220hotwheels

Hi @Goetz I wonder if I might intrude on your expertise once more in order to establish what I am not doing in order to get my bus to exit from Depot 2 through my EV. On the face of it the process is quite straightforward. The bus enters depot 1 and is transferred to depot 2 where after a given period of time it should exit depot 2 in order to continue it's journey. This only happens at the moment if I manually release it, clearly not the best solution. Kind regards Pete virtual depot test layout.mbp

I've added a counter now to each track and am just monitoring the effects, so far so good so onwards and upwards, as they say. Once again many thanks for your help, I apologise for being something of a slow learner but with perseverance I think I get there in the end. You just need to have the patience of Jobe for members like me!!! Cheers Pete

Hi Goetz Having watch The Chain I decided to begin my example of the level crossing barriers again and to work through it stage by stage noting just what happened as I made alterations to my EV. So I basically started off with everything working as it should, both cars and trains, from the original example that you provided and just on a single track. Then I stopped the loco on that track and checked that the one on the second track was fine. Next I set both locos in operation and noted that there were times when the timings for the trains to trip the 'close contact' meant that the barriers would jump if one of the trains was arriving too late and the barriers were beginning to open. I solved this by noting there positions of each loco and adjusting the position of each of the two 'close barriers' contacts. Thus far having run them for 30mins solid all has worked perfectly. I then addressed the operation of the vehicles and these too now seem to function as they should. As I worked through each stage I stopped to ask myself what was happening and how should I proceed to create the next step. Logic and cause and effect at work I hope. Having now seen the example that you have produced to explain your methodology to Douglas I can now see how I might improve my rather haphazard attempt to create one that relied more on trial and error, so many thanks for that. Cheers Pete

How very true. Alf Garnett was very popular back in the 80's/90's. My Dad worked in removals for Pickfords. When he retired he was General manager of their Manchester branch. During school holidays, back in the early 60's I used to work on the vans to earn a bit of pocket money and some of the lads that I worked with were certainly a colourful lot! We also came across many "very thrifty" clients but I don't recall any of them going so far as to take the ashes out of the grate. Anyway many thanks for sharing that little gem. As they say the older ones are the best and that is often so very true. Cheers Pete

Perhaps a bit of both! As for the vehicle movements. I hadn't really consider that and having taken a brief look the results are not good so I still have much work to do. For now however my little grey cells can't take any more logical thinking. Perhaps after I have watched "The Chain" and pondered further I might see the solution. Cheers Pete

Hi Goetz Many thanks for your further prompt to my little grey cells. As a result I think I now have the EV right and the barriers seem to perform as they should. If this is so then your confirmation that my solution is as correct as it should be rather than just a lucky guess at my view of logic would be appreciated after all I might as well get the most perfect EV solution rather than just one that seems to work. Assuming all to be correct then I will look to apply this to my layout. Cheers Pete Level crossing barriers test layout.mbp

Hi Goetz Well I have taken your advice and tackled the problem with both logic and cause and effect. The net result is to at least have the barriers working fine on the close front. They also work OK on the open front although I don't seem to be able to achieve the "last train past" element for opening the barriers. Each train does this independently. My conclusion is that instead of having this instruction in the EV for each track that I somehow need to have this only once, perhaps in common instructions. My dilemma is just how to construct this so that it refers to each track. Are you able to point me in the right direction please. Cheers Pete Level crossing barriers test layout.mbp

I totally agree but without too much information to explain each element, its effects and aims then all you have left is a stab in the dark. It is rather like learning to become a motor mechanic. You either learn by example or you learn through training. Both provide you with a degree of information and one hopes skills to move forward but if the trainee is given the task of replacing the ABS system and left to get on with it then all he has available is the ability to take a stab in the dark. Anyway that said I continue my deliberations with the crossing barriers and am trying to apply logic. Perhaps it is too early to say but I am hopeful that I might have seen the errors of my "stab in the Dark" days, certainly with one track, now to move on and see if the same logic will allow both tracks to control the barriers correctly. I'll let you know how things turn out even if the criminal element of my EV gets the better of me!! Cheers Pete

Hi Goetz As you have already noted, Douglas has also replied with more or less the same advice. You are perfectly correct in your comment that I do tend to do things at random in the hope that I get it right, using only a little true knowledge. I do find however that, for me at least, repetition is the most effective way to address a problem especially when some of the instruction is not necessarily immediately obvious. So time to try to apply a more logical approach. I'll let you know how I get on. Cheers Pete

Hi Douglas Many thanks for your advice, some of which definitely sounds a bit like monkey business!! I can follow your comments to a point. One train runs round and operates the barriers correctly. If I check the variable just after the train has contacted the TC to close them then the variable count is. After it has passed the TC to open the barrier then the count is returned to zero. With both trains on the move the first passes the TC to close and adds 1 to the variable. If I stop that train before it gets to the crossing and allow the second one to proceed then the variable is increased to 2 . After both trains have passed their respective TC's to open the barriers then the variable returns to 0. So I conclude that is working fine. I have just had a message from Goetz which has basically told me the same thing as you have mentioned, no testing condition. I now think I know what to do in order to sort this out. I'll let you know how I get on. Pete

Hi Goetz As promised I have created a small test layout using my somewhat limited knowledge in order to extend the original operations perfectly functioning level crossing barrier control, albeit for just a single track. Clearly I am either barking up the wrong tree, metaphorically speaking, or just got the right bits but in the wrong order, or totally wrong all together. Having taken the original system I concluded that I needed to introduce a counting mechanism in order to tell the barriers when to open and close and so I added a number variable to the barriers as well as the keyword. It seems to work by either adding one or subtracting one but the barriers still go up and down of their own free will. So my conclusion. It's definitely the chauffeur with monkey wrench who keeps attacking my poor crossing barriers, unless of course you know something different!!! Cheers Pete Level crossing barriers test layout.mbp

Hi Goetz I have ben playing around with all sorts since my last message and have now got the barriers to come down when they should and go up when they should the only problem now is that each train as it triggers the action causes the barriers to go up and down so I have ended up with the equivalent of a Greek police man directing traffic and barriers going up and down as if chopping meat. It's quite comical really but for tonight I have decided that I cannot cope with any more humour, my sides just won't take any more laughter so I'll take another look tomorrow to see if I can see my next errors. I would be quite happy to send you a copy of this amusing operation, I feel a bit like Inspector Clouseau, but I'm not quite sure how best to do so. I can't send you the whole mbp as it's over 5250kb so I might just have to redo a test layout tomorrow and send that. For now I will lay down my truncheon, hang up my handcuffs and call it a day!!! Cheers Pete

Hi Goetz I've just been working through my EV in an effort to try to provide you with more detail. I began by looking at the four barriers, which I have in two groups but all four have the same variable "DECBARRIER. In carrying out this little exercise I noted that this variable is a keyword and I now wonder if it should be a number. I'll try that and see if it solves the problem. My only other thought is whether I should have all four barriers in just one group? Kind regards Pete

Hi Goetz Having got to grips with the basics of level crossing barrier control, thanks to your advice and example, I now have the challenge of adapting this to cope with multiple tracks. Sorting it out so that any train on any track operates the barriers and controls the vehicles was not so difficult but I now seem to be getting in a bit of a muddle trying to adjust this so that the barrier will only go up and the vehicles start to move after the last train has passed. I have taken the liberty to attach my efforts thus far which have been based on the assumption that each train would have to add '1' to the crossing barriers as they approach and a minus'1' as they leave so that when '0' is reached the barriers can go up and the vehicles start to move. Clearly I have not got this right and am not sure how to achieve this. Might I call upon your expertise for more guidance please. Kind regards Pete

Well in a way I'm glad it did do it for you in V7 although I had hoped that my skills for messing things up was a unique skill solely attributable to me. Just goes to show that I'm not alone in the messing up department!! whether by chance , over enthusiasm, through a unique skill or just plain carelessness. I think I like the unique skill the most!! Kind regards Pete

Hi Many thanks for your thoughts and the clip. That you have not been able to reproduce this in V7 is surprising. I seem to be able to make all kinds of mistakes in just about every version of the program that I have had, V4,V5,V6 and V7. It must just be one of my many talents!!! Kind regards Pete

Hi Goetz Many thanks for that. It certainly explains what I might be doing to cause this so I will have to be more careful in the future and take your advice with regard to recording via either Windows or Nvidia. It has taken me almost one hour to correct these errors, which is an hour I could have spent on more productive activities. That said it's all part of the learning curve!!! Kind regards Pete

Hi everyone I wonder if anyone else has found that some TC's seem to magically move off track every now and then. Perhaps it is something that I am doing that makes this happen. The only conclusion in that regard so far is that when moving my mouse over the layout I am inadvertently catching an object and causing it to move but it would seem to be rather coincidental that it only seems to affect TC's and the occasional piece of track. All of that said I have also noted that some cargo pads, locked to waggons, also seem to move every now and then and those are definitely not through anything that I have caught inadvertently. I am generally curious to know why this might happen and is there a solution short of applying some Gorilla glue!!!! Kind regards Pete

Hi Herman I do agree with you that there are lots of very interesting post especially with regard to V7. My personal; view, although I only have V4,5 and 6 as comparisons is that V7 is by far the most exiting. There's lots to get used to but ultimately once these new skills have been mastered, even to a degree, the scope for improvement to layouts from earlier versions is really exiting. Currently I am remodelling one that I started in V4, which remained unfinished, when I was just a raw beginner but with the help of friends on the forum I have been able to make such improvements. Roundabouts though still pose one of my items to solve at some point. Kind regards Pete

Hi Herman Only just picked up your post. I am not very good at explaining how things work but might I suggest you take a look at an item I posted earlier "reversing out of a parking bay". I think the answer that you are seeking might well lie in this item with the solution provided by @simonjackson1964with a comment by @Goetz. I now have the problem solved. My next dilemma is roundabout control. At the moment I have just too many very poor drivers who just don't want to give way. But that is a problem for another day. Hope the above helps. Kind regards Pete

Hi Simon Pure genius, that's all I have to say on the subject. Having followed your example to the letter I now have a properly working parking area. I'll now add a few more vehicles to the pot plus a police patrol vehicle and see if I can eliminate road rage and the odd collision. At least I now have a blueprint from which to experiment. Many thanks for your guidance. Pete

Hi Simon I have tried the option of clicking the target section in the properties tab, made no difference. Your second option is, to me, just a bit too technical unless I am reading too much into the way forward with it. My solution has been to delete all of the EV relating to that particular operation. This might seem radical but so far, fingers crossed it does seem to have got rid of that b----y route, so I'll start again, set a route from the car park exit round a test route and back to the stop point in the parking area. From that point I will adopt your suggestion to set the relevant targets to reverse out and to then proceed to the track contact just before the one currently set as the start point for the auto route. I hope that works. If not then the auto route is out completely and I will simply set a number of targets for the car to hop from one to the other. The latter we know will work from your demo but it seems a shame not to take advantage of the new auto routing system. I'll let you know how I get on. Pete

Silly me, I forgot to attach the screenshot showing the problem route. Pete

Good morning one and all, @simonjackson1964 @Dad3353 Your solutions seem to hit the mark. I cannot wait to put them fully into practice. I do seem to have one issue though that I just have not been able to resolve. I have a small section of route selected via the auto route system and I just cannot get rid of it. I've tried replacing each of the contacts, the road sections and the vehicle but all to no avail. The problem seems to be that as soon as the contact to start that route is tripped then the route is initialised and all other routes are deleted, anyone know why? If I set up another independent route it does not delete the old one!!! Before I can fully appreciate the genius of your joint efforts I need to get rid of that b-----dy route. Pete

Now that's sound perfect. I have been experimenting too but only to se if I can incorporate the "autopilot" system in conjunction with your solution. Both systems work absolutely fine, to a point. Your bit is no problem but I am having real problems with the auto routing. I can set the start point, set the route all the way round to the parking bay. However, in my earlier experiments I set a short auto route from the equivalent of your contact 0 to the parking bay contact 1 and I cannot for the life of me get rid of it. The problem now is that the vehicle follows the little green line all the way round the given route but as soon as it get to contact 0 the short route takes over and the full route is deleted. The same thing happens when the vehicle reverses out of the parking bay and hits the stop contact 2. Perhaps after I have slept on this I might see the solution. Either that or I will have to duplicate this part of my layout in a demo one and try that one instead until I get it right. Pete