Concept
Every RailCommand layout runs one of two ways, and you choose which when you create or import it.
- Run trains (like TrainController): you open RailCommand on the layout and drive. There is no operating session to set up and no crew to assign. This is the choice most home layouts want, and it is selected for you.
- Operating sessions (clubs and museums): formal operating sessions with crew, dispatcher and CTC, car forwarding, and the operations panels. This is RailCommand's session experience.
The choice belongs to the layout, not to one computer, so every computer that runs the layout and the website agree on it. It is saved on the website and carried in every package RailCommand downloads for the layout. It does not depend on your plan: every paid plan can use either one.
This is the same setting that used to be the Enable operations gaming features checkbox. A layout that had the checkbox ticked runs operating sessions; one that did not runs trains. Nothing about an existing layout changed when the question was introduced.
The website asks and records the choice, and every package carries it. In the RailCommand desktop, opening a Run trains layout goes straight to the Drive screen: the track diagram, the layout's engines and a throttle. Drive starts running the layout at once, on the real railroad when its command station connects and otherwise as a simulation, and it says which. An Operating sessions layout opens to the System Check and then the main menu, where its sessions start. A coming desktop release adds Drive to the menu of Operating sessions layouts too.
How To
Choose when you create a layout
- Open RailCommand Layouts and click Create Layout, or go to
/app/railcommand/layouts/create. - Under How will you run this layout?, keep Run trains (like TrainController): open RailCommand and drive, or pick Operating sessions (clubs and museums: crew, dispatcher, car forwarding).
- If you pick Operating sessions, fill in Max Trains, Max Operators, the session length and the complexity level that appear under it. They are optional.
- Fill in the rest of the form and click Create Layout.
Try the demo railroad
When your organization has no layout yet, RailCommand Layouts (/app/railcommand/layouts) offers Try a demo railroad. One click adds a small HO layout named Demo Railroad to your organization and opens it. It holds:
- a loop with a passing siding along the north side and a spur off the south side;
- seven blocks, each with its own occupancy detector, three powered turnouts and four signals at the ends of the siding;
- two diesels (GP9 101 and SW1200 22) and three cars, with the GP9 and the cars made up as the train Demo Freight, and a starting place for each train on its block;
- one hardware connection, Demo command station (simulated), with every turnout, signal, block detector and engine connected to it.
The demo railroad runs trains, so there is no operating session to set up. It is a normal layout: you can edit it, add to it and open it in RailCommand like any other, and it counts toward your plan like any other layout. RailCommand's simulation sets the two trains on the track at their starting places.
The demo railroad runs in simulation only. Its command station is simulated, so it needs no hardware and nothing reports a missing connection. RailCommand runs it as a simulation and does not drive real trains on it, even if you add a real command station to it.
An organization has one demo railroad. Asking for it again offers Open the demo railroad or Reset the demo railroad. Reset deletes the demo railroad and everything drawn on it, then adds a fresh one. The demo's own engines and cars are kept and assigned to the fresh one. Your other layouts are not touched.
Choose when you import a layout
Importing from TrainController or JMRI asks the same question on the review screen, just above the Create layout button, with Run trains selected. Re-importing a file into a layout you already have does not ask: the layout keeps how it runs.
Change it later
- Open the layout's page from RailCommand Layouts. The How this layout runs card on the Overview tab shows the current choice.
- Click Change, pick the other choice, and click Save.
The layout's Edit page asks the same question, with the operations settings under Operating sessions, and saves it with the rest of the form.
Switching to Operating sessions is allowed at any time. Switching back to Run trains is allowed when no operating session is live on the layout on any computer. RailCommand picks up the change the next time it refreshes the layout, never while a train is running. Switching to Run trains keeps the layout's operations settings, so switching back loses nothing.
Troubleshooting
"A session is running on this layout (started by ... ). End the session, then switch this layout to Run trains." A formal operating session is live on the layout, so it cannot stop running operating sessions yet. End the session (from the Operating Sessions page, or with End session on the layout editor's lock banner), then switch the layout to Run trains. The message names who started the session and when, on your own clock. A session that is paused or still being set up counts as live too.
"This layout runs trains without operating sessions, so it cannot be exported as an operating session package." The layout's Offline Packages page downloads a package for an operating session, which a Run trains layout does not have. RailCommand downloads the layout itself when you open it. To run operating sessions, change how this layout runs to Operating sessions on the layout's page, then export again.
The Operations tab says the layout runs trains without operating sessions. The operations panels on that tab belong to Operating sessions. Click Change how this layout runs and pick Operating sessions if you want them.
"A session is running on this layout (started by ... ). End the session, then reset the demo railroad." A session is live on the demo railroad, so it cannot be replaced yet. End the session, then choose Reset the demo railroad again.
"Your plan allows ... layout(s). Upgrade your plan to add the demo railroad." The demo railroad is a layout like any other, so it needs room under your plan.
I picked the wrong choice when I imported. Change it on the layout's page. You do not need to import again.