help · Basics

Getting started

How the work is organised: from a project to a report, in six steps.

RailTools brings together the tools for overhead lines; the start page shows them as tiles, and the top bar links them:

  • BEAM checks single masts: you describe a mast with its parts, BEAM calculates it and writes a report with a number that anyone can verify. This article follows BEAM's work.
  • WIRE describes how a conductor behaves over temperature and wind - the wire loads BEAM and OCL use - and evaluates the sag of a span (WIRE - wires and sag).
  • OCL, for structures with several masts, portal frames and truss masts, follows.

The steps of the work

Open a project and one of its iterations. Under the logo you see the project, the iteration and the mast you are working on, with your unsaved changes and the check-out state. The row below is the toolbar: on the left new project, open project, save and save as new iteration, then the steps, in the order of the work:

  1. Project data - the project data: line, km, owner, structure type, wind reduction.
  2. Masts - the masts of the iteration: name, length, material, up to 8 masts.
  3. Site plan - the site plan, where you draw the wires and take their spans and angles.
  4. Parts - the parts on each mast: as a table, or on the mast photo (Table / Photo).
  5. Results - the calculation and its results.
  6. Report - the report of one or more masts.

The steps for a single mast (site plan, parts, results) apply to the mast shown in the top line: its name opens a list of all masts, the arrows beside it go to the previous and the next one, and you stay on the same step. The list shows each mast's usage and its state: Ready to calculate, Inputs missing or no parts yet.

The getting-started checklist

A new account starts with a sample project and the checklist Getting started on the projects page: open the sample, look at a mast on its picture, calculate it, open the 3D view. Each step is ticked when you really do it, and a line at the top of every page shows the next one. Hide tips ends the tips.

Check out, then edit

Anyone with access can look at a project. To change it, check it out first with Check out: then nobody else can save it until you check it in again with Check in. You hold one project at a time; logging in or out releases your check-outs.

Saving

The two save buttons in the toolbar save the page you are on: Save overwrites the iteration you are working on; Save as new iteration keeps it and stores your changes as a new iteration of the same project. The mast photo counts its unsaved changes and warns you before you leave it.

The top bar

At the top left, RailTools brings you to the start page, and BEAM and WIRE open the tools. At the top right you choose the language and the colour scheme (like the system, light, dark), open My account and licence with your name, and log out. The ? opens the help for the page you are on; Back there brings you back to that page. Everything happens in one tab: a page with unsaved changes asks before you leave it.

The footer

At the bottom of every page: Imprint, Privacy, Terms of use, Support - how to reach us and what to tell us - and What's new, the changes of each version. If the tool shows an unexpected error, the page gives a short reference: quote it when you contact support.

Asking support

Ask support (on Support and on every error page) opens a form: choose the topic and describe the problem. RailTools adds where you were - the iteration, the mast, the page, an error reference and the version - so you need not copy them. You receive a confirmation by mail; the answer comes by mail and is also shown on the same page under Your requests.

  • With priority support (depending on your plan): a request before 14:00 is answered the same working day by 17:00, a later one the next working day by 12:00.
  • Without: within 2 working days, by 17:00.

Working days are Monday to Friday, Swiss time; public holidays do not count as working days.

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