Drop Zones

A drop zone is a section of track where equipment can be set out. A drop zone could be the whole length of a siding, or a siding can have several drop zones. You can even make a drop zone longer than the siding it sits on.

Drop zones belong to a module/town. To see them, click Modules/Towns in the sidebar menu, select a module/town, then click the Drop Zones tab.

Create a drop zone

1. Click Modules/Towns in the sidebar menu.
2. Select a module/town.
3. Click the Drop Zones tab.
4. Click New.
5. Fill in the fields. Drop Zone Name and Length are required.
6. Click Save.

You return to the Drop Zones tab with the module/town still selected.

Edit a drop zone

1. Select the drop zone in the Drop Zones tab.
2. Click Edit.
3. Make your changes and click Save. Click Cancel to leave without saving.

tip

Double-click a drop zone to open it for editing.

Screenshot needed

Drop zone edit screen with Train Origin/Terminus checked and the ruler button next to Length.

Drop zone fields

Drop Zone Name and Length are required and are marked with an asterisk on the form. ModuOps shows "Drop Zone Name is required" if the name is blank. The other fields are optional, and Direction and Active start with sensible defaults.

Field	Description
Drop Zone Name (required)	The name of the drop zone.
Length (required)	How much track the drop zone has. The label shows your layout's unit, for example Length (ft). ModuOps will not put more equipment in a drop zone than fits in this length.
Zone Reference (optional)	A short code for the track, up to 10 characters. Letters are made upper case as you type. See Zone Reference.
Direction (optional)	Which direction trains can serve this drop zone from: A Only, B Only or A and B. New drop zones start as A Only. See Direction.
Active (optional)	Checked means the drop zone can get work. Uncheck it to take the drop zone out of use. See Active.
Train Origin/Terminus (optional)	Check this if trains start or end here: a yard, staging or interchange track. See Origin and terminus tracks.

Length and the Real-World Measurement converter

Lengths use the unit set for your layout (see Layout). If your layout uses feet and HO scale, enter the drop zone length in scale feet.

Don't want to do the math? Click the ruler button next to Length (tooltip "Enter real-world measurement"):

1. Enter the Measurement from your tape measure (required, and greater than 0; Apply stays greyed out until you do).
2. Pick the Unit: Inches, Feet, Millimeters, Centimeters or Meters.
3. The "Converts to" box shows the length in your layout's scale and unit, and how it was worked out.
4. Click Apply to put the result in the Length field.

ModuOps remembers the unit you used last time. The result is rounded to a whole number.

note

The ruler button is hidden when your layout's unit is set to Units (no real-world scale).

Zone Reference

The Zone Reference is a short name for the track the drop zone is on, such as TEAM or HOUSE1. Switch lists print it as the track for each car, falling back to the first 10 characters of the drop zone name when it's blank, and trainlist entries are sorted by it.

It also tells the Car Distribution setting which drop zones are on the same track. A warehouse with three doors on one siding should have three drop zones that all share a Zone Reference, so the engine knows bunching cars there means one stop for the crew. Leave it blank and the drop zone is treated as a track of its own. See Trains.

Direction

Direction tells ModuOps which way a train must be moving to work the drop zone. It's there for trailing-point spurs: a drop zone set to A Only is worked by trains coming through the module/town from the A direction, B Only from the B direction, and A and B from either.

On a train's route, a stop can be set to A Only or B Only. The train then only gets work at drop zones with a matching direction, or at A and B drop zones. A stop set to All Consignees ignores direction. See Train Route.

tip

All drop zones that face the same way on a module/town should have the same Direction.

Active

If a drop zone can't be used during a session, for example a turnout is broken, uncheck Active. ModuOps will not schedule any work to it when building trainlists. You don't need to change any train routes. Check it again when the track is back in service.

Origin and terminus tracks

Check Train Origin/Terminus on any drop zone where a train starts or ends its run. Only these drop zones show up in a train's Departure and Terminates lists, so your layout needs at least one before you can create a train. See Trains.

A yard is the usual case, but it isn't the only one:

Kind of track	Example
Yard or staging	A classification yard or hidden staging where most trains are made up and tied down.
Interchange	A track where a connecting railroad hands cars over. A transfer run can start or end there.
Unit train origin	A coal mine's loading track. A coal unit train departs from the mine and terminates at the power plant, so both of those drop zones get the check.

The departure and terminus don't have to be the same kind of track. A local might leave the yard and tie down on an interchange track, and a unit train can run from one industry to another without going near a yard.

Origin and terminus drop zones aren't offered when creating equipment requests, since consignees request equipment at regular drop zones. If the power plant also takes the odd boxcar of parts, give it a second, regular drop zone for those requests and keep the unloading track as the unit train's terminus.

With the Pull & Drop Ops engine, the origin is where cars come from and where they go home to. The Origins screen uses the drop zone's Length to plan what to stock there, so set Length to the room the cars really have. For a yard that's the total length of all the tracks that make up the yard. For a mine it's the length of the loading track.

The flag is on the drop zone only. A module/town itself no longer has a yard setting.

Clone a drop zone

Cloning is a quick way to make a drop zone that's like one you already have.

1. Select the drop zone in the Drop Zones tab.
2. Click Clone.
3. The edit screen opens with a copy of every field. " (Copy)" is added to the end of the name.
4. Change the name and anything else, then click Save.

Equipment requests are not copied to the new drop zone.

Delete a drop zone

1. Select the drop zone in the Drop Zones tab.
2. Click Delete.
3. Click Delete in the confirmation box.

warning

Deleting a drop zone also deletes every equipment request for it, from any consignee on the module/town. Any trainlist lines for those requests are removed too. This cannot be undone.

Changes from version 5

• Name is now Drop Zone Name.
• Zone Ref is now Zone Reference. It is optional; switch lists fall back to the drop zone name.
• Faces is now Direction, with a new A and B choice. New drop zones default to A Only.
• Yard/Interchange/Staging is now Train Origin/Terminus. Version 5's "Yard Sequence" field for transfers isn't shown, because transfers aren't part of version 6 yet.
• The Use Consignee Name menu is gone. Type the name instead.
• New ruler button converts a tape-measure length to your layout's scale.
• The Length label now shows your layout's unit.
• Cloning adds " (Copy)" to the new drop zone's name.