Introduction

Rail Ops keeps track of every locomotive and car you own, plus the towns and tracks they run on. Import your roster, map your layout, build waybills to run operating sessions, and print car cards, loco cards, and station signs — all from the same data.

Core concepts

There are four things to know about:

• Roster — the master list of every locomotive and car you own.
• Layout — the tracks, industries, and stations that make up your railroad.
• Operations — the waybills and car movements you build once your layout is set up, so you have something to run a session on.
• Document templates — the car cards, loco cards, and station signs you generate from your roster and layout.

Who it's for

Anyone with a roster to keep track of. A shelf switching layout with thirty cars gets as much out of it as a basement railroad with six hundred.

Getting set up

Rail Ops runs in your browser.

1. Go to railops.app and request access.
2. Confirm your email address.
3. Sign in to open your workspace.

Once you're signed in, create your first layout:

1. Select New layout from the dashboard.
2. Give it a name (for example, Chesapeake Division).
3. Add your first station or staging track.

Rail Ops works in any modern browser. Printing cards and signs is easier from a desktop or laptop.

Tip: You don't have to enter everything at once. Start with a handful of cars and grow your roster over time.

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