3rd rail

[andy_disco]

Has anybody managed to create an section of track with electrified 3rd rail? I see this as an option, but haven't yet finished terraforming so I can lay track. Thanks.

Disco

[OilFire]

LAST EDITED ON Jul-13-01 AT 02:14AM (EST)[p]As much as I could figure out the 3rd rail and overhead wires are the same thing, clicking 3rd rail just gives me overhead wires.
It seems the way the game sees it, if you want electricity, you have to have overhead wires.

Just a thought, but maybe the wire height can be changed to zero, and either sit visible in the middle of the track, or invisible just below the track.

LoL this dodgy editor cracks me up :-)

[wildh0rse]

I don;t know about you, but the editor made me crack up a long time ago...:)

Ya it seems you get wires whenever you electrify, another "undocumented feature" I suppose :p

I think you can try that wire-height trick and hope for the best. I don't believe they included anything like a third rail. Once again THANK YOU Kuju and MS!!!

[wewain]

I selected 3rd rail and made wire height zero. You don't see a 3rd rail, but you don't see wires either.

Perhaps someone will post info about how to add 3rd rail to the track visuals. Ideas anyone?

[Xacto]

LAST EDITED ON Jul-13-01 AT 09:36AM (EST)[p]I made a sample third rail object a while back. You can get it here:

http://www.erols.com/true2scale/3drail.zip

It's a 10M length of NYC style 3rd rail covered with a protective board. It includes a .s, .sd, and .ace file, you would have to do the ref info for it. I'm not sure if it works, someone said it didn't show up for them, but give it a try. If you lower the wire as you have and use this, it should properly simulate the look of a 3rd rail route. This is not a track section, just the cosmetic third rail.

Let me know if it works, if not I can take a look at the files and see what I did wrong.

Cliff

[jeffmorris]

I think that the "3rd rail" option in Route Editor is really wire down the center of the track much like Lionel 3-rail track. If you don't want to see this wire, you will have to regular track and diesel locomotive. It is possible to create a "diesel" locomotive that sounds like an electric locomotive by using different motor sound files. Jeffrey.

[jeffmorris]

I found out that the "3rd Rail" option in the route properties dialog box is DISABLED because I thought that I enabled it and tried to run my own "subway" route but I got the Japanese diesel rail cars instead of the Japanese electric commuter train. I went back to the route editor, set the route to non-electric, and saved the route. I loaded the *.ENG files for the Japanese Series 2000 electric commuter train into MS Word, changed the engine type to diesel, and saved the files. When I ran my own "subway" route, I was able to run the Japanese electric commuter train. My own "subway" route is the BMT 4th Avenue route from 95th Street to Pacific Street on ground level, not underground. Jeffrey.

[jeffmorris]

I tried to load your track with 3rd rail into MSTS but I got "Failed to load 3drail.s file" message. Jeffrey.