Peckforton Light Railway - video library

[GAP]

Funnily enough, I seem to have less spare time now I'm retired than I did when I was working. How on earth did I do all that on the railway when I was working full time? Compiling the videos was a bit of an eye opener ...

Rik

I am at the stage in life where I am wondering where I found the time to go to work.
I have just started construction of the second layout I called it the "cane line" picture in a new thread will follow.

 

[ge_rik]

Not the most exciting video, but a quick tour of the latest version of my computerised freight management system. This one uses Google Sheets - reason being I wanted something which I could run on my phone or tablet out in the garden as well as on my laptop. It's online meaning they synchronise, so any changes on one device are replicated on the others. More importantly, it's free!

It's not the prettiest of user interfaces, but it does the job - and (I might have already mentioned this), it's free - providing you don't mind selling your soul to Google.

Anyhow, y'ere tis .....

Rik

 

[dunnyrail]

Not the most exciting video, but a quick tour of the latest version of my computerised freight management system. This one uses Google Sheets - reason being I wanted something which I could run on my phone or tablet out in the garden as well as on my laptop. It's online meaning they synchronise, so any changes on one device are replicated on the others. More importantly, it's free!

It's not the prettiest of user interfaces, but it does the job - and (I might have already mentioned this), it's free - providing you don't mind selling your soul to Google.

Anyhow, y'ere tis .....

Rik

Hi Rik, just looked at this and whilst I am nit sure about getting it to do all I need I think it has a lot of potential so will probably have a play at using it for my line. As you know I use cards but it may act nicely as the precursor to a random way of me putting Waybills into those Wagon Cards. Great stuff.

 

[ge_rik]

Hi Rik, just looked at this and whilst I am nit sure about getting it to do all I need I think it has a lot of potential so will probably have a play at using it for my line. As you know I use cards but it may act nicely as the precursor to a random way of me putting Waybills into those Wagon Cards. Great stuff.

Glad it may be of some use, Jon.

I'm just working on the blog post detailing how to recreate it. Hopefully, you might be able to adapt it to do what you want it to do. Happy to advise if and when you get around to making your own version.

Rik

 

[dunnyrail]

Glad it may be of some use, Jon.

I'm just working on the blog post detailing how to recreate it. Hopefully, you might be able to adapt it to do what you want it to do. Happy to advise if and when you get around to making your own version.

Rik

Thanks Rik, have been having some more thoughts. As for the very early stages when you decide on Length of Train. Occures to me that there ought to be a way of automating this to give a Random factor IE busy day/quiet day. my initial thoughts were to use a pack of cards but that gives anything between 1 (ace) and 13 (king). Thinking that through a little more perhaps there may be too few wagons so I revised that to give you days. Thus-
a-2 Sunday Trains
3-6 Saturday Trains
7-K weekday Trains
of course this would I guess be at the first stage of decision, once a day Of service has been decided that all the choices of how many wagons would be within those parameters.

Next stage I guess would be some more software to automate that with a random seed, here is where my programming skills say blub blub blub, never had the ability to program. Even my boss thought it weird that I could not do it and I was a senior manager in an IT department. My skills came in organisation, thinking ideas and testing computer systems to destruction.

 

[ge_rik]

Hi Jon
The easiest way around it would be to just decide on the length of train for each of those scenarios. Presumably, a Sunday service will be shorter than one later in the week.

However, if you wanted to place some sort of restriction on which types of wagon were likely to be marshalled on different days, then you would have to tweak the weightings for the various wagon types each time you ran it. Alternatively, you could modify the script so that different weighting profiles were selected for the wagon weightings. This could be done by different creating weighting worksheets for each type of service and then having a method of selecting the relevant worksheet for that service. This could be done by adding another drop-down list - with choices for Saturday, Sunday and Weekday services.

I'm not quite sure if that is what you're after. Does that sound close to what you're seeking?

Rik

 

[dunnyrail]

Hi Jon
The easiest way around it would be to just decide on the length of train for each of those scenarios. Presumably, a Sunday service will be shorter than one later in the week.

However, if you wanted to place some sort of restriction on which types of wagon were likely to be marshalled on different days, then you would have to tweak the weightings for the various wagon types each time you ran it. Alternatively, you could modify the script so that different weighting profiles were selected for the wagon weightings. This could be done by different creating weighting worksheets for each type of service and then having a method of selecting the relevant worksheet for that service. This could be done by adding another drop-down list - with choices for Saturday, Sunday and Weekday services.

I'm not quite sure if that is what you're after. Does that sound close to what you're seeking?

Rik

I was actually thinking for you so that the amount of wagons moved in any one day would be a random choice rather than a choice of the grey matter. For my needs in East Germany there was little difference between the amount of wagons moved on any day, all the trains had the same Train Number Mon through to Sunday with the only difference being on a Sunday one train running slightly later to cater for Day Trippers. And yes they were allowed to enjoy themselves a little in the bad old days if the East.

 

[ge_rik]

OK
The blog post describing how I created it and the code I used to get it to behave is now available. I've tried to explain how it works, how the spreadsheet was created and how to copy and paste the code but please let me know if you need any more info.

How I created a version of my freight management program with Google Sheets

Narrow gauge large scale model garden railway. Battery powered, radio controlled locomotives, some Bluetooth. Set in Cheshire UK in 1930s

riksrailway.blogspot.com

Enjoy!

Rik

 

[PhilP]

Can the words 'enjoy' and 'spreadsheet' be used in the same post?

 

[ge_rik]

Can the words 'enjoy' and 'spreadsheet' be used in the same post?

Absolutely! They are the finest creation since the Garden of Eden - well almost!

Rik

 

[JimmyB]

Can the words 'enjoy' and 'spreadsheet' be used in the same post?

Only if you insert a pivot table

 

[ge_rik]

A stroll down the line .....

I hope you like it

Rik

 

[ge_rik]

Of course, I had to make the most of the fine spell of weather and so, following requests from a couple of people asking how I organise a running session, I videoed the middle part of a session to explain the sequence of actions required to keep trains running to schedule.

Given the lack of response to my last video, I suppose I might be over-egging my video output. I promise I'll not make another for a good while.

Rik

 

[trammayo]

Of course, I had to make the most of the fine spell of weather and so, following requests from a couple of people asking how I organise a running session, I videoed the middle part of a session to explain the sequence of actions required to keep trains running to schedule.

Given the lack of response to my last video, I suppose I might be over-egging my video output. I promise I'll not make another for a good while.

Rik

I like videos but, unfortunately, my download speed is second to none (as in none being sometimes as fast). The Donegal railbus is great - I still have to read about it in my online copy of Garden Railways! There are some marvellous scenes in the vid - very life-like indeed! Keep on posting!

 

[ge_rik]

I like videos but, unfortunately, my download speed is second to none (as in none being sometimes as fast). The Donegal railbus is great - I still have to read about it in my online copy of Garden Railways! There are some marvellous scenes in the vid - very life-like indeed! Keep on posting!

Thanks Mick. Good to get some feedback.

I remember how frustrating slow download speeds can be. We were one of the first countryside areas to have fibre broadband installed as part of a pilot, so it's nowhere near as bad as it was. Keep up the good work - though I assume the trailer hasn't had much on an outing this year.

Rik

 

[phils2um]

Absolutely! They are the finest creation since the Garden of Eden - well almost!

Does this mean they're both good places/ways to get f****d?

 

[ge_rik]

I'm not quite sure how to respond to that, Phil ..... it sort of does and doesn't work at so many levels

Rik

 

[ge_rik]

Sorry guys - but the sun was shining ........

Rik

 

[ge_rik]

It's been a couple of months since I've run any trains - the spell of fine(r) weather has lured me out into the garden.

I hope you enjoy the outcome

Rik

 

[jimmielx]

Absolutely splendid Rik. Your railway is teeming with character - locos and rolling stock too. A fantastic video too, really well shot and the commentary brings it alive. Fantastic!