Overview

The Scheduler is a web application I designed in Classic ASP, which is a web site scripting language. To use it either the computer needs to be connected to the Internet, or the computer must be configured as a local web server. All the data is pulled from an MS Access database.

I wanted to get close to running the same train formations that ran on the real line in the 1960's. Unfortunately I do not have a train register for Crewkerne, which would give times and details of train movements, so I had to glean what I could from various railway books and extrapolate where necessary from timings shown in a modern timetable. I also removed and added some trains to make the operating session interesting and this is an ongoing process.

Procedure

The schedule displays the train that is due and a preview of the next in the sequence. The train formation is made up and run through Misterton. After that movement is complete the 'Next Roster' button is activated to call up the next train. The schedule is not run in real time. The 'Misterton Arrival' time readout merely indicates where we are in the day. When necessary a specific Roster can be called up and the complete schedule shown for reference. The picture displays the real train from the 1960s. Pictures are not available for the demonstration.

Train Formation

Locomotives are selected from what is available on shed, except where a particular class of locomotive was usually allocated to a train, e.g. Merchant Navy for the Atlantic Coast Express.

Stopping freight trains have an interesting movement. The program randomly selects a type of freight that was common at Crewkerne for either picking up or setting down. Where goods are to be freighted out from Misterton and there are no suitable wagons in the Goods Yard then empty wagons are delivered and the goods moved out next time an order for them is displayed. A reverse movement takes place where there are no stock wagons available. The G6 tank engine is generally held in the Goods Yard to shunt wagons between the stopping freight train and the appropriate loading area in the yard. Freight marshalling is a fascinating operation because it demands planning for the efficient movement and placement of wagons in the Goods Yard.

Demonstration

The actual train scheduler used for Misterton opens on this link.