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# 2.9.1.2 Car Part Dialog

This dialog is similar the the Car Item dialog except that the Car Item Information section is not displayed. The Manufacturer Drop Down List is editable so you can enter a new manufacturer, and you must enter a Part Number. If you are adding a new car part, the Part Number field will be incremented (if it is a numeric value) so you can enter a number of car parts.

The middle section contains:

  The Road, Reporting Mark, Number and Color. You can choose a Road name from the list of known road names or enter a new value. If known, the reporting mark (road name abbreviation) is filled in. These values control what label content is shown for Cars. If a reporting number is present the rep mark and the rep number will be used if the Cars Label Option is on in Section 2.10.3

  Car Dimensions which contain the major dimensions of the car and how the coupler is mounted on the car. The Coupler Length is measured from the edge of the car body to the pulling face of the coupler. It is equivalent to half the separation between two coupled cars.

  - When entering values, the `p` key will convert a prototype measurement to a scale measurement.

  - The length dimension has the following relationship, so changing one value will affect the others:

      Coupled Length = Car Length + 2 * Coupler Length

      The Center Offset moves the center of the two trucks from the center of the Car. This is a common feature of steam locomotives and means the envelope of the engine requires greater seperation between tracks on small radius curves. The minimum clearance needed can be seen by placing the car with the greatest distance from the center of the trucks to the corner on the inner radius and the car with the greatest distance between the trucks on the outer radius. See NMRA TN-7 Curved Track Centerline and Obstacle Clearance Calculation Methodology.

  A diagram showing the position of the trucks and couplers.