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Welcome to TrainPlayer.com |
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you for visiting!
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Now posted: Wolfgang Dudler's fine Westport Terminal RR, as described on his popular web site. Please download the latest version of the program (1.0.53) before viewing this layout. Version 1.0.5 features Record/Playback -- now you can practice your operation, record it, and let TrainPlayer run it for you next time! To see it in action, open the "Turtle Creek with Recording" layout included with 1.05, click Play, and sit back and watch. Version 1.0.4 features Schedule By Driving -- a new concept in developing a schedule for your railroad. Drive the layout and a schedule of stops is generated automatically, timed with an adjustable scale clock. To see it in action, just open one of the layouts included with 1.0.4 and start a train moving. By popular demand, 1.0.4 includes the infamous Switchman's Nightmare shelf layout. See if you can master it. (Thanks for the suggestion to Al Olson, who once built this layout). Support is in the form of answers to Frequently-Asked Questions. Look here if you have problems with the install or the program. Check the News page to see what we've been up to. |
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TrainPlayer brings to life the wonderful layouts from Linn Westcott's classic 101 Track Plans for Model Railroaders. We overlay Linn's artwork with a network of electronically-built rails, provide it with an infinite supply of customizable rolling stock, and hand you the controls. Rotate the speed dial a few degrees and watch as a train chuffs to life and rolls out of the yard. Build trains to suit the railroad's needs, and run as many as you can manage. Use the control panel or toolbar buttons to operate each train --- set the speed and direction, sound the horn as you roar through town. Set out and pick up cars with realistic coupling and uncoupling. Throw switches by clicking, or let the train throw them automatically as it barrels through. Click a turntable and watch it rotate into position. The way to appreciate a great track plan is to operate it. Our products and web site are new. If you have comments or suggestions about either, please let us hear from you. Our e-mail address is on the Contact page, and the mailbox is always open. The track plans on this site are owned and copyrighted by Kalmbach Publishing Co. The material is published courtesy of Kalmbach Publishing Co. We're proud to be working with the fine folks at Kalmbach. |
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TrainPlayer 1.0.4 offers an innovative package of features for developing operating schedules. It gives you a railroad clock which runs at scale speed, a set of enhanced layouts with invisible stations defined on them, and a new schedule window showing arrivals and departures at the stations. Like this:
You set up your railroad ready to begin its daily operation, start the clock, and proceed to drive your daily routes. At the end of the day, you have a schedule you can print out and hang on the wall. The clock is like the one in your railroad room: it runs at the speed of your choice (by default, six times normal speed) and starts the day at the time you set (default: before sunup). The schedule window keeps a running record of train movements in schedule-style format; its contents can be copied and pasted into Notepad or Excel. Both windows are dockable and resizable, and all data is retained when you save a layout. The stations are regions or points on the track defined at the factory: to see where they are, use View > Stations. Even if you don't care to generate operating schedules, you still see notices of train movement on the status bar, which we think adds to the operating fun. Let us know if you agree.
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TrainPlayer 1.0.5 takes the tedium out of difficult operations! Click Record, run through the operation sequence, click Stop, save, the file, and you'll never have to do it again. You can play back the operation automatically, and let the railroad run itself.
To see this feature in action, open the layout turtle creek_rec.rrw included with 1.0.5. This comes with a single train, and a recorded sequence which drops the tanker at the dairy, the boxcars at the warehouse, and the hoppers at the coal dealer. To watch, just open the layout and click Play. Each train has its own recording, and all are saved when you save the layout. You can play back the recording of one train while you're driving another. What this leads to: the
virtual operating session! Let TrainPlayer play the
role of your Friday-night gang, operating the yards and the main line
automatically while you service the branch. Or, work out a
difficult sequence and e-mail it to your club as a sort of training
video.
Nicer Turns Also new in 1.0.5: cars no longer pivot as if they had a single truck in the center -- they now have two trucks, with a wheelbase 2/3 the car length. So when a car enters a siding or navigates a bend, it now looks right as it goes through the turn.
Having trouble driving that train where it needs to be? Use the tested model railroader's solution: lift it off the track and put it elsewhere! In TrainPlayer, this takes the form of a new popup command, Place Train Here. Right-click a track segment, choose Place Train Here, and the selected train hyperspaces onto the indicated track. |
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If you enjoy model railroads, classic track
plans, and computers, you've come to the right place! TrainPlayer
offers bold new adventures in mouse-driven armchair model
railroading. Designed for the early-stage railroader -- one who
stares at track plans and dreams of an empty basement -- TrainPlayer opens
a dynamic new dimension: now you can stare, dream, and drive trains! 
<== not!
If
you work with switch
lists, you may want
to try the command Show Car IDs on the Train menu.
This displays a unique TrainPlayer-generated number on top of each car, as
shown in this screen shot. Use these numbers in your switch lists --
they don't change or disappear as you move cars on and off the
layout. (Thanks to Dave Smith for suggesting this feature.)
