Railway train control simulator and method

A method of simulating operation and control of a railway train having at least one locomotive in a locomotive set and a plurality of cars, each car of the plurality of cars having a coupler transmitting a coupling force between it and that portion of the train which precedes it in the train, comprising the steps of:

• a. providing a simulator control station including a train speed control throttle and a train braking controller each providing a signal related to the degree of operation thereof by a simulator control station operator;
• b. providing simulator data related to track profile, train consist, locomotive tractive effort, train braking and the location of the train on the track for a predetermined simulation;
• c. calculating from the provided simulator data the coupling forces between each of a plurality of adjacent cars in the train;
• and,
• d. operating the throttle and the braking controller to modify at least some of the simulator data in response to the calculated coupling forces to simulate control of the operation of at the least one locomotive.

An apparatus for simulating operation and control of a railway train having at least one manually operated locomotive in a locomotive set and a plurality of cars, each car of the plurality of cars having a coupler transmitting a coupling force between it and that portion of the train which precedes it in the train, comprising:

• a. a simulator control station including a train speed control throttle and a train braking controller each providing a signal related to the degree of operation thereof by a simulator control station operator;
• b. means for providing data related to track profile, train consist, and the location of the train on the track for a predetermined train and for a predetermined section of track over which the operation of the train is to be simulated;
• c. means for providing data related to locomotive tractive effort and train braking in response to the signals from the control throttle and the train braking controller;
• d. means for calculating from the provided data the coupling forces between each of a plurality of adjacent cars in the train;
• and,
• e. means for displaying to the simulator control station operator each of a plurality of the calculated coupling forces relative to the position in the train of the cars for which the calculations were made whereby operation and control of the railway train is simulated.

An apparatus for simulating operation and control of a railway train having at least one locomotive in a locomotive set and a plurality of cars, each car of the plurality of cars having a coupler transmitting a coupling force between it and that portion of the train which precedes it in the train, comprising:

• a simulator control station including a train speed control throttle and a train braking controller each providing a signal related to the degree of operation thereof by a simulator control station operator;
• means for providing simulator data related to track profile, train consist, locomotive tractive effort, train braking and the location of the train on the track for a predetermined simulation;
• means for calculating from the provided simulator data the coupling forces between each of a plurality of adjacent cars in the train;
• and,
• said train speed control throttle and said train braking controller being operable to modify at least some of the simulator data in response to the calculated coupling forces to simulate control of the operation of at the least one locomotive.