How to manual timetable

NIMBY provides a range of timetabling tools that can be combined in many ways.

Concepts

Line Stops

The Stops interface of a Line provides a template to which trains can run. The times shown for each stop are relative times - they do not represent clock times on a 24 hour timetable. Instead, the times show when a train will arrive, depart, or pass a location relative to the arrival time at the first stop, which is always 0:00:00.

Train Orders

The Orders applied to a Train determine how Runs of a timetable are generated. Orders may be Automatic, in which case the Train will perform Runs of the same Line forever based on the "Auto run line" settings for that Line, or Manual, allowing the user to specify Orders for several different lines.

Runs

A Run specifies the actual timetable to which a Train will run. A Run consists of:

• A Train
• A Line
• An absolute time for some event on the line

The absolute time of the event is a clock time (and often a specific day), which is used to convert the relative times of the Line Stops into absolute times - the actual times when a train will arrive and depart from a station.

The event that is specified is usually the Departure from the first station. Possible ways of specifying this event are:

• Set a train to "Auto run a line", where the Departure Time from the first station is the event, and the times are computed automatically based on the line settings
• Select "Depart exactly at" in Manual Orders, where the Departure Time from the first station is set to the specified time
• Select "Arrive exactly at" in Manual Orders, where the Arrival Time at the first station is set to the specified time
• Select "Arrive no later than" in Manual Orders, where NIMBY automatically computes the earliest possible arrival time based on the previous order

Line duration

The Line duration is used for generating Runs when a Train is set to "Auto run a line", or a Manual Order is set with "Loop until next order". A sequence of Runs is generated at an interval matching the duration. For example, if a train has a first stop departure set to of 06:00:00 (6 am), and the line has a duration of 02:00:00 (2 hours), runs will be generated with first stop departure times of 06:00:00, 08:00:00, 10:00:00, and so on.

Auto run line

Trains set to "Auto run a line" will have Orders and Runs generated according to the Line settings. These settings are found under the "Auto run line" section in the Stops tab of the Line. Additionally, the duration of the line effects how runs are scheduled. Auto run timetables are the same every day of the week.

First train departure

This specifies the absolute departure time of the First Run of the line, departing from the first stop. If it is set to 04:29:00, a train will depart the first stop at 04:29:00 every day. Every other Run is scheduled based on the time set here. The "Time zone" setting controls what time zone this departure time is specified in.

Launch trains

This controls how the game schedules Runs after the First Run. There are two options - "Evenly spaced to fit one line loop" and "On a fixed, manual interval".

Evenly spaced to fit one line loop

Runs of the line are scheduled at a fixed interval. This interval is determined automatically by dividing the Line Duration by the number of Trains assigned to auto-run the line (trains on Manual Orders are always ignored, even if set to "Loop until next order"). The calculated interval is shown in the "Auto interval" field below this setting.

For example, if a line has a duration of 1:00:00, and 3 trains are assigned to auto-run the line, the interval is 00:20:00. Then, if the "First train departure" is set to 04:09:00, trains will depart the first stop at 04:09:00, 04:29:00, 05:49:00, 05:09:00, and so on.

If the line duration does not divide exactly into 24 hours, the final run before the next day's First Run will have an extended wait time at the first stop. For example, if the duration if 05:00:00 with one assigned train and the First train departure is set to 08:00:00, the train will depart at 08:00:00, 13:00:00, 18:00:00, and 23:00:00. The next run would theoretically be at 04:00:00, but as the duration is 5 hours, it would not arrive back in time for the specified 08:00:00 arrival.

On a fixed, manual interval

The user specifies the interval for trains to depart at. The scheduling behaviour is otherwise the same as "Evenly spaced to fit one loop". However, if there are too few trains to match the specified interval, some runs will not be generated. For example, if a line has a duration 1:00:00, 3 auto-run trains assigned, a Fixed interval of 00:15:00 is specified, and a "First train departure" is set to 06:00:00, trains will depart at 06:00:00, 06:15:00, 06:30:00, (gap due to no available train) 07:00:00, 07:15:00, 07:30:00, (gap due to no available train) 08:00:00, and so on.