A Session Walkthrough
Here's a real meet between two trains, captured from a demo session on the dispatcher app, showing how an OS report turns into a train order and how a southbound arrival reaches the yardmaster. No. 11 is northbound out of Williamsport; No. 52 is southbound out of Hemlock Crest, and the two meet partway up the line at Jacks Creek.
1. Trains report as they move
Every time a train passes a station, the crew enters an OS report on that station's touchscreen — train number, direction, extra/work-extra flags. It shows up in the dispatcher's OS log immediately:
- 10:05 AM — No. 11 N reports at WP (departing)
- 10:10 AM — No. 52 S reports at HC (departing)
- 10:18 AM — No. 11 N reports at XP
- 10:20 AM — No. 52 S reports at SK
2. The dispatcher arranges the meet
At 10:35 AM, No. 11 reports at Jacks Creek — the line's main passing siding. With No. 52 still approaching from the north, the dispatcher issues a meet order and lowers the JC train order signal so the crew sees it's waiting for them:
No. 11 Eng 101 take siding at Jacks Creek and wait for No. 52 Eng 205.
The order goes out to both JC and SK over MQTT; each station's CYD shows it on the Orders screen until the crew taps ACK. The dispatcher's train order log tracks outstanding vs. acknowledged orders in real time.
3. The meet happens, both trains continue
- 10:55 AM — No. 52 S reports at JC (passes No. 11 in the siding)
- 11:05 AM — No. 11 N reports at BB (resuming north)
- 11:10 AM — No. 52 S reports at XP
Here's the dispatcher's view after all of this — the full OS log on the right, the meet order at the bottom, and the lowered JC signal arm reflected in the station table:
4. Southbound arrival reaches the yard
No. 52's XP report is a southbound arrival, so the dispatcher sends a Notify YM with an expected arrival time. The yardmaster's terminal shows it on the Arriving Trains panel, prompting the YM to ready an arrival track and line the switch route — the yardmaster still decides which track it lands on. Meanwhile, a departing train (No. 3) has already been built and marked ready, with its engine, caboose, and car counts on the track board:
