MRICF WIKI

Trains can be set up for any railroad. As the MRICF caters to model railroaders, the trains list is mostly comprised of railroad trains, but other forms of transport such as ships (international or domestic), aircraft, and road transport can also be set as “trains” if required - usually these other forms of transport would probably be “Auto Trains” (see Auto Trains section below) to facilitate movement outside the boundary of members model railroads, however if a non-railroad vehicle movement system such as a Faller Car System is used on a model railroad then it's vehicles could be set up as non-Auto Trains too if required.

To view a list of current trains for the railroad you are logged into, click the Trains link in the Navigation Menu. For full access to this section you need to be logged in.

To edit an existing train click the Edit link in the Options column of the list for the industry you want to edit. To create a new train, click the New link located at the top of the list.

The Train Edit view has the following fields:

• Train ID - The train's symbol.
• Train Description - The longer description of the train.
• Max Cars - Maximum number of cars for this train.
• Operation Notes - An notes pertinent to the operating of the train. Can include switching instructions, interchange locations, intermediate stops, etc.
• Railroad - The railroad that 'owns' / operates the train.
• Locomotive - The locomotive allocated to the train. If more than one locomotive is the motive power specify only the one 'on the point'.
• Waypoints for Train - use the “Manage Train Waypoints” link in this section to edit the waypoints for the train. These waypoints are used to set the origin and destination, and start and end time of the train, and is used to set the order in the Train sheets. Note that train sheet order values should always be the same syntax. It is advisable to use numeric values that are all the same length (eg, 24 hour time) or a time format such as “00:00”.
• Days Operated on - Days the train is operated on. This is used to include / exclude a train from the Train Sheet for any day/s of the week.
• Days / Waypoints for Auto Train - If this field has anything in it then the train is treated as an Auto Train (Automatic Train). See the Auto Trains section below.

To save the data entered, click the Update button at the bottom of the form.

To delete the record, tick the Delete checkbox underneath the Update button, then click the Delete button that appears.

The MRICF has the ability to display train sheets for any day of the week based on the Operation Day settings for trains. To view a train sheet, use the Train Sheets selector next to the New link at the top of the list. In the Train Sheet selector, 'no auto' means don't display Auto Trains, 'incl auto' means include Auto Trains in the train sheet.

Auto Trains are trains that automatically move cars between to waypoints. These trains streamline the process of moving the cars on a waybill between waypoints. They are useful in the following scenarios:

• Where members' railroads that a waybill will use do not have a common interchange. Eg, if a member's railroad in Chicago sends a shipment to a member's railroad in New York.
• Between two divisions on the same member's railroad that are physically separated.
• Any other situation where entering individual progress reports for each waypoint reached is overly burdensome (as model railroaders we prefer to operate our model railroads rather than spend un-necessary time on a computer or device!)

If the Days / Waypoints for Auto Train field has a number in it then the number is how many days the train will take to travel between the two waypoints entered in the Waybill Edit form.

If the Days / Waypoints for Auto Train field has JSON array data (ie, not a normal number but valid JSON formatted data) then the train uses the JSON data to work out how long the train will take to get from one waypoint to another. It is best not to manually edit JSON data as if a mistake is made during manual editing then the Auto Train data for that train will not work at all. Use the “Manage Auto Train Waypoints” link above the field to manage the various waypoints for the train if the data in the field is not a standard number. Note that if a standard number is indicated in the field and the Manage Auto Train Waypoints link is used to set the waypoints and then the Stay in Window selector is changed to Close and Update and the Submit button is clicked it will overwrite what is in the Days / Waypoints for Auto Train with JSON data according to the waypoints data entered.