KCS 3rd Subdivision
KCS 3rd Subdivision
A joint project of Steve Davis, Tom Vanden Bosch, and the Tuesday Night Gandy Dancers.
Links to other sites and documents (what website would be complete w/o this?)
Articles related to the KCS 3rd or software or systems used on it.
Video demonstrating automation on my previous model RR using (small room, around the walls, based on BN Avard Sub) using Railroad & Co. Train Controller Software - still used to automate helix and staging operations, (I hope to migrate all control to JMRI eventually.)
JMRI Software: FREE software used on the KCS 3rd to generate the switchlists and control the CTC Dispatching
CATS: A FREE add-on for JMRI that makes setting up CTC easy, created by Rodney Black
Kansas City Southern Historical Society ("KCSHS")
Speed Matching Locomotives (courtesy North Raleigh Model RR Club)
Dan Foltz's Manifest Creator (for the KCS 3rd sub's printed switchlists.
Presentations I've given at various model RR clinics, Layout Design and Op Sig, etc.
Using free JMRI software to create train manifests and switchlists.
Designing a Model RR for Operations
Yards, Trains and Destinations: Designing an Operating Schema (there are a lot of good specifics about the KCS 3rd sub in here)
Computer Train and Model RR Simulations (another hobby of mine, especially when I'm on a plane or away and can't work on the model RR!)
Train Player: You can design "virtual model railroads" or load almost any track plan, i.e. Kalmbach's 101 Track Plans or the Gorre & Daphetid (all used by permission) and "run" them on your computer screen. The KCS 3rd sub is included as a free download with the main package. Good tool for checking out how your model RR might operate before you build it.
Run 8 Train Simulator. Hands down the most accurate, prototypical computer simulation of real railroad operations available today. Includes multiplayer so multiple users all run trains from all over the world, with one or more human dispatchers clearing signals and lining routes (using built-in chat or free "teamspeak" application). Physics, uncoupling, multiple units and DPU individual control are all represented. You simply have to see it to believe it.
Open Rails Project (Totally Free Software!). The original train simulator, Microsoft Train Simulator (MSTS) still has more content (rolling stock, routes etc.) than any other simulator. Now there is a freeware project to take that older software (released circa 2000) and upgrade it to a modern graphic engine, via a FREEWARE project. Still in beta but worth checking out.
Skyline Computing: Steve's web site for software that creates activities and switch lists for Microsoft Train Simulator, so it operates like a model RR.