Albion Software

The Rolling Stock menu allows you to view and update the data files pertaining to rolling stock on your layout. The AAR Types window allows you to define all the AAR types that pertain to your era. The Road Names window allows you to input all your road names (this saves you typing later on). Last of all, the Rolling Stock window is where you input all of your car information. The Rolling Stock file uses data from the other files in this menu. Waybills allows you to create waybills. See the end of this chapter for an explanation of Generate a Car Card for Every Car and Car Instructions.

 Update AAR Type Window

This window provides AAR Type selection in the product and rolling stock files. AAR Types are used by the products file to determine what type of car is required to ship a product, and are also used by the rolling stock file.
This affects car selection and delivery to industries. If a product, such as coal, calls out an AAR type of HD (hopper), then only hoppers will be used to ship the product.

Fields

• AAR Type  AAR Mechanical Designation. Ship It! Car Cards comes with some basic AAR Types already entered into the database. If you need more, see The Official Railway Equipment Register for your era. These can be found at flea markets, etc. Private codes can also be used. Required. In the future, we will be adding a list of AAR Codes to our web site.
• Car Style  Boxcar, hopper, etc. Optional.
• Description  This is an optional field, used primarily to describe car features more accurately.

Update Road Names  Window

This window allows you to enter road names so you can select the road name from a browse window when entering rolling stock data, rather than having to re-enter it each time.
This file is not related to any other, it is only used to select from. If you change a road name here, that change will not affect any other file.

Fields

• Reporting Marks  Enter the initials of the railroad here (as they would be found on a car). Required.
• Road Name  Enter the full length railroad name. Optional.
• Notes  This is an optional description field.

Update Rolling Stock Window

Each car must be tracked on the layout. The car cards and switchlist identify the car by the reporting marks and the car number.

The AAR type of the car affects car selection and delivery to industries. See the AAR Update Window section for more information.

Required Tab

• Number  This is the number for the car. Required.
• Reporting Marks  When you select this field, the Road Names Browse Window pops up allowing you to select the reporting marks from a list. Required.
• AAR Type  Selecting this field causes the AAR Types Browse Window to pop up. Select the AAR type of the car from this list. Required.
• Car Style  This is a display-only field (you can't edit it) controlled by the AAR type selection above. If you wish to change this field, you must change the AAR type of the car.
• Home Yard  This designates what yard the car belongs to. This is the yard the car returns to when it is has reached the last waybill position. The industry selected appears on the car card  under the text "When Empty, Return To:". Selecting this field causes the Industry Browse Window to appear. Select your choice from this window. Required.
• Available  When this box is checked, a car card is generated when the menu selection "Generate a Car Card for Every Car" is selected. Uncheck this box if  you don't want a car card generated for the car. Note: "Generate a Car Card..." will not create duplicates.
• Fill With Last Car Data  Press this button to fill in most of the fields in this record with data from the last car that was entered or edited. To "set" this data to a particular car, simply call up the form for the car whose data you want to save, and press the OK button. Pressing the OK button saves this data for recall via the Fill With Last Car Data button. Use this feature to speed up your data entry. The only field that is not filled in is the Number field. If this was filled in with the last car's data, the result could be two cars with the same name. The program can handle this, but if it was not what you wanted you would need to delete one of the records.

Misc Tab

All of the fields here are printed on the car cards.

• Color  Enter the color of the car. This is not necessary, but it sure makes it easier to locate the car in a crowded yard!
• Car Length  Enter the length of the car. Again, this is not necessary, but knowing the length can also make it easier to locate the car.
• Notes  This is optional. You can enter here any special uses for the car or any special description used to describe it for location purposes. If this car normally carries hazardous loads, this could be added here.

Waybills

For information on creating waybills, see the chapter titled "Creating Car Cards & Waybills".

Generate a Car Card for Every Car

This menu item will generate a car card for every car in the rolling stock database. The only rule is that the car must have its "Available" box checked in the Rolling Stock update window. If this box is unchecked, the car will be ignored. When "Generate a Car Card..."  runs, each car is examined. If it already has a car card, it will be ignored; if it doesn't have a car card, one will be created (as long as its available box is checked.) This allows you to add cars to the rolling stock database anytime, and generate car cards for them without creating duplicates.

Car Instructions

The Car Instructions browse window and update window allow you to maintain a "library" of car instructions for selection when filling out the car instructions in the Waybill Update window.

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