Differentiating track

[treblesum81]

Hi All,

Just curious how to differentiate between electrified track, standard track, and the overhead powerline track. I'm trying to put together an electric commuter type of layout, but all I can find in my bazillion variations of track and track splines is regular and narrow gauge.

Thanks,
Greg

 

[Tokkyu40]

The catenary is a separate spline item with the other splines in the buildings and structures menu, along with the fences and roads. There's also a spline third rail on the DLS which is nice and can be added to your favorite track, or you can download third rail track by Mcq, Jaleel or Magicland.

Claude

 

[treblesum81]

Ok, I guess that makes sense to a certain extent... is there a way to make the catenary and/or third rail splines follow the length of a pre-laid track so that you don't have to go back and drop in 50-100 miles of overlays with a lot of room for error?

 

[Euphod]

you can download third rail track by Mcq, Jaleel or Magicland.

I don't know from electrics, but I think this is the track and rail together.

 

[S301]

Unfortunately, putting the catenary posts as trackside items will mess up signalling if you have too many between the signals. This also requires the wire to be part of the track, which will look silly on curves (since the wire will go in a straight line between masts). Either that, or the wire is still a separate item...

Basically, either you have really short (2m - about 16m) gaps between catenary masts (thats if the masts are part of the track), have the catenary masts trackside with the wire built in (rubbish on curves for heavy rail stuff, plus messes with signals), have the wire and masts as a separate spline (pain to lay down, but will prevent any other problems, and allows for the most realistic effect on curves), or to have the masts as trackside objects and the wire as a separate spline (even more pain there in some ways...).

In reality, your best choice is to go back an overlay everything on top.

For 3rd rail on the other hand, you have 2 choices. Separate spline (handy for complex yards, or for use on your favorite tracks that don't have a 3rd rail), or built-in (nice, quick, easy, but limited to only tracks with it built-in).
Hope this helps.
Zec

 

[Tokkyu40]

Placing catenary spline is actually quick and simple. Once you have the rails sorted out you just follow along adding a spline point wherever the rails have one. You need to use the shift key to get started or it won't lay down on another spline (the track) and you might have to add more spline points on curves, but the process is fairly straightforward.

Claude