. The solution for this was provided from Holger Friebe and Holger Hanke, active members of the Railroad & Co User Group forum, by introducing Railroad & Co "On-Off Switches" on the layout switchboard. When train A is entering the AVMP track going East, it will set the "AVMP Reservation East" switch to "On", using a macro. In parallel, train C entering the track going west, must set the "AVMP Reservation West" switch to "On". The "AVMP Reservation West On" operation is not possible if "AVMP Reservation East" already is switched to "On" etc. The schedule for train C, "West AVMP", is restricted if "AVMP Reservation East" is set to "On". You have to find out when to switch "On" and "Off" by try and error, considering e.g. that the schedule is decided and calculated by the Dispatcher, before the schedule is started, i.e. it will reserve blocks for the train even before the succeeding schedule has started. The switch has to be set to "On" before the decision is performed, else you will get to a deadlock situation anyway. After some time, this procedure works, and getting there is part of the fun. However, it would be nice if the feature could be implemented into the software. This could be enabled by having an option for "Reserve all blocks in all stages", e.g. an option to allow schedule "East AVMP" to reserve the blocks AVMP1, 2 and 3 at once. Stopping areas I have mentioned earlier that using Railroad & Co, Stopping Areas are not required. Still, I have implemented a few, having a meeting point in a partly hidden area of the layout. Also, the length of my meeting point tracks are limited, using stopping areas enable me to maximize train length. The stopping areas ensure that trains can meet safe when running the trains manually, as blocks and their deceleration indicators and stop indicators are only active for trains operated by the Dispatcher.
You will still need indicators for communicating the stop event, otherwise the previous route will not be released. I use virtual indicators for this purpose. In the above image, they are represented by triangles. It is important that the train does not reach the virtual indicator to late, this - and a lot regarding software - has to be tuned with trial & error. Hardware requirements I run the software on an older laptop PC with a 133 MHz Pentium processor, 40 MB memory and a 256 colors 800 x 600 pixels screen. Windows 98 is installed, and I haven't changed the default configuration at all. Railroad & Co takes less than 5 MB of hard disk, and so far I'm satisfied with the performance. The author of the software, Mr. Freiwalds, provides a simple formula for the processor required: He recommends 3 active trains per 100 MHz processor. An active train is a train that currently is executing a speed change, i.e. trains waiting in a yard or rolling at constant speed do not count here. The laptop itself require very little space in my layout room, and I see no need for investment in extra controllers, like the Märklin 6040 Keyboard. Remember that the software logics also replaces the hundreds of relays and signals I would need, if requesting similar control of a conventional (i.e. non-digital) layout. Just take a look in the Märklin 0340 Signal Manual (1.6 MB) to get the picture of this. My decision of locating also the Märklin 6021 Control Unit under the layout, should be the final evidence that I believe in using Railroad & Co for all layout control. I can ensure you that this is fun, and really worth a try!
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