Waiting for other trains

[richard_greaney]

Hi all. This is my first post to the group so forgive me if this is a frequently asked question.

I'm making some small activities on Marias Pass at the moment. I'm using the section where it is single line, and my original intention was to make it so that you had to stop your train at various double-track segments in order to cross with trains already on single-line segments. Unfortunately, the game seems to beleive that you will have no patience, and makes them wait at the switch where it FIRST goes from double to single line, while you complete the entire section. This is highly unrealistic and isn't really what I was after. If I start the trains so they are already on the single line segment, then yes, my train has to wait for them before proceeding, but with sections of double-track in between myself and them, and my train waiting at the beginning, I'm left wondering why there are double track segments in between the two trains at all.

Is there any way I can solve this? The signals don't seem to be doing their job properly.

Thanks in advance
Richard

[Kip]

When I first started making my own activities, I had the same exact problem you do. Waiting for the traffic to go by. I soon realized that there must be a mistake in paths of both my service and the traffic service's of their own paths. Concerning double lines going from or going to single lines and obeying the signals can be a pain if the paths are not correct.

I have set out activities where I have my train going west and another going east. Somewhere in the middle they will meet up somewhere. When I make the path for my train, I always put the path on the "right-lane" whenever there are two main lines, and on the traffic path I put it on the "left-lane". By doing this, the "dispatcher" will toggle the signals accordingly (or suppose to) and your margin of error will be quite a bit less. If you just "pop" in a traffic path without testing it or at least looking at it's actual path in the activities editor, you will get conflicts. Basically, the most common "error" scenerio is that you are waiting on one end for the traffic train to come by from the single line, but at the same time the traffic train is doing the same exact thing on the other end because the "paths" will be on the same "right-lane" line. You must make sure the traffic train will using the opposite line when traveling. Depending on the consist you have, first come, first serve happens here. Whichever train approaches the "area" of concern first will usally have to wait....unless the other train is too far away.

Once you have completed the activity in the editor and have the times set up for both your train and the traffic train, go to TOOLS in the menu, click on Verify Starting State and set it at 128x then hit the play button. Watch the two trains move through the map, if by chance they come close to another single to double line, one of them will stop to wait for the other. One of the other trains should keep going until they pass each other. If that scenerio happens in the Verify Start State, then you know it should work. But if the two trains share the same line in the double sections, you will have a "freeze" in the game because both trains are waiting for each other to pass because their both their signals will be red.

When making these types of activities, you MUST test the service and paths of each train.

They have to share single lines, but in the double sections of track, think of them as a highway. Put your train on the "right" as the traffic trains will be on the "left" from your perpective. That way either one of you will wait at a signal while the other passes. If they share the same line on a double, they will wait "forever" at a signal for train that is doing the same exact thing on the other end...or further. Test the scenerio in the editor with the Verify Start State and play at 128x and see if they complete their services. Good Luck!