Question Regarding AI Dispatcher and Signal Controls

[ILikePortillos]

I'm going to state right off the bat that I'm very new to this sim. That said, I attempted the scenario that has you hauling coal in southern China last night. I was under the impression that dispatch will make all the appropriate switches, and then I would simply follow them. So I'm motoring along several kilometers outside the junction, and about a kilometer after splitting off onto a single rail route. I notice that my next signal is red, so I begin slowing down in advance. As I near the signal, I see headlights in front of me and I gradually come to a halt approximately 25 meters from a tanker train waiting at the same signal to advance in the opposite direction.

What did I miss here? The only obvious solution is for one of us to put it in reverse for more than a kilometer to clear the track for the other, but this seems like poor planning.

I'll readily accept that I've probably done something wrong, but I was just following my signals.

Any insight from the veterans?

 

[ct_krogen]

it happens,,,,,

 

[paulholm]

Dumb Dispatcher is sleeping

I too am new to the sim, and I am running the Norfolk and Southern coal train, and am an impasse with a dual to single track signal wait. I've sat there for hours, checked the map and the oncoming train is sitting idle at the other end of the single track. I'm thinking the heck with it, just bull ahead and go through the signal, but of course that's a rule violation. How do I get the dispatcher to free up the single right of way, either for me or the other guy? Otherwise this game is a waste of time and I won't spend much more time waiting.