Anyone using Ship It! for operations?

I downloaded a bunch of demo's on Saturday and this one really stands out!

I have been able to set up my complete railroad, (The Georgetown Branch) and it is a blast!

I was wondering how much operation I would get out of this small branch line and it is amazing how much traffic it will produce. I only have half the industries in so far, and only a handfull of products, but it is great!

I now think back to all the small track plans in that pile of plan books I have and so many of them could keep someone busy for hours switching!

I would highly recomend the free download if you are planning a railroad.... You can really get the feel of your railroad before it is even built, plus you can generate switch list then make a few changes to the layout and generate another to see exactly what those changes do.

Reply to
Kelly
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2000

This is what I found. It is very helpful during the design stage. It allows you to visualize the traffic flow and the numbers and kinds of cars needed. The switchlists are useful for running a small railroad. Much less so for a large road where switching errors are more likely. The switchlists expect the cars to be where they are supposed to be. While the switchlists can be updated it takes a lot of effort to find the misplaced cars (the same with car cards) and then update things properly for the next session.

Reply to
Ernie Fisch

I've been using Ship It for about 2 years and really do like it a lot. I especially like the fact that there's no "randomness" to it, unlike other systems.

That being said, it's not the easiest program in the world to set up. And, without "The Balancer" (developed by a Ship It devotee, Jean Piquette) which tells you if you have enough cars, enough consignees, enough shipments, enough etc. to keep things moving, your layout will gradually slow down to a halt. There's a free version of The Balancer, and a more in-depth version for sale.

The best advice I can give you is: visit the Ship It group on Yahoo

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and ask some questions, or read the archives. Then, if you do decide to purchase it, make use of that Ship It group -- the people there are extremely knowledgeable and very helpful. Jean Piquette literally makes a hobby out of helping people set up their program for their layout.

Tell 'em I sent ya! :-)

-Gerry Leone

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Reply to
Gerry Leone

On Tue, 30 Dec 2003 05:50:50 UTC, "Gerry Leone" wrote: 2000

What I have found with ShipIt! is to not try to do the whole layout at once. Get trains moving to a couple of industries in a couple of towns. Once you know that it works you can slowly add industries, towns and trains.

Reply to
Ernie Fisch

Not if I can help it!

If I ever go with a computer based ops program, the current front runner is RailOp at, not suprisingly, .

...but that's just me.

Paul - "The CB&Q Guy" ~ 2004 - The Year of the Layout! ~

Reply to
Paul K - The CB&Q Guy

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