simonjackson1964

Okay, thanks. that looks an awful lot easier... I guess with junctions, the best thing is to run one way, then reposition the train at the post before the junction and run it the other way... What about multiple tracks though? I mean obviously with a double track, you just run the catenary down both sides. But what about three or even four tracks...? Prototype, of course... That's the Midland Mainline But this is what I want to electrify... I already discovered that the tunnel mouth and signals are too low, I have my work-around for those already. But basically I need a gantry that will span four tracks and two platforms, that I can hang the contact wires from. Suggestions appreciated? I suppose as an interim I could fit the masts between the tracks...

... To electrify my layout as Network Rail took to electrify the Great Western line! Seriously, can someone come up with a spline base overhead catenary system please? I just spent two hours trying to put those damn wires in the right places, and every time I move one it decides it wants to turn itself through 180 degrees. I found I had to individually position each component, and manoeuvre it into place millimetre by millimetre. If I tried to drag it, it decided it wanted to be somewhere other than over the piece of track I wanted it over. In the end I gave up. I'll just use diesels.

That seems to work, thanks!

Thanks, that's really helpful. You should put that post into the FAQ, or somewhere that is isn't ultimately going to get lost. I think I know what I was doing wrong. Let me try it again...

Hi Andy. It's gone 11 pm so I'll have another crack at it tomorrow evening. You said the syntax I'm using is correct? Is it $My_Variable + 1 , or just +1, and if the former, should it have the spaces either side of the +? I've tried various combinations, but it's difficult to keep track of what I've tried! The other question that is begged by this, is can I add two variables together? [$Value_1 + $Value_2]

I'm missing something simple here... It ought to be ACTION [Set Variable]; Variable Name [My_Variable]; Value [$My_Variable + 1] Or even ACTION [Set Variable]; Variable Name [My_Variable]; Value [+1] But that doesn't seem to work for some reason... Incrementing a counter should be a basic function, but I can't seem to figure out how to make it happen. I create the variable manually to ensure it is there. I let it increment, then go back to check... And it's gone. It's not even there with a zero value, it just isn't there at all! Actually this seems to be a weird "feature" of the system. Refer to a variable in just one place and it vanishes. It seems that to have a variable recognised by the program you need to check its value somewhere that you aren't setting its value? Anyway, point is, I would like to be able to increment values, and can't seem to find out how. Simon

Yeah, thanks. I realised that after trying to do it using "vehicle enters track" events on six lengths of track triggered by the loco hitting the track! Couldn't figure out why it didn't work in the direction I wanted it to but did in the other one... Tried it again, having a fair idea suddenly what was wrong. Sure enough, as the lead wagon (being pushed) hit the first track length, BINGO, there was the coal! So, I am going to use the numerical order of the wagons, a variable that counts 1 to 3, but is set to 0 when not loading the wagons, and a variable that counts 1 to 6... Somehow. Details still being worked out in my head! Thanks for the tip!

Nope, tried that too. It didn't work either! (The invisible car, I mean).

So... Follow-up question... HOW? I have my empty wagons (I decided to use a hopper wagon rather that the open wagon, as it has a more realistic emptying action). I have my coal textured mesh, linked to each wagon. The wagons are numbered (1-18) and the coal meshes have the corresponding number. The coal moves with the wagon, no trouble at all, whether visible or invisible. My issue is, how do I make the coal become visible as the wagon passes under the coal hopper? I've tried creating an event for when the wagon enters the track length that is under the hopper, but it doesn't do anything. I suspect this is because the wagon is not defined as a "vehicle". I typed the wagon name into "User Defined" vehicle, but it doesn't seem to do anything. The only way I can think of doing it is to make sure my coal wagons are always in the same order, and put six track lengths the same length as the wagons in front of the coal run, and have a variable that is set 1 to 3, so that as the loco pushing the wagons enters each section it triggers the event for wagons 1, 7 & 13, then 2, 8 & 14, 3, 9 & 15, etc, and which wagon is dependent on the variable. I don't like that idea, because it mucks up my track geometry. If it's the only way I guess I'll bite the bullet and do it. Unless I attach an invisible car to each wagon?

Thanks Max. That seems easy enough. It just seems a shame when someone has gone to all the trouble of actually doing it for me but not made it obvious how to change the state...! You'd have thought they would have realised that people will want to do this and made an easy way to make it happen. Simon

Hi again. You can always tell the newbies, we ask a lot of questions... So. I'm not even sure if this is possible, but the only other way I can think of doing it is really clumsy. The Güterwagen Railion lang ("Freight Car Railion long" according to Google Translate) has two options One with a load of coal, and one without. Guess what I'm going to ask...? Is there a way of making the wagon change state automatically, as it passes under a hopper or stops by a machine? There must be a variable on the object, but how do I find out what it is called in order to set an event to change its value? (I'm guessing the values will be 1 and 0 respectively) For that matter, is there a way of listing all the variables that an object has? The variable menu lets you create new ones, but that doesn't help in this situation. The only other way I can think of doing this other than manually changing the load state of each wagon, is to use a hidden layer and somehow flip the wagons between layers. I'm not entirely sure how to do that, either, but someone mentioned it as being a better option that turning things invisible...

I know it's hot, and I know that heat can cause steel rails to buckle and warp. But I honestly didn't think it could get hot enough to buckle the rails on a model railway, let alone a virtual model railway...! And yet it seems this is what is happening! I swear I have "walked" every millimetre of that track, aligning all the track joints, and yet every time I re-open the layout there are another couple of joints out of alignment. I re-align them and save. "Walk" the track (traverse it with the camera at just above the track level), find any others, save... And yet when I re-open, there are new ones! I'm using the Fleishman N track, because other than Pico it's the only one I've ever heard of - and the Pico track looks wrong somehow...! Anyway, is there some sort of a known bug with the Fleishman track that causes it to have a mind of it's own and move at random? Cos I swear, I'm on the verge of replacing every bit of it!

I already realised that! (The hard way!) Fortunately the goods yard has no "wiring" yet. (I call it wiring, because that's what it would be on a physical model railway - half a tonne of "spaghetti" dangling off the bottom of the baseboard!) One thing I do like is that if you change the name of an object, that change is cascaded through the entire event file. Otherwise it would be a nightmare changing every single occurrence!

Hi Andy. Thanks, that seems to be exactly what I was looking for! Now to try it out with 8 different locos hauling 8 different trains on my 12 block layout....... Ugh. If it works (and I've no reason to think it won't), I will have to re-edit most of the train control events. I also realised why I was having trouble with "Head & Tail" (or "Push-me-pull-you") railcars, thanks to your example. The one at the back is going backwards... Allowing for negative speed values will help with this (Needs a bit of tweaking to give the rear loco its initial -ve speed, but do-able), but also with the very likely idea that a diesel drives forward into a siding, has the wagons uncoupled and shunted into a different siding to be filled/emptied, then the diesel attaches to the other end of the train and hauls it back out in the opposite direction - In prototype, the driver just gets in the cab at the other end of the loco. In the model, the loco is now going backwards! (I checked to make sure my locos were facing forwards before adding them to the layout). Thanks for all your help. When I've got the layout how I want it, I'll publish it and let you have a play! (Oh, please don't go away though... I will probably need more help when I start trying to get the goods yard working! That's on hold until the main-line does what I want. And I'm not happy with yard track formation yet - one of the best things about this program is the ability to rip up the track and re-lay it all, without having to buy new track!) Simon

Ah, right, got that. So I create a variable in there, called "Speed" and give it a value 135. (for example) Then, I have an event, for when the signal is toggled to green, that has the action "Set Vehicle speed" to "$my_train.Speed". That works for the locomotive called "my_train". What about the other 7 trains I have running? (Not usually all at once but sometimes, just to slow things down a bit... Basically I have two 5-track fiddle-yards, one at each end of a double-track - technically it's just a squashed single track loop! Track 1 is automated and just pushes each train back out as it comes in. Tracks 2-5 are manually controlled with some serious interlocking on the control switches (learned the hard way).) The track lengths and signals all have user variables too.The problem is, not how to get the speed I want into the locomotive, it's how to get the value out of the specific locomotive and save it. I think it might actually just be easier to create a "Set Vehicle Speed" action for each loco, at each signal. Unless there is a way I can somehow save the loco name when it stops at the signal?

Hi Andy Sorry, I'm not sure what I'm looking for? I have found the "Event Wizard" button has a list of active variables in it, which helped me debug my semi-automatic fiddle-yard... I'm wondering if there is a "behind the scenes" coding tool, that shows the actual event code the wizard creates? I've not found it yet if there is!

I found a solution, actually! It works now. To summarise what I said originally: I had two trains and two signals (With the layout under development, I wanted to get one signal block working before investing the time in all the others). Signal 1 is the starter for Bock 1 and Signal 2 is the starter for block 2. Train A is in block 1 (having been driven past Signal 1 manually). Train B is in the fiddle-yard (Call it Block 0). Signal 2 is green and has no control on it yet... Train B drives out of the fiddle-yard and stops (correctly) at signal 1. Train A is continuing forward and passes signal 2 (having no effect because 2 is not yet "wired up"). As the tail of Train A passes signal 2, it triggers a "vehicle leaving" event which turns signal 1 green, allowing train B into block 1. But the moment Train B hits the track section that triggers the event to change the signal to red, which in turn triggers the event to stop the train on the preceding track section, the train stops, because the loco is still partly on that section! The solution I came up with is so obvious I deserve a slap for not thinking of it sooner: I put a length of track between the length that stops the train and the length that changes the signal, long enough for the longest locomotive to fit on! *FACEPALM!* That way the loco is clear of the stop section before it hits the trigger section! If there were more guides and instructions in English, this would be a much more universal product... The entire world speaks some English, but only a small part speaks German. I was unaware that there are any available samples, because I don't understand most of the threads in this forum! ------------------------------- I do have a related question, though. At present on my layout, when a signal goes green because the preceding train has left the block, the train stopped at the signal speeds up to a set speed determined by the event that starts it going. Is there a way of telling the loco to always speed to a unique value, so for example a freight train might get up to 100kph, where an express passenger train might get up to 200kph (And get realistically stuck behind the freight...) without the need to create a starter event for each loco at each signal? If there isn't, I'll just have to get my coding hands out of the drawer I keep them in and bite the bullet!

I have just recently purchased version 4. I love it, I also (perversely) love the frustration of trying to work out how to make it do what I want...! But now I think it's time to give up struggling and ask! I'm sure this must be really easy to do because it is a basic function of automatic train control. I have managed to make the train entering the block turn the signal red, and the train leaving the block turn it green. I can get the train to stop at the red signal, And get it to start again when the signal changes to green, but the moment the train enters the block and turns the signal red, it stops again. I'm sure there must be an easy way to do this... The way I have found seems awfully complicated!