TOPS Reporting

Version 2.6.0 of Hellfire (when made available) includes the ability to obtain TOPS reports similar to those which bashers used to obtain valuable information regarding the whereabouts of locomotives.  The following information relates to the TOPS facility on Hellfire.  It is a large page, so please be patient whilst it loads.

TOPS (Total Operations Processing System) was a computerised system in use during the early 1980's by British Rail.  The system was originally designed to maintain records on freight wagons in real time, but was expanded in the late 1970's to include locomotives, and is still in use at the time of writing (mid 2003).  Details such as location, allocated workings, operating status and maintenance schedules are continually updated from a network of terminals  located at major railway installations around the country.

In order to access the TOPS system in Hellfire, you need to be at a station with a TOPS office.  Many of the larger stations in the game have a TOPS office, and clicking the TOPS button when at any station will let you know if you are at a location with a TOPS office.

As any basher will be aware, simply being at a station with a TOPS office did not guarantee that gen from the TOPS office would be forthcoming. If the TOPS clerk was too busy, or was not sympathetic to the requirements of bashers, then you would be left in no uncertain terms that your presence was not welcome.  Each TOPS office in Hellfire works a 3 shift pattern, with staff changeovers at 6am, 2pm and 10pm, so if you are unsuccessful in obtaining gen at a particular TOPS office, you can come back when a different clerk is on duty and try again.  Another feature of TOPS office staff was that you were more likely to obtain gen if you knew the staff involved, and vice versa.  This means that the longer you have been bashing, the more likely you are to be able to obtain gen from a particular office.  In Hellfire this means that the more locos you require, the less likely you are to be able to obtain gen from any particular TOPS office.  It is simply a matter of trial and error to find a TOPS office which will supply gen until the next shift change.

Note that the TOPS system in Hellfire is still under development, and various items of information on the reports are just there to improve the look of the reports, and to make them look like a real TOPS report.

Once you find a TOPS office which is willing to supply gen, you will be able to run the following reports:

  1. E3 1 report:

This report returns the current location of a locomotive, together with any allocated workings.

The above is a report on 20001.  Since Hellfire was not designed to include such detailed reporting as this, some generalisations have been made.

The loco is shown as out of service at Sheffield.  In reality the location would probably be Tinsley, but Hellfire only has stations in its database - not loco depots, freight yards or BREL works.  The time shown as out of services (0001 01/07) is just a dummy time, to pad out the report.  Every loco which is out of service will be shown as assigned N600 at 0600 on 31/07/81, with an A exam due in 0 hours, for a similar reason, and is just to make the report look superficially like a real E3 1 report.  A loco which is shown out of service on this report is unlikely (but not impossible if required due to power shortages) to work during the game.

Below is a report on 40002, which is shown arriving at Edinburgh on 0Z00, on 01/07.  Every loco which has not been previously allocated to a train in the game will be shown as arriving at its location on a light engine move (0Z00).  40002 is available for traffic, and can be allocated to work at any point.

The following report, for 40035, shows the loco allocated on 1D02, the 0223 Crewe - Holyhead.  In a real E3 1 report, the locations are displayed as the five-digit TOPS codes, but the Hellfire version gives the actual locations for ease of use.

The report for 50032 shows the locomotive to be working the 'Down Midnight' from Paddington to Newton Abbot (it will probably work through to Plymouth but a limitation of Hellfire means that it won't be shown as working through until the train is closer to Newton Abbot).  The approximate location of the train is also given, in terms of the estimated time of arrival.  It looks as if the train is either running late, or the TOPS clerk has not yet updated the system with the arrival of 1B02 at Reading, as the report was run 2 minutes after the ETA at Reading!

  1. AB ALLOX report:

This report returns the locomotive allocated to, or working any train currently active in the game.  Locomotive are usually allocated about three hours prior to departure.  The AB ALLOX report for 1A00, the Barrow - Euston sleeper shows that 86215 is in charge of the train.  This report is slightly less friendly in that some knowledge of TOPS location codes is required to work out that the loco is allocated from Preston to Euston, and its last reported location was Crewe.

  1. TV report:

Colloquially known as a 'power report', this was a complete listing of activity for any location.  The report is best exemplified by looking at a Power Report for Aberdeen.

Just as in a real power report, there is a lot of useful information to be gleaned here.  Reading down the report, we can see that 27005 is currently shown at Inverurie, working 4N06 (Mails to Elgin), and is further allocated on 2N08 (Elgin - Inverness).  There is plenty of spare power at Aberdeen, with 47211 allocated to 2N13 (to Inverness), 47424 to work 1C86 (Carstairs), and 47460 booked for 1T14 (Glasgow QS).

In the section on Locos Allocated to Arrive, 27005 is again shown, at Elgin is included in Aberdeen Power Reports.  Aberdeen will be expecting various 27's and 47's on trains from Inverness, Kings Cross, Dundee and Glasgow.

Note that there is no section for Trains due to Arrive with Locos for Detachment, as Hellfire TOPS reports will include this information in the Locos Allocated To Arrive section instead.  It is also unlikely that 27005 would have been shown as location Inverurie  on a real TOPS report, as it was only booked to call there, but Hellfire includes this for completeness.

Eventually it is hoped to add features such as Exam schedules, fuel hours, realistic failure codes etc in future versions of Hellfire.

A complete list of TOPS location codes can be found courtesy of therailwaycentre.com.

Any comments etc on TOPS reports in Hellfire can be posted to the discussion forum.