Elvas Tower: Open Rails - Create .inc files for .wags - Elvas Tower

OPEN RAILS ONLY

This is a very preliminary version of an Excel 2010 spreadsheet I use to create two .inc files for .wags I'm offering for TESTING and review. Correct values for Davis A, B, C are computed based on a wide range of lading weights plus the empty car weight that you provide. The two .inc files are:

• Empty_Car.inc
  
• {lading name}.inc

Included are three example files:

• A .wag file that uses the two .inc files created by this spreadsheet
  
• An example of each of the two .inc files.

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The idea behind this was to come up with some means to vary the weights of loaded car .wags and rapidly get the resulting .wag files with a minimum of effort. I started by creating a data entry page to record most of the parameters that make up a .wag file, allowing for a place to record their values. A results page concatenated everything into a normal looking MSTS .wag that one could copy/paste into a ordinary text editor. Over time additional features were added that allowed for US vs. metric units of measure, a large variety of actual lading weights to select from to create unique .wags, and so on. Finally I added both comments and pull down lists to make it easier to understand and use.

I find that once I have the Empty_Car.inc file created that each successive lading file takes between 30 and 60 seconds.

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USAGE

You will enter data in the first tab, which is called Data Entry.

• Start att the tab labeled Data entry. Record basic information for your car.
  
• DO NOT select any lading at this time and be sure to clear any previous selections of lading. You want to have the field labeled LadingWeight() to be zero.
  
• When you are done entering data go to the second tab, which is called Results.
  
• Select all of the light blue and light violet cells and copy with a <cntl>C.
  
• Open up your editor and paste using <cntl>V. Save this as {car class name}_Empty_Car.inc.
  
• Return to the data entry page and select how you want to deal with ladings (there are three different ways to do this).
  
• When you are done entering data go to the second tab, which is called results.Select only the light violet cells and copy with a <cntl>C.
  
• Open up your editor and paste using <cntl>V. Save this as {car class name}_{lading name}.inc.
  
• Repeat steps 5-7 as needed.

KNOWN LIMITATIONS

• Only the Davis formula of 1926 has been implemented.
  
• I have only tested the Davis formula for freight cars.
  
• I have not tested with metric units of measure.
  
• Suitability for non-North American rolling stock is unknown.
  
• The ICC average data is incomplete.
  
• Not intended for .engs.