RAILROAD & CO. +Street. Version 9. Manual

Transcription

1 RAILROAD & CO. +Street Version 9 Manual September 2017

2 RAILROAD & CO. +Street Control of Car Systems Version 9 Manual September 2017 Copyright Freiwald Software

3 Contact: Freiwald Software Kreuzberg 16 B D Egmating, Germany contact@freiwald.com All rights reserved. The content of this manual is furnished for informational use only, it is subject to change without notice. The author assumes no responsibility or liability for any errors or inaccuracies that may appear in this book. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author.

4 Table of Contents Overview Introduction Overview Street - Control of Car Systems Functions and Features General Tools for Editing of the Street Network... 7 Street Symbols... 7 Branches and Junctions... 9 Additional Tools... 9 Customizing the Appearance Street Network and Blocks Management and Control of Autos Autos Auto Windows Auto List Simulation of Fuel Consumption Steering of Autos Direct Drive with built-in Decoder Indirect Control with Stop Points Blocks, Routes and Distance Control Calculation of the Block Diagram Two-Lane Turning U-Turns Blocks and Feedback Contacts Blocks and Distance Control Examples Traffic Lights Auto Transport Installation, Initiation and License Installation Initiation License Index

5 Overview RAILROAD & CO. is the leading product line of computer programs for digitally or conventionally controlled model railroads. It contains the following members: TrainController is the world's leading software for model railroad computer control. TrainProgrammer is the program, which makes programming of DCC decoders as simple as a few clicks with your mouse. +SmartHand is the world's premium handheld railroad control system designed for computer controlled model railroads. +4DSound is a module, that recreates realistic spatial sound effects for each model railroad layout controlled by TrainController without the need to install onboard sound into each decoder. +Street is a module for control of car systems with TrainController. +Net is a module, that allows to control your layout with a network of several computers running TrainController. By reading this manual you can obtain information about how to control a car system with +Street and TrainController. An overview of the basic concepts of TrainController is provided in the TrainController Users Guide. It is assumed, that you are familiar with the contents of that document. 4

6 1 Introduction 1.1 Overview TrainController is a system to operate a model railroad layout from a Personal Computer running Microsoft Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista or XP. TrainController provides you with the ease of point and click to operate your switches, signals, routes and other accessories displayed on track diagram panels. Track diagram panels are individually created for each yard or section, as desired. You can run your trains with on-screen throttles, external hand held throttles connected to your computer, or with your favorite throttles or hand held throttles supported by your digital system. You can operate digital engines equipped with their own decoders, as well as conventional models without decoders. Digital and conventional engines can run on the same track. Far-reaching automation features make railroad operations manageable by one person and match those found on the largest club layouts. You can see on the screen which engine/train is on which track Street - Control of Car Systems +Street is a software module that can be used as an additive to TrainController. With +Street autos on road systems can be controlled. +Street expands TrainController with features and functions that go beyond pure model railroad computer and which are useful for the control of autos. +Street can certainly be used with TrainController on a pure road system, too, i.e. completely without a model railroad. With the help of distance control purely hardware-based car systems can ensure that automatically controlled cars do not collide, but they usually allow only very rigid operating procedures, where autos turn over again the same round. Conventional model railroad control programs, which include the control of road traffic, allow varied operational procedures. However, by simply applying the block protection for trains also to autos, the distance control is overridden and autos drive only with a large, fixed distance behind each other. With +Street it is now possible to combine the best of both worlds. All functions of TrainController to control a diverse operation can now be applied to autos, too. Blocks can be configured in a way, that autos drive with a prototypical 5

7 short distance behind each other and line up themselves in any number at red traffic lights, closed crossing gates, etc. +Street provides the following features: Separate windows for management and control of autos. A plurality of symbols for visualization of streets, branches, junctions, bridges and railroad crossings. All important features of TrainController for control of trains are also available for autos. Control of autos via stop points, direct decoder control or distance control. Specific functions for control of street traffic, such as multi-lane passing of branches, disabling of rigid block protection for autos with distance control, auto transportation, etc. Support of specific control systems (Infracar and DC-Car) 6

8 2 Functions and Features 2.1 General All major functions of TrainController are also available for the control of autos with +Street. In addition, +Street provides functions and features for the control of road traffic. These are explained in the following sections. 2.2 Tools for Editing of the Street Network Street Symbols The street network is represented as the track diagram of the railroad in the switchboard windows of TrainController. The street network can be put together with the track diagram in a common switchboard or also in a separate switchboard. For the representation of the street network a variety of symbols to represent streets, branches, junctions, bridges and railroad crossings is available. These symbols are inserted into the switchboard of TrainController as the symbols of the track diagram. The particular symbol can be selected via the Tools menu. 7

9 Diagram 1: Street Symbols in the Tools menu Each street symbol represents one lane of the street. To represent multi-lane streets, the street symbols are arranged side-by-side in adjacent switchboard cells. The appropriate lane markings are automatically adjusted by the program. Diagram 2: Single-lane Junction 8

10 Diagram 3: Two-lane Junction The above diagrams show a single and a two-lane intersection. As you can see, a twolane junction is formed by four appropriately-positioned single-lane junction symbols. It is of course possible to place more than two street symbols side by side, for example if highways with many lanes should be displayed. Some street symbols provide several paths through it and there are often many combinations of possible paths for the same street symbol. The single-lane junction, for example, provides up to six possible paths and there are a total of 64 theoretically possible combinations, which paths through the junction are allowed. To limit the number of offered stock symbols at a reasonable level, only the most commonly used combinations are offered. If a certain combination is not contained in the stock, then choose a symbol that contains the desired and some additional paths. In the subsequent operation the exceeding paths are locked by appropriate measures, decommissioned or simply not used. Branches and Junctions There are also symbols for branches and junctions available. These symbols are configured the same way and combined with suitable digital addresses like turnouts and slip switches in TrainController. Additional Tools All other tools of TrainController to edit the track diagram are also available for the street network. In TrainController Gold, for example, particular street symbols can be colored individually. Note the following specialty for using the pen tool: street symbols can be drawn only with this tool when the pen is set on or near an existing street symbol. Otherwise, the pen assumes, that symbols of the railroad network should be drawn. 9

11 Customizing the Appearance By using the command Switchboard > Customize of the View menu it is possible to customize the appearance of the street network to personal needs. Diagram 4: Customizing the Appearance of the Street Network The Street tab of this dialog provides the following options: Surface: Select the color to draw the surface of each street symbol. Marking: Select the color to draw the lane markings. 10

12 Show Reference Lines: A so called reference line can be displayed in the middle of each lane, which indicates the possible paths through each street symbol. This is a useful tool to assess whether the correct symbol with all desired paths has been used. This option can be set whether the reference lines should be visible always, only in editing mode, or never. Branch Status: With this option the highlight color for display of the currently active path of each branch or junction symbol can be selected. This corresponds to the highlighting of turnout status in the track diagram of the railroad network. Highlighting Style: Select the style, with which the status of branches, active routes and occupancy information is highlighted. The selected style is applied to all street symbols and states in the street diagram. Street Network and Blocks It is possible to insert blocks into the street network in the same way as blocks in the railroad track diagram. The same block symbols are used for this purpose. Blocks for the street network do not differ in principle from blocks for the railroad. They are equally created, modified, equipped with detectors and used as blocks for the railroad as well. More information on blocks in the street network can be found in Section 2.5, Blocks, Routes and Distance Control. 2.3 Management and Control of Autos Autos In +Street, there is another type of vehicles, the car for the control of street vehicles. Autos have a very close resemblance with the locomotives in TrainController. They are created in a similar manner, similarly processed and treated as locomotives. Like trains autos can also controlled by schedules, run with interlocking or AutoTrain. All possibilities of train tracking, control and driving modes are available for autos, too. The term of the schedule is also used as a synonym for a drive with an auto. 11

13 However, there are a few special features: autos usually do not often go back and do not form consists and train sets. Auto Windows +Street provides separate auto windows that fulfill the same task as the train windows in TrainController. Auto windows are used to control autos. They have the same look and feel as train windows. Auto List +Street provides a separate auto list that fulfills the same task as the engine and trains list in TrainController. The auto list is used to manage autos. It has the same look and feel as the engines and train list in TrainController. Simulation of Fuel Consumption Just as the coal, water and diesel consumption of engines it is also possible to simulate the gasoline or diesel fuel consumption of autos, if desired. For simplicity, no distinction between diesel and gasoline is made. 2.4 Steering of Autos Direct Drive with built-in Decoder Autos with built-in digital decoder can be controlled via their own digital address. Such autos can be controlled just like locomotives. Functions for switching lights, etc. can be set up. The control and handling of autos with digital address is not significantly different from that of the locomotives. Indirect Control with Stop Points The address settings of autos without their own address are set to Without Connection. In this case, the autos are started or stopped by hardware-based devices (fixed speed, stop points, etc.). TrainController internally calculates the current speed for these autos, too, but this does not cause a direct effect on hardware side. 12

14 If the internally calculated block signals of TrainController, however, are associated with hardware-mounted stop points, then TrainController can indirectly stop or start the autos according to the current traffic situation by operating these stop points. For this purpose we make use of the possibility of being able to register the digital address of block signals with each block of. These addresses do not control signals on the railroad, however, but stop points installed in the streets instead. When the internally calculated block signal of a certain block is set to red by TrainController, and if the digital address of a stop point is registered with this block as a block signal, then TrainController automatically issues a switch command to this address. This command can in turn be used to activate an associated stop point and to stop departing autos. When the signal changes to green, then an automatically issued switch command disables the stop point again. In this way, TrainController can indirectly stop and start again each automatically controlled auto, although the speed of the autos cannot by directly set. 2.5 Blocks, Routes and Distance Control Calculation of the Block Diagram The automatic calculation of block diagrams of TrainController is also available for the street network. A block will automatically result in a block of the street network, if it is connected only with street symbols. The routes, which connect these blocks, are calculated in the same way as the routes for the railroad. It may occur that routes are generated by the automatic calculation of the block diagram, which are not desired or violate even the rules of real roadways. Since the lanes are often used only in one direction, you should make intensive use of unidirectional street blocks, which are available in all TrainController editions. Remaining unwanted routes can be decommissioned in TrainController Gold. Furthermore it is possible to lock unwanted routes with impossible conditions (Gold or Silver) or simply not to include them in the definitions of schedules. The last option is available in all TrainController editions. Depending on whether created in the railroad or street network blocks are distinguished accordingly. An auto cannot use a railroad block and a block in the street network cannot be used by trains. To achieve proper assignment of each block to the right network ensure, that both exits of a block are connected to the same network, when you draw the 13

15 switchboard diagram. In particular do not connect one exit with the railroad network and the other with the street network. Self-drawn block diagrams are not supported for the street network. If a block is created in a self-drawn block diagram, this block is always considered as a railroad block. For TrainController Silver, this implies that all blocks of the street network must be represented in a common switchboard with block diagram calculation turned on. In TrainController Gold the street network can be distributed over several switchboards and connected with connector symbols like the railroad network, too. Two-Lane Turning Diagram 5: Two-Lane Turning The above diagram shows a situation, which is typical for two-lane intersections. There are four active routes, which allow autos to drive from block A to F, from C to D, from E to B and from G to H. It can also be seen, however, that each street symbol forming the intersection is used by two active routes at the same time. According to the normal rules of TrainController this is actually forbidden, because no switchboard symbol may be used by more than one active route at a time. For traffic situations like this, on the other hand, it is necessary, that two active routes may share the same street symbol at the same time. This is sup- 14

16 ported by a specific option in the Connection tab of the properties dialog of certain street symbols. This option is called Two-Lane. Diagram 6: Enable Two-Lane Turning If this option is set for certain branching position of the symbol, the corresponding additional routes over the symbol are calculated with the admission, that this street symbol can be used simultaneously by more than one route, if all routes use the symbol in that position. The protection against conflicting routes is still maintained as before. 15

17 U-Turns Diagram 7: U-Turn The above diagram shows a situation, which allows autos coming from block E to perform a u-turn on the intersection and to return to block D. This is achieved by activating the option Allow U-Turn in the Connection tab of the properties dialog of certain street symbols(see Diagram 6). In the above example this option must be set for the two street symbols between block B and G. Then the routes necessary to perform the u-turn via these symbols will be created. Blocks and Feedback Contacts For automatic control of street traffic with the computer feedback contacts are necessary in the same way as for control of the railroad. Due to technical conditions momentary contacts are usually used for this purpose. These contacts are installed according to the explanations of the TrainController Users Guide. In most cases you will go with two detectors per block. The first reports the entrance to a block and serves as the basis for the brake marker (only useful for cars with its own digital address). The second detector marks the stop location. This detector is also required when working with hardware based stop points, to inform the program, when the stop marker in a block is reached. Autos are usually short compared to trains with many cars. For this reason the first feedback contact in a block should be placed in a way, that each auto passing this contact has cleared all passed branch points. In this moment all passed blocks and routes can be safely released. To improve the possible traffic density the rules of all affected schedules 16

18 should be configured in a way, that passed blocks and routes are released by occupancy rather than at the stop marker of subsequent blocks. Blocks and Distance Control Distance control is defined as a mechanism on hardware side, often installed in the autos themselves, that ensures that autos following each other do not collide and stop automatically after the other, when required. The distance control features offered by some car-systems makes it possible, that autos follow each other with prototypical distance without intervention from the outside and line up directly behind each other at a red traffic light or closed railroad crossing gate. If the block system known from railroad control would be applied in the exact same manner to street traffic, too, then such prototypically-oriented control would be no longer possible. Autos would follow each other with big distances, would stop in an unmotivated manner on the open road, because the block ahead is used by another auto, and could not line up in any number directly behind each other at the red light. The operation would not be prototypical. +Street offers an option for this. With this option hardware based distance control can be taken into consideration. 17

19 Diagram 8: Enable Distance Control for a Block The block properties dialog provides an additional Street tab, which in turn contains the option Use Distance Control. If this option is turned on for a block, then more than one auto may be located in this block at the same time. This option does not change anything for the first auto entering a block. If this auto is running under control of a schedule, then it stops when required either through the normal block control with the usual brake and stop markers or it stops at a hardware based stop point. The second and each subsequent auto entering the block, however, will ignore brake and stop markers. If this option is activated it is assumed that these autos are kept on distance and stopped accordingly by hardware based distance control. This option has other implications. Assume several cars waiting at a traffic light that changes from red to green. If distance control is enabled in the first block after the intersection, then all autos targeting this block can follow each other directly under distance control. The according route is shared by these cars at the same time and it is released, 18

20 when the last car using this route releases it according to the usual TrainController rules. It should be noted that in a situation where an auto uses a route (e.g., to turn) and the following auto uses another route (e.g. to go straight), then the following auto is not started before the preceding auto has cleared its route. Corresponding contact detectors, which indicate, that the intersection is left, should not be mounted too far behind an intersection, so that the distances between two such autos are not unnecessarily long. It is also noteworthy that, when several autos drive directly behind each other on the same route, every auto should trigger the first detector in the subsequent block only once. The last auto, behind which the route can be released, is determined by counting the pulses of the detector. Therefore the detector should only be triggered once by each passing auto, and it should always be turned off before the following auto reaches the detector. This option is finally involved in the manual reservation of blocks for autos. Only if this option is set, a block can be reserved for several autos. The reservation for the first auto is done with the usual procedure of TrainController. To manually reserve a block for more than one auto, the autos in question are dragged with the mouse to the auto in the auto list, which is already located in this block. The ALT key must be pressed during the drag operation. Note also another special aspect: if an auto under control of distance control enters the destination block of its current schedule and another auto is already located in this block, then the schedule is terminated at the precise moment in which this auto is moved up to the head of the column. When working with distance control, it is often sufficient to establish one single block for each location, where autos should stop. That means, between two directly adjacent intersection only one block must be installed, even if the distance between both intersections is very large. The division of a long, single-lane street without branching into several block sections as done for the railroad is not required because the autos are protected by the distance control and the block protection necessary for railroad control is not needed here. 19

21 2.6 Examples Traffic Lights Diagram 9: Simple Traffic Light Control For the junction shown above a simple, two-phase traffic light control should be set up. Two phases should allow the autos in the vertical and the autos in the horizontal blocks to proceed. This can be achieved easily with the already existing possibilities of TrainController. Create an on/off switch symbol. Add the lock of the upper exit of block C and the lower exit of block G to the operations for the on state of the switch. Add the delay system operation with a value of 1 or 2 seconds to these operations. Add the release of the right exit of block A and the left exit of block E to these operations. Add the delay system operation with a value of 30 seconds to these operations. Finally add the off state of the switch itself to these operations. The first phase is now complete. Now add the lock of the right exit of block A and the left exit of block E to the operations for the off state of the switch. Add the delay system operation with a value of 1 or 2 seconds to these operations. 20

22 Add the release of the upper exit of block C and the lower exit of block G to these operations. Add the delay system operation with a value of 30 seconds to these operations. Finally add the on state of the switch itself to these operations. The second phase is now complete, too. When the switch is turned on, the exits of the vertical blocks are locked. After one to two seconds the exits of the horizontal blocks are released, if they were previously locked. After about 30 seconds of the switch is turned off and it will now lock the exits of the horizontal blocks and release the exits of the vertical blocks. Again 30 seconds later, the switch is turned on again and the cycle begins anew. Multi-phase traffic light control, where the turn lane should be activated separately, is configured accordingly. Here more than two switches are needed, which are activated one after the other. Exit locks can be applied here, too. Additionally the routes, which belong to each phase, are additionally activated or deactivated by the operations of the switches. Auto Transport Some car systems offer the possibility to transport autos on railroad cars. On hardware side, the according processes can be controlled already. For the computer software it is also important to be informed about the relocation of the transported autos, so the autos can be controlled again by the computer immediately after unloading without intervention of the operator. For this purpose +Street offers special train operations for loading and unloading of autos, which can be called, for example, at the start and end of each schedule. These train operations work as follows: Load Autos: This train operation requires specification of a block. If the operation is applied to an auto (e.g. at the end of a schedule executed by an auto, which ends at a loading station), the specified block must be a block of the railroad network (e.g. the block in which the train with the loaded autos starts). A train must be located in this block, when this operation is performed. The auto is then loaded on this train. This means that all blocks previously reserved for the auto are released and it is noted within the program that the auto is on the train now. 21

23 The operation can also be applied to trains (e.g. when starting a schedule for a train, that transports autos). In this case, the specified block must be a block of the street network (e.g., the block of the street network, where incoming autos wait to be loaded). All autos located in this block at the time of execution of the operation are then loaded onto the train. Unload Autos: This train operation requires specification of a block, too. This block must always be a block of the street network (e.g. the block of the street network at a loading station, where all autos on incoming trains are unloaded). If this operation is applied to a train (e.g. at the end of a schedule for trains transporting autos), then all autos will be unloaded into the specified block. If the operation is applied to an auto, which is currently on a train during execution of this operation, then this auto will be unloaded into the specified block. The unloaded autos are assigned to the specified block and can be immediately taken back to the normal control. If the unloading of autos cause a situation with more than one auto in the specified block, then the operation is executed only if distance control is enabled for this block (see page 17), because only in this case more than one auto may be located in the designated block. 22

24 3 Installation, Initiation and License 3.1 Installation! Installation of +Street is very simple and self-explaining. Install +Street on your computer to the same directory, where TrainController is already installed. If this is not done correctly, the Street menu in the main menu of TrainController will not become visible. Ensure, that the version of TrainController and the version of +Street are identical. If this is not done correctly, then the additional options of +Street will not appear on the user interface without further notice. To ensure, that both versions are identical, it is recommended to download both programs at the same time from the Internet or to install both programs from the same CD. 3.2 Initiation To initialize +Street call the Setup command of the Street menu. TrainController opens the dialog displayed below: 23

25 Diagram 10: Configuration of Street Control To turn on the street control, select the option Enable street control for the complete layout. When street control is turned on, new records for autos can becreated and street symbols can be inserted into the existing switchboards. If the street control is switched off, all objects related to street control are deleted from the current project. This applies to all autos, all street symbols in the existing switchboards, all blocks of the street network as well as all routes between these blocks. 3.3 License All functions of +Street can be tested for a limited period of time, even if no license for +Street is installed on the according computer. Without license for +Street the project data can be stored on about 30 working days. These 30 days do not need to be subsequent days, so the actual trial period can be much longer. After the trial period either a license for +Street must be acquired or street support must be turned off and removed from the project. The license can be managed by the following options of the dialog displayed in Diagram 10: License Code: The already installed code of your +Street license valid for this computer is displayed here. The code cannot be changed here. 24

26 License : If no license for +Street was installed yet on this computer, use this option to install a new license on your computer. Remove License: Use this option to remove the installed +Street license, if any, from your computer. This option is useful, if you want to move a license from one computer to another. 25

27 Index Auto 11 auto list 12 auto transport 21 auto window 12 block 13 reservation for more than one auto 19 Block 11 block diagram 13 branch 9 distance control 17 feedback contacts 16 initiation 23 installation 23 junction 9 lane 8 license 24 pen 9 reference line 11 reservation of blocks 19 street symbol 7 turn two-lane 14 two-lane turning 14 u-turn 16 26