July 31 We now have what we think is a pretty nice control and display system, with software by James Knight and Tom O’Reilly. Occupied blocks show up as light green if there’s a locomotive there, dark green if there are only cars. Turnouts are thrown by means of mouse clicks. Visible at the top of the screen is a small diagram of the entire layout, with two tan-colored vertical lines defining the area shown in the large diagram. The small window at lower left describes a train, with buttons for various actions that the operator can call for, and a slider bar to indicate speed. This can be moved using the mouse in the case of a “software cab” or functions as an indicator if an operator is running the train with one of the plug-in cabs. The red line on the diagram indicates an assigned train, with the name BURR, (our crack train #1, The Aaron Burr) and the train’s window at the bottom of the screen has a corresponding label. Notice that the box tells the dispatcher the location and direction of the train (block PY2, heading east); the green background indicates a clear signal. The block ahead of the train appears pink on the display because it is the “advance block”, the next block the train will occupy.