Tehachapi, BC

[basementcalling]

Step 1 - get a brain transplant from @GaryHinshaw . . . . .

Think I'd rather just hire him.

[GaryHinshaw]

CTC comes to TBC

With another ops session scheduled for tomorrow night - with special cross-country guest @Scottl - I buckled down this weekend and put together a working CTC panel for TBC using the Crandic Automated Traffic System (CATS) software.   Here is a screen shot I took during testing:



This shows the mainline in schematic (north to south is left to right), with a few train routes reserved by the dispatcher.  From top to bottom these are: 1) a BNSF train has clearance from Sandcut into Kern Junction and thence onto BNSF track #2 into Bakersfield; 2) a transfer run from BNSF track #1 over to "CP Charlie" which connects to Mojave staging in the helix ("CP Charlie: where west meets east"); 3) a UP manifest cresting summit and entering double track for the trip to Mojave (currently cleared to Cameron); and 4) a BNSF train in the hole at Summit waiting for this train to clear.

I briefly explored the new jmri Operations Dispatcher program for dispatching, but CATS is so much easier to use that there is no comparison. There is a bit of a learning curve to setting it up, but the payoff is substantial.  I can't wait to see how it goes tomorrow!  No doubt, several tweaks will be required.

There are still a few infrastructure gaps that we will have to work around:

1) There are no working signals yet.  I hope to get jmri signals echoed on tablet panels for the operators to see, but if that doesn't pan out, I will just shout out aspects as necessary.  Working signals are still a ways off, but virtual echoed signals are a good stop-gap.

2) The lower deck is still mostly dark (undetected - the grey tracks in the schematic), so the dispatcher will have to track train movements by hand.  Most of the pieces for detection are in place, so finishing that won't be too difficult.  Just not by tomorrow.

Thanks for looking.
-gfh

[C855B]

That's exciting, Gary! Very impressive. Looking forward to the debriefing after tomorrow's ops.

Who knows... maybe I'll graft a modern style CTC on my 1970-themed layout. It certainly wouldn't be the end of the world. 

[Santa Fe Guy]

Your panel looks very nice Gary. I like the fact that you can see the routes that are selected prior to being occupied.
Rod.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

So, even though I've already done the NCR in JMRI, I think I'm gonna redo it in CATSbecause it just looks better.

[GaryHinshaw]

CATS is awesome

Well, the first session with CTC is now in the books.  While we had a bit of a learning curve at the start, it is abundantly clear that CATS is awesome.  Using the panel is super simple, to the point that I was able to hand off the job to one of the crew in mid session, and he was able to pick it up in minutes.  If you are remotely interested in modern mainline operations, do yourself a favour and get CATS.

One layout update to report: I wrote my last post on Monday afternoon before a Tuesday evening session, and I expressed hope that I could figure out how to port the CTC signal aspects to my jmri panel, which I could then display on tablets around the layout for the operators to see and follow.  Happily, I was able to figure that out Tuesday morning, just in time for the session.  Here is a quick example: the first shot shows the CTC panels, where the dispatcher has cleared a southbound train into track #1 at Summit. (A northbound is waiting on track #2.)



On the fascia near Summit, the operator sees a track schematic with the signal aspects for that control point: diverging clear.



This scheme let us run most of the session with signal indication.

This is not intended to be a permanent solution.  I'd like to replace the schematic view with a sequence of engineer-view images of each control point, with live aspects superposed.  These could be viewed either on the fascia tablets, or on the engineer's WiThrottle.  (Of course there will eventually be permanent signals as well, but even then, these panels will make a good repeater for hard-to-see signals.)

Thanks to crew members @mark dance, @Scottl, and @Andrew Hutchinson for being my guinea pigs for this test. 

So, even though I've already done the NCR in JMRI, I think I'm gonna redo it in CATSbecause it just looks better.

Indeed.  The graphics are very clean and simple.

[tom mann]

I appreciate how a Railwire tab is open there.

[GaryHinshaw]

Product placement.   

[ChrisKLAS]

Looks great, Gary! Now it's time to pair it up with Rodney Black's other outstanding program, TrainStat, to give the dispatcher an overview of train info for a session and the labels that follow each train around on the DS board!

[GaryHinshaw]

It's coming!   

[John]

Looks great, Gary! Now it's time to pair it up with Rodney Black's other outstanding program, TrainStat, to give the dispatcher an overview of train info for a session and the labels that follow each train around on the DS board!

It also ties into the JMRI operations program, which gets rid of car cards   

[Scottl]

It was a really great operating session.  Thanks @GaryHinshaw !  The progress on the layout in the past six months has been transformative- it is exciting to imagine how many trains it will take to fill Bakersfield 


The CATS and JMRI on the tablets is definitely the way to give the layout a big railroad operation feel and were quite intuitive to use.  We managed to get the hill clogged up with trains and feel some of the stress and fun of managing trains on a busy line like Tehachapi. 

A few photos:









Thanks again for hosting.  Worth crossing the country for!

[GaryHinshaw]

Thanks for posting those Scott!  I neglected to take many myself.

Come back soon! 

[ednadolski]

Impressive indeed!   If you're ever doing an open house, I'll have to arrange for a flight 

Ed

[3DTrains]

Jeff Lynne's younger brother or just another ELO roadie?

Cheers!
Marc - Riverside