Software

[chicochip]

rrinker,

Check out the March 2012 NMRA Magazine for an article on simple car forwarding. As I read your "druthers", I think the system described therein might be just your "ticket" or "switchlist?"

Regards and good luck.

 

Chicochip

[rrinker]

 I use an Access application called Car Card generator, written by forum member Dave Husman. You can download it from the Yahoo Car Cards group. I think it does a very good job of entering your equipment and industries. Yes, you have to update the underlying lookup tables, but this is just good data practice - if all those fields were free typing, all it takes is one misspelling to make a mess of the resulting cards and switchlists. And yes you have to enter all of your rolling stock, and each industry, and so forth. There is no way around that. There are other handy features like being able to add a picture of each item (keep a copy of the database safe somewhere off your property and in the event of a disaster you have proof for your insurance company), and there are simple reports to generate a 'train show list' you can take along when you go to a show so you cna quickly check if you already have a specific item - I don;t have a huge collection but I definitely do not have every car and road number I own memorized. It has sections for passenger cars as well so you can generate passenger movements in addition to freight trains. There are also forms to maintain a list of railroad items - track, structures, scenery material, electronics, books, magazines, etc.

                   --Randy

 

[G Paine]

cmrproducts

Unfortunately - there is NO way to do things QUICK. The programs require ALL of your Rolling Stock - Industries & Towns to be added to some sort of database in the program to allow the Program to sort the Rolling Stock to Industry lists!

Easy Model Railroad Inventory has what you need
http://easy-model-railroad-inventory.rclsoftware.com/

BUT, as Bob said you need to do the data entry for your locomotives, rolling stock, communities, industries, switching locations, and their location on a community. It is boring, time consuming work and that is what you have to deal with to end up with an "automatic" system. As with any computer system the word is GIGO - Garbage In / Garbage Out

I am using this program for the inventory database on the Boothbay Railway Village layout. I have so far imported about 600 pieces to rolling stock and 50 locomotives from another database that did not work so well. I stilll have a lot of new items to add. The program has a lot of depth and has lists of road names and rolling stock AAR numbers - so you do not have so many spelling mistakes. It has places to enter manufacturers, town and industry locations, as well an other things like your library of books, etc that is good to have for insurance purposes. Once all the data is there, it will generate switch lists, including which items are on the layout and which are not

[CGW121]

I do not mind the adding of rolling stock and industrues etc, that is expected. The ones I did try are not written very well in my opinion. Most of what I have seen are inventory type programs which are of little interest. If there is nothing that meets my needs I will figure something else out.

 

[cmrproducts]

CGW121

What I am looking for is operation software, such as waybills or card order system. What I have found is inventory software, that is way more complicated than I am willing to get involved with. I do not have dcc so I do not need that. I looked at jmri and that does not fit the bill nor does EMRI. I would like to be able to print a switch list, and not have  to spend a lot of time setting  it up.

                                Thanks

Unfortunately - there is NO way to do things QUICK.

The programs require ALL of your Rolling Stock - Industries & Towns to be added to some sort of database in the program to allow the Program to sort the Rolling Stock to Industry lists!

Only other way is to do a handwritten Switch Lists - or Car for Car Swaps

5 boxcars go to town A and switch them into the Industries there etc - etc

This is the problem so many run into - the amount of preliminary work required to set up a basic Operations System

Same goes for the Car Cards/Waybille, Sequential Lists or the Pin/Tack system!

BOB H - Clarion, PA

[big daydreamer]

I dont really know a lot about card order (I basically just know what I read in MR) but don't waybills and things need to be printed out so they can be with the actual car?  

What functions are you looking for in this operation software?

[CGW121]

What I am looking for is operation software, such as waybills or card order system. What I have found is inventory software, that is way more complicated than I am willing to get involved with. I do not have dcc so I do not need that. I looked at jmri and that does not fit the bill nor does EMRI. I would like to be able to print a switch list, and not have  to spend a lot of time setting  it up.

                                Thanks