WHY YOU MIGHT CONSIDER MINIRAIL FOR YOUR OPERATIONS

• Industry and Train Assignments as well as Routing ALL Performed by MINIRAIL
  • the burden of entering routing information and assigning trains to industries or cars is unnecessary
    • MINIRAIL only needs raw data for recording industry and train entries
      • MINIRAIL only requires such basic industry data as:
        • it's type, and name
        • it's hometown, where trains will stop to service it
        • number of cars to be handled on it's siding
        • receives loads or empties or both
        • cartype(s) used by the industry
        • how many sessions cars will remain here (it's layover)
        • industry destinations (shipping list) for loads shipped from this industry
      • MINIRAIL requires even less for train entries:
        • it's type, and name
        • set it's maximum length
        • select the cartypes it will carry
        • select it's townstops in the order of arrival
    • data for all input dialogs, are each entered and listed on one easy to understand screen
    • no 'hardwiring' of shipments to individual entries for cars or trains
    • no user routing entries
    • no 'balancing' act to match commodities with shippers and consignees to even produce traffic
    • to illustrate how little YOU must do and how much MINIRAIL will do for you, a scenario:
      • YOU will have recorded an industry with room on it's siding for an empty of a cartype
      • MINIRAIL finds an unassigned empty of that cartype
      • MINIRAIL fills the order ie: assigns this industry as destination for that car
      • YOU will have recorded the train(s) of the necessary townstops and carries the cartype
      • MINIRAIL selects the train(s) necessary to complete the move and makes the train assignment(s) if it has room
      • MINIRAIL prepares the switchlist(s), displaying where the 'pickups' and 'setouts' are
      • MINIRAIL toggles the car's status to a load upon reaching destination
      • YOU will have recorded an industry which accepts loads of this cartype, and made sure this industry name is included in the shipping list for loads of the industry that produces the load ie: received the empty
      • MINIRAIL will only select an industry from the shipping list which accepts loads of this cartype and has room
      • MINIRAIL fills the order with this car ie: assigns this industry as car 's new destination
      • YOU will have train entry(s) with the townstops and cartype to make this move
      • MINIRAIL again finds the train(s) necessary to complete the move and makes the train assignment(s) if it has room
      • MINIRAIL prepares the switchlist(s) displaying where the 'pickups' and 'setouts' are
      • MINIRAIL toggles the car's status to empty upon reaching destination
      • MINIRAIL makes the assignment of the empty back to its homeindustry -- if it is not reassigned to fill another order first
      • YOU need to have train entry(s) with the townstops and cartype to get it back home
      • MINIRAIL again finds the train(s) necessary to complete the move and makes the train assignment(s) if it has room
      • MINIRAIL prepares the switchlist(s) displaying  where the 'pickups' and 'setouts' are
    • assignments for empties to/from any industry type are completely taken care of by MINIRAIL
    • you set where the industry loads can go, and MINIRAIL gets it there when all the tests and checks pass
  • MINIRAIL can determine up to three moves from current location to each final destination (three final destinations in above scenario)
    • you set how many car moves will be allowed per session
    • even if limited to just one move/session, the car is assured to be heading in the right direction because routing is still calculated all the way to destination, up to three moves if it needs to
• Very fast:
  • start producing your own switchlists quickly -- experienced users have reported creating output with the demo in half an hour, starting new files from scratch to show their friends how easy it can be with some data reflecting their own layout
  • minimal input requirements, and ease of editing, lets you produce switchlists and see results quicker
  • written in C++, get your output just about as fast as you can click the buttons
• Virtually unlimited capacity for:
  • Layout size
  • File sizes -- no limits on number of towns, cars, industries, trains, locomotives or cabooses
  • Number of cartypes
  • Number of trains run per session -- limited only by the size of your layout and schedule
• Industry Types each specifically programmed for properties unique to its purpose:
  • Depots
    • an industry type only passenger trains can switch
  • Staging
    • representing industries off line:
      • can be a source of loads and empties to fill industry orders on your layout
      • can be designated as destinations for loads from on layout industries
      • want any unassigned empties returned here? -- then record this industry as car's homeindustry
    • you can even control which cartypes you want on each of these tracks
    • seamlessly incorporated into your normal switching operations
  • Service
    • where car status does not change -- for emulating icing plants, maintenance, etc
  • Fiddle yards
    • so you can exchange those extra cars to and from your layout in an orderly fashion
    • MINIRAIL automatically takes care of all the assignments and routing to expedite these exchanges
    • you are provided with a list of the cars which come on line the next session
  • Yards
    • used for car transfers between trains
    • used to hold cars in transit between sessions
    • can be designated as a homeindustry -- as can staging and fiddle yards -- where empty cars are sent back home
    • option to complete the filling of orders for your industries
      • as destinations from industries producing loads
      • as a source of loaded cars for industries which still have unfilled siding capacity
  • Other
    • for all other industries which do not require the features noted on above industry types
    • these produce the majority of your traffic ie: where the orders come from

  You control all the actvity at each of your industries using such features as:

  • specifying cartypes used
  • breakdown as to how many of each cartype
  • can even separately set length of layover for each cartype
  • can also set layovers separately for loads and empties of the same cartype
  • set where each industry will ship its loads -- even break this down by cartypes too if you like
  • option to set how aggressively you may want MINIRAIL to make these assignments
• Emphasizing user friendliness and ease of use, program features include:
  • Easy to install and operate
  • Hint texts displayed at the bottom of each screen explaining the use and purpose of components on each screen as you glide the mouse over them
  • Messageboxes supply info from within the program
    • identifying possible data deficiencies
    • some switching problems which may be detected
    • displays HINTS on fine tuning your data
    • offers SPECIFIC SUGGESTIONS to handle the situation triggering these messages
  • No preparations required between sessions
  • Go to the train room with a piece of paper in hand rather than a fistful of cards
• Outputs switchlists which:
  • are easy to read
  • are easy to understand
  • uses one line per car
  • performs like the real thing
  • can suggest blocking of car pickups, to help crews arrange their trains for setouts
  • gives a choice of producing  switchlists only for selected trains, or for all the trains
    • produce switchlists for the whole train file prior to beginning the session
    • or produce switchlists just for the trains you select
      • to start with, perhaps only those needed to get the session started
      • then come back later to produce more switchlists, as many times as you need, to keep the session going
      • trains can be run in any order, determined by the order you select them
      • each new selection takes into account the activity of trains run earlier for routing, train meets, etc
  • can be reviewed, even reset, or edited manually
    • delete and/or add cars for pickups and setouts
    • edit car pickups and setouts already in the switchlists
    • so flexible -- even add or delete whole townstops
    •                 -- even removing a whole train's switchlist is possible
  • hardcopy output for each train can be printed
  • and/or produce hardcopy printouts of all switching activity taking place at towns you may select
    • trains switching here are listed in the order that they arrive -- great for the yard crew
• Record the data the way you want it:
  • customize how you record your cartypes:
    • enter AAR codes, your own symbols, or just spell them out
    • even distinquish between cars of the same cartype as to how they are used
  • setup your trains with ease, by how you set:
    • routing -- via the train townstops you select, from your own list of towns you enter
    • the cartypes carried, from a list automatically put together as you enter your cars
    • maximum train length
    • the above parameters permit the creation of any train you desire
      • from local switchers -- all its activity might be within one townstop
      • to through freights -- perhaps only stopping at towns with yards
      • and anything in between
        • switching some towns along the way, and not others
        • controlling which industries within a town are switched by each train, even if several of these industries use the same cartypes
  • entering the data your way:
    • reduces the learning curve
    • less confusing -- use your own terminology rather than trying to figure out somebody else's
    • oftentimes not plowing through hordes of data in databases you will never use
• Optionally include locomotives and cabooses as part of your switchlists
  • choose the 'MINIRAIL' option to:
    • have program select the units automatically
    • AND you will still be able to edit MINIRAIL's selections
  • or choose the 'Manual' option to:
    • assign units to the trains yourself
• Reports, to monitor and evaluate the results of switchlists including:
  • car location lists, before and after sessions
  • review destination assignments
  • success in completing the moves desired for the session
    • are the industry orders getting done?
    • are cars at industries which are ready to be shipped getting picked up?
    • see how many cars, and for which industries, are being left in transit unintentionally at session's end -- perhaps some adjustments in train scheduling may be indicated
    • bottlenecks at industries such as can happen in yards will also show up

Advantage is taken of features familiar to Windows users, such as:

• Listboxes are prepared automatically for you as data is entered, and displayed when needed for inclusion in other files.
• Drag and Drop procedures used to select the important pieces of data from these lists, meaning no spelling or typing mistakes.  This assures the more important elements which MINIRAIL compares between files will be matched correctly ie: effectively just copied.  Computers are notoriously unforgiving of what might seem to be the most insignificant variations in entering data.
• Double click a file entry in an input dialog and all its elements are brought back up to the entry part of the screen. This makes a quick way to adjust any of the data you wish, and then be put back (with the CHANGE button) as modified, without a whole bunch of re-entering.
• Pushbuttons are programmed to perform all the steps needed to record your data and produce switchlists expeditiously.
• Input dialogs all use the same buttons, the name of each clearly indicating its purpose (eg: ADD, DELETE, CHANGE, etc).  The input dialogs created for MINIRAIL make it very simple and intuitive to enter the data.  Most of the input is a matter of filling in the blanks, which can often mean just dragging and dropping the selections from those listboxes mentioned above for the more crucial parts.