The Time Table (V2) program is a hybrid program, consisting of a Tcl/Tk GUI on top of a C++ class library. The GUI provides the user interface to the algorithms and data structures contained in the C++ class library. This program was inspired by chapter 8 of the book How to Operate Your Model Railroad by Bruce A. Chubb. I strongly recommend reading this chapter fully before using this program. This program implements the methods described in this chapter, in an automated fashion.
Command Line Usage
There are two formats for the TimeTable program's command line. The command line can either have a single file name, the name of an existing time table file or it can have two options (-totaltime and -timeincrement) and the name of a new time table. The first form loads an existing time table (see Section Loading an Exiting Time Table File and the second form creates a new time table (see Section Creating a New Time Table. These two command line formats are shown here:
Layout of the Main GUI
The main GUI window is shown here:
It contains a menu bar, a toolbar, a time table chart, and a button menu. The toolbar is shown here:
The button menu is shown here:
Creating a New Time Table
Creating a new time table can be done from the command line by specifying a total time (in minutes) value with the -totaltime option and a time increment value (in minutes) value with the -timeincrement option and a name for the new time table (as shown in the second line above). A new time table can also be created with the New menu item of the File menu or the
toolbar button. These later two methods use the "Create a New Time Table" dialog, shown below, to get the total time, time increment, and the name of the new time table. If there is a time table file already loaded, a confirmation dialog will be displayed.
A simple chart with three stations, four cabs (labeled "Crew 1" through "Crew 4"), and two storage tracks is shown below.
Creating the station stops for a new time table
Stations for a time table must all be created when the time table is created. Stations cannot be added or removed later. When a new time table is created the "Create All Stations Dialog", shown below, is displayed to create all of the station stops.
Create All Cabs Dialog
Once the stations have been created, an initial set of "cabs" can be created. Commonly, cabs are only used on block switch DC layouts, but the cabs can be used as with a DCC layout as a way to associate trains with different operating "crews" (operators) or just to identify different classes of trains by color, etc. The "Create All Cabs" dialog, shown below, is used to bulk create an initial set of cabs.
Loading an Exiting Time Table File
An existing time table file can be loaded from the command line (as shown in the first line of the CLI usage, with the Open... menu item of the File menu or the
toolbar button. If there is a time table file already loaded, a confirmation dialog will be displayed.
Saving a Time Table File
The currently loaded time table can be saved with either the Save (or Save As...) menu item of the File menu or the
toolbar button.
Adding Trains
Trains are added using the either the Add Train menu item of the Trains menu, clicking on the add train (
) toolbar button or the Add a new train button. All of these display the "Create New Train Dialog", described in Section Create New Train Dialog.
Create New Train Dialog
The "Create New Train Dialog" first collects some basic information about the new train, as shown below. The basic train information consists of the train's common name, its number (or symbol), its class number, its average speed, its scheduled departure time, and the two stations it travels between.
The train's number (or symbol) needs to be a unique identification of the train. The common name need not be unique. The class is a whole number, with smaller numbers generally being the "higher" class. The class is used to indicate a train's priority and is also used to group similar trains together. The speed is the (scale) speed the train will be traveling between stops. The scheduled departure time is the time the train is scheduled to leave its origin station. The origin and termination stations are the station end points the train travels between.
The Schedule button selects the scheduling page of the "Create a
@addindex "train, adding a schedule"
New Train Dialog", as shown below. On this page, the cab can be selected and layover periods at intermediate stations can be set. The Update buttons propagate the cab settings and adjust the times to allow for the layovers.
The Storage button selects the storage track allocation page of the "Create a New Train Dialog", as shown below. This page lists those stations that have storage tracks available. It only makes sense to select storage tracks for intermediate stops if there is a layover or for originating or terminating stops.
Deleting Trains
Trains are deleted using the Delete Train menu item of the Trains menu, clicking on the delete train (
) toolbar button or the Delete an Existing train button. All of these display the "Select One Train Dialog", described in Section Select One Train Dialog. A delete confirmation dialog will also be displayed.
Linking and Unlinking Duplicate Stations
Duplicate stations occur mostly with "out and back" type layouts where the opposite ends of the line are modeled with the same trackage (usually a yard). Duplicate stations also occur with reverse loops. In all cases, these are stations which are logically different, but which use the same tracks.
There is an example in Figure 8-4 on page 86 of
How to Operate Your Model Railroad.
It is necessary to keep track of this trackage in the schedule. The duplicate station linking handles this. Duplicate stations need to be setup before trains have been added. The Set Duplicate Station and Clear Duplicate Station menu items of the Stations menu, the
and
toolbar buttons, and the Set Duplicate Station and Clear Duplicate Station buttons set and clear duplicate stations.
Adding Station Storage Tracks
Storage tracks are sidings where whole trains can be stored, either during a long layover or between trips. The Add Storage Track menu item of the Stations menu, the
toolbar button, or the Add Storage Track button are used to add a storage track to a station.
Adding Cabs
Generally "Cabs" refer to the separate throttle controls on a block switched DC layout. They are generally non-existent with a DCC layout, but virtual cabs might be used as a way of assigning crews (operators) to a train or to a segment of a train's run. Cabs are added with the Add A Cab menu item of the Cabs menu, the
toolbar button or the Add A Cab button.
Handling Notes
Notes are brief memos about the operating rules in effect. There is a
- single pool of notes. Notes from this pool can be associated either with a whole train or with a train at a station stop. The notes can specify schedule exceptions (eg "Daily except Saturdays, Sundays, and Holidays"), or operating rules relating to meets.
Creating New Notes and Editing Existing Notes
Notes are created and edited the Create New Note and Edit Existing Note menu items of the Notes menu, the
and
toolbar buttons, or the Create New Note and Edit Existing Note buttons. The the "Note editor dialog", shown below is used to create or edit the note. Notes are numbered consecutively starting with 1.
Adding and Removing a Notes To Trains
Notes are added to trains or removed from trains with Notes menu items Add note to train, Add note to train at station stop, Remove note from train, and Remove note from train at station stop; the
,
,
, and
; or the Add note to train, Add note to train at station stop, Remove note from train, and Remove note from train at station stop buttons. All of these display the "Add (or Remove) Note dialog", shown below.
Printing a Time Table
"Printing" a time table actually means creating a LaTeX file and then processing that LaTeX file through a LaTeX processing program (typically pdflatex). LaTeX provides the means to produce a professionally formatted document and has the means to provide things like table of contents and the creation of a final document in a selection of different final formats, including PDF (via pdflatex), PostScript (via latex and dvips) or HTML (via the htlatex script from tex4ht package).
Much of the formatting is customizable through the insertion of LaTeX code fragments as well as through various parameter settings. It is also possible to edit the LaTeX style file that comes with the Time Table program (TimeTable.sty) to tweak some of the fine details of the formatting as well.
The Print menu item of the File menu or the
toolbar button initiate the print process by displaying the "Print Timetable" dialog, described in Section Print Timetable Dialog.
Print Timetable Dialog
The "Print Timetable" dialog, shown below, collects the basic information needed to generate and process a LaTeX source file from the time table data structure. This information consists of the name of the name of the LaTeX source file to create, the LaTeX processing program (pdflatex by default), whether to run the LaTeX processing three times (to get the table of contents right), the name of any post processing command (such as dvips if using plain latex). Most of the time, this is enough for a standard, basic time table. The Configure button can be used to configure a selection of options using a "Print Configuration" dialog, described in Section Print Configuration Dialog.
Once the settings and configuration have been set, the Print initiates the process. First a LaTeX source file is generated, then the LaTeX processing program is run once or three times. The output from these runs are displayed in a process log window (LaTeX outputs a fair amount of diagnostic output, most of which can be ignored). If you are using the default processor (pdflatex), you should now have a PDF file which can be viewed or printed with the PDF viewer of your choice.
Print Configuration Dialog
The Print Configuration Dialog, shown below, provide for the setting of many print configuration options. The general settings, provide for setting the title, subtitle, the date, whether to have LaTeX format for double sided printing, setting the time format, setting the logical direction of trains, column widths, and including additional commands in the LaTeX preamble (usually including additional style packages and style settings). The multi-table settings, provide for settings relating to time tables using multiple tables. These settings include whether to create a table of contents, whether to use multiple tables at all, LaTeX code to precede the table of contents, LaTeX code to precede notes section, the header to use if a single "All Trains" table is generated, and LaTeX code to precede this single "All Trains" table. The groups settings, provide for settings for each group. This includes whether to group by class or to manually group trains and provides for setting the class or group heading and for LaTeX code to precede the group table, and if grouping manually, selecting the trains in the group.
Exiting From the Program
The Exit (or Close) menu item of the File menu, the
toolbar button, or the Quit – Exit NOW button exit the program. A confirmation dialog is displayed to get confirmation.
Select One Train Dialog
The "Select One Train dialog", shown below, is used to select a train either for deletion (Section Deleting Trains) or for viewing (Section Trains).
The View Menu
The view menu contains menu items for viewing detailed information about various things, including trains (Section Trains, stations (Section Stations), and notes (Section Notes).
Trains
There are two menu items for viewing trains, View One Train and View All Trains. The View One Train uses the "Select
One Train dialog" (Section Select One Train Dialog) to select a train to display detailed information about and the View All Trains menu item displays a dialog listing all of the trains, by number and name, with buttons to get more detailed information.
Stations
There are two menu items for viewing stations, View One Station and View All Stations. The View One Station uses the "Select One Station dialog" to select a station to display detailed information about and the View All Stations menu item displays a dialog listing all of the stations, by name and scale mile, with buttons to get more detailed information.
Notes
There are two menu items for viewing notes, View One Note and View All Notes. The View One Note uses the "Select
One Note dialog" to select a note to display detailed information about and the View All Notes menu item displays a dialog listing all of the notes, by number and beginning text, with buttons to get more detailed information.
System Configuration
The Time Table program has a small number of global configuration options. These are stored in a file named .timeTable (TimeTable.rc under MS-Windows) in the current user's HOME directory. These configuration options are:
- Path to pdflatex
- The pathname to the
pdflatexexecutable. - Label Width in Chart
- The width in pixels of cab, station, and storage track labels in the time table chart.
- Height of main window
- The initial height of the main window.
- Width of main window
- The initial width of the main window.
The system configuration file is read at program start up. If the configuration does not exist, a default one is created the first time the program is run.
The Options menu manages the system configuration, with menu items to edit the system configuration, save it and reload it.
