Great Lakes & Western (GL&W) Railroad. Initializing RailRoad & Co for Signaling

Transcription

1 Great Lakes & Western (GL&W) Railroad Initializing RailRoad & Co for Signaling Ira Abramowitz 10/22/2011

2 1 INTRODUCTION TURN ON THE COMPUTER AND BRING RR&CO INTO OPERATIONS WINDOW PREPARING FOR RAILROAD & CO INITIALIZING LAMRS TO RAILROAD & CO FLEETING [OPTIONAL, ONLY NEEDED FOR CTC] NEW ACTIONS AT ITASCA STATION WEST [OPTIONAL, ONLY NEEDED FOR CTC] CLOSE RAILROAD & CO AT THE END OF THE RUN DO NOT SAVE, IF PROMPTED TROUBLE SHOOTING APPENDIX: SETTING FAST CLOCK WITH DECODERPRO INTRODUCTION USE THE CLUB S DESKTOP COMPUTER...9 2

3 1 Introduction Here is a set of directions to get RailRoad & Co to control LAMRS signals in ABS mode. I have provided some screen shots from my computer in this draft. 2 Turn on the Computer and Bring RR&Co into Operations Window 2.1 Preparing for RailRoad & Co Here are several steps prior to running RailRoad & Co. These involve turning on DCC and cleaning out unused slots. Here goes: 1. Turn on the DCC system before turning on the computer. 2. Check that power goes to the rails 3. Turn on the computer and log into Windows. 4. Open DecoderPro. There is a shortcut on the Desktop. 5. Select the LAMRS Screen in DecoderPro if you want the Fast Clock to be operated through DecoderPro (or not, as you wish. Read the directions for setting the clock in Appendix shortcut is also on the Desktop). 6. Use DecoderPro to clean out the slots. See posted document on wall left of computer. 7. Check that DecoderPro's WiThrottle is up and running. It should have started automatically (see Appendix). WiThrottle is only needed for iphone or Android operations. 8. Leave DecoderPro ON when you are finished setting up DecoderPro. Now you are ready to turn on RailRoad & Co and to initialize the layout. 2.2 Initializing LAMRS to RailRoad & Co Here are the final steps. YOU MUST COMPLETE all steps: 1. Sit in front of the computer and stay there until you finish the setup. 2. Now open RailRoad & Co. It will open to the latest file. There is a shortcut on the Desktop. 3. Figure 1 is the main screen of RailRoad & Co. If you see the RED print on the main screen you are in edit mode (Figure 1a). Press <Ctrl> + "e" to toggle into operations mode. 4. At the very top of the screen (below the row of icons) is a line of text that reads: First, Initialize Railroad & Co at the Start of a Run. In about 3 minutes music ends and a beep will sound--then Continue. Next to it is a soft push button (within the red circle in Figure 1). a. Mouse click on the button. 3

4 b. Wait until the music stops (3 minutes, as it says). This is one of my favorite Johnny Mercer songs. 5. Move the CTC/ABS soft switch at the top (within the green circle) as required for operation. That s it! No more multiple flips. Figure 1, RailRoad & Co Main Screen. 3 Fleeting [Optional, Only Needed for CTC] I have tried to incorporate a feature to enable trains to Fleet, that is to permit multiple trains to follow one-another through Bearpaw. If we like this, I will set up a similar path through the single track from Coyote through Garrison. Figure 1 depicts a soft push button and a soft lever in the upper right of the diagram. Here, Bearpaw Fleeting is set for "Normal", which was how I had previously implemented CTC. Specifically, in Normal as the train passed each signal, the route is dropped and the signal turns red. This is the feature that I wanted to change when many trains need to follow in a single path in this example from Baldwin 1 to Coleman 1. Figure 2 shows the behavior when the lever in Normal. Two east-bound routes are thrown. The signal in Baldwin East is flashing yellow because routes into Coleman are not thrown. 4

5 Figure 2, Normal CTC Behavior for East-Bound Routes to Coleman. This signal changes to Green when the lever is moved to "Fleet" (Figure 3) because this area is treated as ABS and the system sees a potential open route into Coleman. Figure 3, "Fleeting Behavior for East-Bound Routes to Coleman. Routes are not dropped as the train moves from Baldwin 1 into Bearpaw East. Here, you can see occupancy in Bearpaw East (pink), yet the Routes are still in place, Figure 4. Figure 4, Routes are not Dropped During "Fleeting". 5

6 The signals in this area work like ABS IN THE DIRECTION of the route and are RED the opposing direction. Notice that the intermediate signal has turned to red because Bearpaw East is now occupied and the signal at Baldwin East has turned to yellow from Flashing Yellow. If the lever is in "Fleet" and no routes are set, then the signals run as ABS in both directions. The soft push button resets all routes and moves the lever to "Normal" from "Fleet". 4 New Actions at Itasca Station West [Optional, Only Needed for CTC] Sometimes it is desirable to move a west-bound train from Itasca 1 or Itasca Station onto the Itasca West turnout. This provides a little more room at Itasca Station East. This action has always been enabled by the software in ABS. I have simplified this for the dispatcher in CTC, as follows. In Figure 5, we see the Itasca West area of the layout with a train in Eagle Canyon East with a route thrown to Itasca 2. Note that this action only works if the Itasca West turnout is diverging to protect against potential headon or head-to-tail collisions. Figure 5. Itasca West Region of LAMRS A west-bound train is waiting in Itasca 1 facing a red signal. In Figure 6, the dispatcher has pressed the Move West on Red soft switch, by clicking on it. Note that the yellow dash has been changed to a circle. 6

7 Figure 6. Move West on Red Activation Also note that the west-bound train now faces a yellow signal and may move to the red signal that controls access to Itasca West. Once the east-bound train passes, the dispatcher only needs to set the west-bound route as he normally would, Figure 7, this resets the button and sends the west-bound train on its way. Figure 7. Setting a West-Bound Route Cancels the Button 5 Close RailRoad & Co at the End of the Run Do Not Save, if Prompted Shut down the computer as you normally would. 6 Trouble Shooting Sometimes, after initiation you might find that the program is not controlling turnouts or reading occupancy. Most probably the program is in Offline mode. This happens because I might have left it this way while testing the program at the club (I usually test at home) or because of other operator errors (don t ask me how I know). The eighth item in the Railroad menu item will be checked If so, mouse click on the Connect item right above it. If this fails then click on Setup Digital Systems You will see a setup box, Figure 5. You need to make sure it is on COM 4. If not, then press change and make it so. 7

8 8 Figure 8. Setup Digital Systems

9 7 Appendix: Setting Fast Clock with DecoderPro 7.1 Introduction These pages depict a method for setting Fast Clock by use of DecoderPro. One could set the clock using a DT400 controller, but DecoderPro is much easier. I will use a few screen shots from the Club s desktop computer 7.2 Use the Club s Desktop Computer You must use the Club s desktop not the laptop computer which is the one actually connected to the layout. Make sure the Layout power is on. After you log into the computer wait for things to settle down and: 1. Open DecoderPro. There is a shortcut on the desktop. You will see the following screen. Notice that the WiThrottle screen has opened automatically. Double click (or OPEN) LAMRS Panels.xml Figure 9. DecoderPro Opening Screen 9

10 2. Next, you will see the main DecoderPro screen. Select the Tools menu tab. Figure 10. DecoderPro Main Menu 3. Pull down on the Tools tab select Clocks, then Setup Fast Clocks. You will see this final screen of Figure Set the Fast Clock time (blue oval). 5. Stop or Start the clock (green oval). 10

11 11 Figure 11. Fast Clock Setup