Setting up a new schedule from scratch is surprisingly easy.
- Go into "Edit" mode.
- Select the "dispatcher" window
- Select "Create schedule" from the "schedule" menu. A new schedule will be added to the list of schedules.
- Double click on it, and give it a name.
- If you have a control panel, click "record" on the "start-dest" tab; then press the start and destination buttons on the control panel. They are picked up into the schedule definition.
- Close the properties editor.
- Select "pick from block diagram" from the "tools" menu
- Click on all of the blocks forming the route; they are added.
- If there are several blocks in passing loops that could be used - e.g. in 5 roads at the fiddle yard - select all of them.
- It is also necessary to select the routes between the blocks; click on them. Where there are overlapping routes - for example where there are complex junctions - select them from the "routes" tab in the dispatcher window.
- Right click on the start & end blocks and assign them to be start & end, with a direction assigned (depart for start block, arrive for destination).
And that's all that is necessary to make a working schedule. There are some rules that can be changed:
- "enter occupied blocks" and "enter occupied routes" should not be ticked.
- "train may stay in start block" can be ticked. If ticked, if the schedule can't start immediately (e.g. if its path is blocked) it will start when it can.