Albion Software

Measure siding and train capacity in terms of feet or other units.

Now it's your choice - you can either measure your sidings and train length by the number of cars, or by the actual length (in feet or units of your own choice).All it takes is a setting change in Tab 5 of the Options Window (as well as entering your car lengths, siding lengths and train lengths). The advantage of doing this is improved acccuracy – you will not have to rely on an average car length.

Last Pass (4th pass) "Random" Generation

The optional last pass attempts to move any car that has not yet moved in the current session. Car properties such as product,  loading, unloading, next destination, and final destination are ignored. Only the car type, whether the car is a load or an empty, and optionally  train type, are considered when attempting to move the car.  "Random Generation" is a misnomer here – I only call it random because many of the rules inherent in Ship It! are broken, in order to get more cars moving. The principle of car types associated with shippers and consignees is still utilized. Using this option will generate more car movement and help free up areas that are bottlenecks.

Shipper / Consignee Diagnostics

In both the Browse Shippers Window and Browse Consignees Window there is now a Diagnostics button. Once an analysis has been run, pressing these buttons displays a window similar to the one below:

For the above window, the row for the general freight shipper at the B&LE interchange was highlighted when I pressed the Diagnostic button.
There are several items to note. Shipper information is displayed in the raised panel at the top of the screen. In the first browse window, the consignee matches are listed, along with their results. In this example, the analysis results are telling us that McBride General Freight can receive from the shipper via Train 200. In the line below we are also being told that Morgantown Freight can also receive shipments via multiple trains (divisional success). The second browse window displays divisional results. You can see that it takes three trains to move shipments from the B&LE Interchange to Morgantown Freight. This reassures you that you have your divisions and interchanges set up correctly. With this feature, not only can you see, at a glance, all the matching consignees for a shipper, you can see the Train and Division Analysis results as well.

The next screen shows the results if Train #200 were turned off.Notice the results column: "Train Not Found" and Divisional Failure are the results.Notice also how the Divisional Results Browsetells you that "There is no train between Butler and Hall". This information helps you to add the trains necessary for divisional success.

New Reports

Siding Capacity Rejections: This report lists the sidings that have had the most car rejections. This allows you to see exactly where your bottlenecks are.

Stuck Car Report: This report lists cars that have not moved since a specific session. You can also exclude yards if you wish.

Car Movement Generation Improvements

In addition to the Last Pass mentioned above, you can also set the percentage your sidings should be filled during a Start Fresh (when cars are assigned their initial positions). In testing, I have been able to increase car movement by 15% in certain databases just by using a 70% fill percentage target (in previous versions, this was fixed at 50%).

Bug Fixes

Bugs in car generation and reports were fixed.

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