Using DecoderPro® to Operate Trains

Operations Settings Window

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In the Tools menu you may select the Print Options... opens the Print Options Window. You can modify the how the program prints the train manifests and the amount of detail that the build report provides.

Settings

Railroad Name
Enter the name of your railroad. This name will show up on your manifests.

Trains Travel North/South East/West
If your railroad depicts trains traveling north and south select the "North/South" box, if your trains travel east and west select the "East/West" box. You must select at least one direction, and can if desired select both.

Maximum Train Length(ft)
This field provides the maximum default train length between cities. Later you can override this length if you wish a shorter train between any two locations. A 1000 foot train can carry approximately 20 cars, and is of course dependent on the car lengths assigned to the train.

Maximum Engines per Train
Now set the maximum number of engines that you want the program to assign to a train. If you don't want the program assigning engines, set this value to 0.

Switch Time (minutes)

Travel Time (minutes)
The program when generating switch lists for the various locations on your railroad, will estimate the arrival times for your trains based on the train's departure time and the switch and travel times. Enter the average number of minutes it takes to drop or pickup a car on your railroad. Then enter the average amount of time in minutes it takes to travel from one location to the another.

Scale Next select the scale you are modeling. This is useful when you enter the length of cars and tracks. You can enter the number of actual inches and the program will convert to scale feet. Append a double quote to the length when entering actual inches. The program will also automatically assign the proper NMRA weight for a car based on scale and length.

Car Types Descriptive AAR Codes
The program has two sets of car types for you to use. Descriptive provides type names like Boxcar and Tankcar, and AAR provides type names like XM and T for boxcars and tank cars respectively. Select the one that you prefer.

Owner
You can optionally enter your name.

Options
Add Operations Menu to Main Menu
When selected, and saved, the operations menu will be added to the main menu bar. The operations menu will appear the next time you restart DecoderPro®. To remove it go through the same procedure… in the Settings window uncheck the box, “Save” the change and restart DecoderPro®.

Panel options will not be covered in this manual. Panels are normally created as a part of PanelPro®

When you're finished with the settings panel, press the save button to store the setting in a file called Operations.xml. You can find this file in your JMRI directory in a folder called operations. The program will also create a backup file each time you press the

will store a copy of the operation files in a new directory in operations called backups, and then stores the operation files in a directory that is based on the day you created the backup. For example, if today was November 21, 2008, the program will create a backup directory named 2008_11_21.

will prompt you to select which set of backup files you wish to use to recover your operation files. You must quit and restart DecoderPro® to complete the restoration of the operation files.

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