My Programmable Traffic Generator (PTG) software package is designed to be used by model railroaders to generate sets of JOB TICKETS (requests for freight movement) which can then be used to initiate the movement of freight on a model railroad during an operating session.

The PTG introduces the concept of seasonal changes in traffic to automatic waybill generation. The railroad's operations with the PTG will start on the day, month, and year of the users choice, and then continue on from that point, with each operating session representing a new day. As the months go by, the mix of the traffic will change, according to traffic patterns the user has set for each type of freight.

The Components

• WEDIT.EXE The program which allows the user to set up and maintain a database of "jobs" for their railroad, where each job is a cargo to be moved from point A to point B on a regular basis.
• WTYPE.EXE The program which selects jobs from the database at a rate dependent on the seasonal traffic pattern set for them, and writes them to a file as job tickets, ready for printing.
• WBTEMPLT.ALL The file containing the default job ticket format.
• UBOL A "Bill of Lading" form to be printed and reproduced, to use as an aid in planning traffic before populating the database.
• PTG.TXT Instructions for installation and use.

FILES CREATED by the PTG and their NAMING CONVENTIONS

The database and other files associated with one railroad's jobs all use the same base name. In the examples given, we'll assume the Modeler is modeling the Great Northern, and use the base name GN. The PTG will create three files:

• GN.JOB The JOB file, a database of job information, is built by the WEDIT program from information input by the user.
• GN.CNT The counter file, which keeps track of days and job demand. Once initialized with a start date, this file is built and maintained by WEDIT and WTYPE without any effort on the part of the user.
• GN.OUT Holds WTYPE's output, formatted and ready for printing.

If you are still reading at this point, I'll assume you are considering obtaining the package for your own use.  Click here to get a copy.  What follows is copied directly from the PTG.TXT file.

GETTING STARTED on the DATABASE

You probably have a good idea of the shipments moving between the industries and interchanges on your railroad, and how their volumes may vary with the passing months.  Pick one or two with a high volume of traffic, and let's get started on the hardest part: building the database of jobs.  You should be prepared to answer the following questions about each job:

• Lading (The cargo to be shipped)
• Car types (Up to four AAR or similar abbreviations)
• Quantity (Number of cars per shipment)
• Handling (Any special instructions, precautions needed, etc.)
• Consignor (Shipper's name, one-line address, and whether they're on-line)
• Consignee (Same stuff, but about the receiver of the shipment)
• Route (One-line list of the connecting railroads it travels.)
• Shipments per month (In tenths of a shipment, for all twelve months) A traffic level of 35 will result in about three and a half shipments per month, on the average.

The maximum length of all these fields may be found in the chart at the end of this document.  WEDIT truncates overlength lines.

The UBOL file contains four of the following forms: as an aid to help job planning.

Lading: ________________________ Jan |----+----|----+----|----+----|----+----|
Car Type(s): __________ Qty: ___ Feb |----+----|----+----|----+----|----+----|
Handling: ______________________ Mar |----+----|----+----|----+----|----+----|
                                 Apr |----+----|----+----|----+----|----+----|
Consignor: _____________________ May |----+----|----+----|----+----|----+----|
________________________________ Jun |----+----|----+----|----+----|----+----|
                                 Jul |----+----|----+----|----+----|----+----|
Consignee: _____________________ Aug |----+----|----+----|----+----|----+----|
________________________________ Sep |----+----|----+----|----+----|----+----|
                                 Oct |----+----|----+----|----+----|----+----|
Routing: _______________________ Nov |----+----|----+----|----+----|----+----|
                                 Dec |----+----|----+----|----+----|----+----|
NOTES:

• Fill in the information in the blanks on the left side.
• On the section to the right of the month names, draw a graph from top to bottom representing the annual traffic or demand pattern for the job. This will help you pick numbers to enter for each month.  Traffic Patterns can be easily altered after they are entered, so don't worry about getting exactly the right numbers the first time.

Once you have a few jobs planned, you can start by typing WEDIT GN

If GN.JOB doesn't exist, WEDIT will ask you to confirm that you want to start a new database.  If so, it will then ask for the railroad date. WTYPE will use this date for the first set of job tickets it produces. When WTYPE knows the railroad date, it will remind you of it, and then go to the MAIN MENU.

WEDIT'S "MAIN MENU"

The MAIN MENU lists only the actions that apply under the circumstances. When first starting a database, your choices are to ADD a job or QUIT. Here's a description of the MAIN MENU choices you may have later.

• Add a job.  WEDIT asks you all the job-related questions mentioned above. When the last field has been entered, WEDIT displays an EDIT MENU. The EDIT MENU allows you to make corrections, and is described below. WEDIT assigns each new job a unique Job number.
• Locate a job.  WEDIT prompts you for a search key: something that will match all or part of a field in an existing job.  Searches are case-sensitive, and may match anywhere in the Consignor, Consignee, Handling, Lading, or Routing fields.  For Car type, keys only match entire strings; a key of HM will not find HMA.  Keys that contain only a number may also match Job number or Quantity.  If nothing matches, the bell will sound.
  Once a matching job is found, WEDIT displays an EDIT MENU.  To find the next match, return to the MAIN MENU and select LOCATE again with the same search key.  This is usually as simple as hitting ENTER three times.  When WEDIT reaches the end of the file, it restarts at the top.  The bell sounds when the first match is reached.
• Statistics.  WEDIT gives you the total annual traffic pattern for a set of jobs matching a search key.  Matching is the same as above, except for Car Type, which only matches on the first choice.  The statistics graph is based on car loads (shipments X Quantity) per month.
• Quit.  This is the normal exit from WEDIT.  If there were any additions, changes, or deletions, WEDIT will update GN.JOB and GN.CNT at this time.
• eXit.  If you've made a change by mistake, this will exit WEDIT without saving any of the changes made during the current session.

WEDIT'S "EDIT MENU"

The EDIT MENU shows all of the information for one job, including an annual traffic pattern graph and the total shipments for the year.  At the bottom of the screen, it prompts for an action, listing the actions that apply.

• Field Number.  Enter the number of the field you wish to change. WEDIT will re-prompt you for the information in that field. Changing the Total field will adjust all the month fields to try to match the desired total.  There are two ways to do this:
  • ADDITION adds or subtracts equally from all months (except those with zero values) to try to match the target.
  • MULTIPLICATION multiplies all months by the same number.
  In each case, there is likely to be some round-off error, so if you don't like the results, use Undo before entering a new total. If some Months have zero values, they are not adjusted.
• Copy.  WEDIT saves the current job and makes a new one with the same data but a new Job number.  This can be useful for quickly entering many similar jobs which share data.
• Delete.  WEDIT removes the job from the database and returns to MAIN MENU. WEDIT may re-use the Job number for a new job.
• Pattern shift.  WEDIT shifts the traffic demand pattern forward or backward one month at a time.
• Undo.  WEDIT can undo changes made to fields.  If more than one change has been made, the first Undo removes the last change, the second Undo returns the job to its original state.  Changes cannot be undone after a SAVE except by re-editing the job or by eXiting from WEDIT altogether.
• Save or Menu.  WEDIT puts the job back in the database and returns to the MAIN MENU.

Printing the Job File

The -l option to WEDIT causes it to create the file GN.LST, a formatted listing of jobs in the GN.JOB database.  The format is the same one used in the Edit Menu.  You are given the choice of including the shipment profile graph, or just the total annual shipments.  It takes about three times as much paper to include graphs. You are also asked for a key, so you may (for example) limit the listing to all jobs for one customer.  To get all jobs, just hit ENTER.

Now that you have a database of jobs, you can create a file containing one day's worth of job tickets from the GN database by typing WTYPE GN

WTYPE will tell you what day it is processing, and the name of the output file (e.g. GN.OUT) containing the job tickets ready for printing.  If the length of the file exceeds 66 lines, WEDIT will put formfeed characters between pages.  (The page length can be changed with an option, below.)

When done, WTYPE updates GN.CNT with new information, to be used next time. WTYPE does not change the GN.JOB file.

The HEADER FILE

WTYPE can prepend the GN.OUT file with a customized set of printer setup characters to initialize options on your printer when the file is printed.

You specify these setup characters in the HEADER file (e.g. GN.HDR) which you can create with any text editor.  Non-printing ASCII control characters, such as ESCAPE or SI, which would be hard to enter from the keyboard, and even harder to see in the file, can be represented by three-digit OCTAL numbers preceded by a backslash.

CUSTOMIZING your JOB TICKET FORMAT

The format of the job tickets WTYPE produces is defined in one or more TEMPLATE files: text files which resemble the desired output.  Special Percent-sign sequences in the template file specify where WTYPE is to fill in the appropriate data.

When WTYPE prints a job ticket, it passes the template file through to the output file until it encounters a valid percent sequence, then it replaces the text from the template with the desired text from the database.

If the format of the job tickets produced by WTYPE doesn't suit you, you can change it in one of two ways.

1. The default template file, WBTEMPLT.ALL, can be modified.
2. WTYPE is designed to use up to four different user-defined ticket format files.  These four template files use the same percent-sign sequences.  Which file is used depends on whether the Consignor and Consignee are on-line or off-line.  The files are (for the GN example):
   GN.IMP A job ticket format template for traffic coming in. (Import)
   GN.EXP A job ticket format template for traffic going out. (Export)
   GN.LOC A job ticket format template for local movements.
   GN.BRG A job ticket format template for through traffic. (Bridge)
   

OPTIONS to WTYPE to HELP SAVE PAPER.

Options should be specified on the command line, and may be preceded by either a dash or a slash.  They are case-sensitive.

-d for days.  To create three day's worth of job tickets in GN.OUT, type WTYPE -d3 GN This may help save paper by printing more than one day's worth on the same page.

-a for across. If your job ticket templates are narrow enough to print two side-by-side on the paper, you can use the argument -a2 to print them two across.  Bills can be printed up to 5 across, if desired.

-l for lines. If your header (GN.HDR) file contains instructions to print at (for example) 8 lines per inch, you can use the argument -l88 (dash el eighty-eight) to tell WTYPE to allow up to 88 lines per 11 inch page, to make better use of the paper.

FIELDS, their LENGTH, and their PERCENT SEQUENCES

    Field_______  Length__   PS*  Description___________________________
    Consignor 1   35 chars   %S   Shipper, line 1
    Consignor 2   35 chars   %s   Shipper, line 2
    Consignee 1   35 chars   %R   Receiver, line 1
    Consignee 2   35 chars   %r   Receiver, line 2
    Lading        25 chars   %L   The load to be shipped
    Handling      35 chars   %H   Any special instructions
    Car type 1     5 chars   %t   First, second, third and fourth choice
    Car type 2     5 chars   %y    of car type, using AAR Mechanical des-
    Car type 3     5 chars   %p    ignations.  Note how the letters spell
    Car type 4     5 chars   %e    "type" to help you remember them.
    Routing       25 chars   %V   Via what roads?
    Job number     5 chars   %J   Job number in database
    Long date     18 chars   %D   Like September 30, 1958
    Short date     8 chars   %d   Like 9/30/58