#594 More Flexible Loco assignments in operations

[Jeffrey Tindall]

It would be useful to the operations area if a loco could be part of more than one group.

Eg, default are steam, electric , switcher, diesel etc.

In my case I have added steam-passenger, steam light, steam mixed, steam heavy, diesel light, diesel heavy, etc to be able to deliver a certain type of engine to a train without limiting it to one specific model when building consists from individual locos. Some roads have very flexible engines and having them in multiple types would allow definitions such as freight and passenger to be used by the same loco. Also some models have different hardware eg. headlight, sound, coupler type etc. depending how far the user wants to go.

A good example of the benefit of having locos belong to multiple types is where a switcher (shunter) train is built, in Australia this could be almost anything. Therefore a light steam or mixed steam should also be able to be in the switcher group. Setting "switcher" as one of the locos serviced by the train would not allow a medium steam or light diesel to do the work. Likewise, there are certain classes of engine which fall into the standard freight category which would not be useful for shunting. These could be differentiated by allowing the types of coupler to be created by the user

Another example would be in era modelling. If a loco could be part of two groups it could be both a passenger or freight engine, and a "modern" type, "steam era" type or "transition" type, or even 60's, 70's, 80's etc. Setting up the train by date vs manufacture date is an option but does not take into account withdrawl of stock and a train created in 2016 on my layout may ask for rolling stock from 1911. If the loco could be multiple types, you could just tick the appropriate periods until it was withdrawn.

For example, a NSW D50 Class is a standard goods locomotive, and on my system the type is "stdgoods", along with other classes (D53, D55, D59) based on the loads they could haul. This allows the program to build interesting trains with a variety of locomotives consisted at the front. It would not be unusual for any of these locomotives to be fitted with hook drawgear, auto couplers, or be used for shunting/passenger work of certain types. However, depending on area modelled or era they would have different roles as steam use declined. Ideally i would be able to set a D50 up with the following types
Steam, Stdgoods, switcher, auto, sound

Apologies for the long explanation