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@ obo - As you don't have your location on your details, I'm not sure if I can help but I'm guessing the reason you ask this question is in relation to setting up catenary? I got a kindly content creator to make me a catenary height tool but it's only good for UK assets. There may be something similar for higher panto heights. Search the DLS for pantograph height tools. I'm sure I found a few but none were for the UK so that makes me think there is a US or EU version available already. Sorry if I have misunderstood your reason for asking.
Hello everybody,
Is there a tram or trainmodel available where the pantograph has been designed in the upwards position. A model which is only used when one is making his/her route and is busy with the placement of pylons, catenary, etc.
Kurt :wave:
There are 2 trams made by "motorman1066" as scenic items with raised trolley poles, 6.4 metre height. They are trs2004 models so tick the 2004 box if you use the black DLS search.
Doug.
The 2 trams are available at the following links:
Brisbane Drop Centre Tram (Scenery Item) kuid2:108959:27365:2
https://www.auran.com/TRS2004/DLS_viewasset.php?AssetID=91108
Brisbane Four Motor Tram (Scenery Item) kuid2:108959:27429:2
https://www.auran.com/TRS2004/DLS_viewasset.php?AssetID=91110
Peter
Hello Peter,
Thank you for your assistance.
Downloaded both - but trolley is also down.
Best regards
Kurt :wave:
This may be overcomplicated/impractical, but if you're hanging a lot of wire on a layout with serious hills/curvature might be worth a try:
Clone the loco/tram you're actually going to use on the layout.
Add an attachment point (or points) identical in location to the existing a.pant0 (and a.pant1) with different name(s).
Assign the loco's panto asset to those attachment points, too, in config.
In the loco's script, order the (extra) panto's animation(s) to run to the last frame (usually 29). This will cause it to execute when placed in Surveyor and place the panto(s) in full-up position.
Result: a loco with the pantos shown in both positions (double exposure) in Surveyor.
To see script/config which does something like this, see <KUID: 520526:1616> which sets the pantos to a desired height set by user. The "magic words" are where it sets the height to a calculated animation frame - just use 29.
Hi again Kurt
Well, that is a surprise to me, I seem the remember the trams as having the poles up. It has been a quite a while since I have used 2004. I am sorry I got your hopes up, I will go through my back up files tomorrow and see if i do have such a thing.
Doug.
@belgian46: The two problems with all overhead power pickups in Trainz are that there is no programmatic interaction, and no standards. In an ideal world the contact wire would (programmatically) be visible to the traincar just as the track is, and contact wheels/shoes/wipers could follow it. Or Trainz could demand that all contact wires be at (for example) 6.5m above the track, and content creators would be responsible for making their pickup devices reach exactly that level.
Since none of this is the case, catenary creators set the wire where they like, creators of pantograph assets build them so they rise to a fixed height above the traincar (based on a frequently wrong assumption about where the wire will be) and traincar creators set the pantograph base height to match the roof of the car, frequently frustrating both catenary and pantograph creators.
Returning to the Belgian tram situation, you've found that only three models - that is, combinations of main asset and a particular panto asset - come close to the wire height of your desired pylons. Best practice, as I understand it, is to use a catenary height gauge object in Surveyor and adjust the height of the chosen pylon set objects so the wire height matches the pole/panto contact height of your chosen traincars.
The advantage of having a pole/panto "up" model in Surveyor is that you could move it along the track, adjusting not only height but centering of the wire to where the shoe or contact wheel goes on that particular traincar in curves. The height gauge won't do that for you.
My own contribution has been a (not very successful) auto-centering trolley pole system in which the trolley wheel follows the center of the track, and a system which allows users to set the "up" height of specially-constructed pantos and trolley poles to match a desired contact wire height (that is, a particular pylon asset). While I have hopes it will catch on, it has to be set up for each pantograph asset and locomotive with specific knowledge of dimensions, etc.. So far ony three locomotive assets use it (that I know of).
So unfortunately there's no way to generalize those instructions on making a panto-up clone for Surveyor (in my post above) if you're not comfortable altering configurations and scripts. Your best bet is to use a height guage, first to determine the "up" height for your traincars (in Driver) and then to set the wire height (in Surveyor).
Hello Doug,
Perhaps the original tram models with poles up are no longer available. Your effort, going through your backup files is very much appreciated :Y:
Best regards
Kurt :wave:
Hi again Kurt.
I have checked and I am sorry to say all the scenery tram files have their poles down in surveyor.
Doug.