Level Crossings and road junction traffic light control

[220hotwheels]

Hi to all my fellow members

I realise there was a post in January regarding programming level crossings suitable answered by Goetz. However, I would now like to take this to another level.

It would seem that both level crossings and road junction control can present issues for many members, myself included. Several years ago both Goetz and Roter Brummer helped me to resolve these issues, in particular with regard to multiple tracks. Since then I have tried to fine tune both of these elements in order to provide as much realism as possible.

Whilst the basic principle remains fairly straightforward, in reality there are several components that come into play when fine tuning, not least of all time and location of each element.

Over the years I have been privileged to benefit from both the expertise of other members as well as the extraordinary skill of our model makers and I now think it time to try to give just a little bit back.

Model building with Blender is definitely not a possibility. The skill to produce anything within that media is totally beyond me. However, I am a bit of an artist. I enjoy creating large model layouts and finding solutions to operational issues.

With that in mind I have prepared a demo layout which incorporates both level crossing and traffic light control. It may not be perfect, it may not be the most sophisticated but it does seem to work OK .

One final point I should mention falls into the category of either operator inadequacy, program limitations or simply road rage. I refer of course to the occasional incidents where  a vehicle tries to either jump the queue or push through another vehicle that is negotiating a turn. Either way if anyone can provide a solution then I would be most grateful.

Everything else included in the layout is just a distraction to fill the space.

I have also prepared a short instruction sheet which I hope will help.

Have fun. I hope it all works as well for you as it has been for me.

Cheers

Pete

Level crossing and traffic light controlled road junctions demo_1.mbp Level crossing and traffic light controlled junctions.pdf

[Phrontistes]

However, a traffic light just behind a railway crossing is very dangerous.

[220hotwheels]

1 hour ago, Phrontistes said:

However, a traffic light just behind a railway crossing is very dangerous.

True it's not ideal but it does happen more than one might think. There are such crossings within a 9 mile radius of my home. Clearly human beings are somewhat better at coping than a computer program.

Anyway many thanks for your view on this. I could have made the layout more sterile I suppose.

Cheers 

Pete

[Phrontistes]

That's the case in my area too. But there is an additional traffic light in front of the railway crossing because apparently not everyone follows the rule that you're not allowed to drive onto a railway crossing unless you're sure you can leave it straight away.

[220hotwheels]

13 minutes ago, Phrontistes said:

That's the case in my area too. But there is an additional traffic light in front of the railway crossing because apparently not everyone follows the rule that you're not allowed to drive onto a railway crossing unless you're sure you can leave it straight away.

And I think that is really the difference between us and a computer program. We are taught not to enter any obstacles unless you have a clear exit. In the case of the demo I could perhaps move the counter and close tc's further back up the track to ensure the barriers close sooner and link the flashing barrier lights to the tc too.

[Phrontistes]

Or you can place additional track contacts in front of and behind the barrier to ensure that no car drives onto the level crossing if the car in front of it has not yet cleared the space. Just like in real life. 

[220hotwheels]

7 hours ago, Phrontistes said:

Or you can place additional track contacts in front of and behind the barrier to ensure that no car drives onto the level crossing if the car in front of it has not yet cleared the space. Just like in real life. 

Great solution, now why didn't I think of that!!!!!! Perhaps because at this moment in time I'm not sure just how to implement that but a little experimenting will soon find the answer.  Many thanks for your advice. Once revised I'll post an amended version. It really is Murphy's law that you had the bus stopped on the crossing with the barrier down. I thought I had adjusted the timings on the lights to take this into account. Just goes to show, the closer you are to something the less you see.

Cheers

Pete

[220hotwheels]

Hi Phrontistes

Having taken your advice I have introduced some TC's to control the traffic on the side affected by the traffic lights. It does seem to work OK but I can't help feeling that my interpretation is just a bit ham fisted. The traffic flows OK but it is a bit stilted. I have played around with the position of the TC's but seems to make much of a difference. Perhaps you know of a more sophisticated way to approach this which will add greater realism. Otherwise I will revise the *.pdf and repost.

Kind regards

Pete

 

Level crossing and traffic light controlled road junctions demo_1.mbp

[Phrontistes]

vor 1 Stunde schrieb 220hotwheels:

just a bit ham fisted

Yes, it is. It doesn't look like every vehicle always stops in front of the barrier. It's not easy to avoid this completely. But as a first step, you could disable this stopping when the traffic light is green.

[220hotwheels]

1 hour ago, Phrontistes said:

Yes, it is. It doesn't look like every vehicle always stops in front of the barrier. It's not easy to avoid this completely. But as a first step, you could disable this stopping when the traffic light is green.

Thanks for that. I'll take another look at that element. The problem seems to be trying to strike a happy balance between the various vehicle sizes. At the moment I have chosen to get everyone to stop until told to proceed. I introduced the second barrier stop to try to ensure that if the barrier was down and a vehicle stopped on the temp stop that it did not begin to move through the closed barrier if the vehicle on the other side moved due to a traffic light change and therefore release the one stopped on the other side temp stop. Yes it can release it but then it must stop at the second barrier stop to await said barrier lifting. I'm still not sure I have this right yet as the temp stop sets a speed to go which I think the second barrier stop might simply ignore but as yet this has not come into play.

More monitoring ahead.

Kind regards

Pete

[Phrontistes]

Just a suggestion, because that's how I tend to do it: It's better to have fewer contacts with more logic. The primary logic must of course be that the car is not allowed to move when the barrier is closed.

[220hotwheels]

11 minutes ago, Phrontistes said:

Just a suggestion, because that's how I tend to do it: It's better to have fewer contacts with more logic. The primary logic must of course be that the car is not allowed to move when the barrier is closed.

Once again thanks for that. I'll take another look at all of this later and see if I can make a more "professional" solution based on your suggestion.