Down to the Basics pt1: Sense of Operation
- Thread starter SantaFebuff
- Start date
jadebullet
might be back?
Good thread. I just have something to add now that we are on the subject of industries and destinations for commodities.
You cannot forget what have been called the universal industries, interchange points. If you cannot figure out a destination for a particular cargo, send it to an interchange point. Have a powerplant that you need coal for but the route isn't in a coal region? Just pick up some loaded hoppers from an interchange.
You cannot forget what have been called the universal industries, interchange points. If you cannot figure out a destination for a particular cargo, send it to an interchange point. Have a powerplant that you need coal for but the route isn't in a coal region? Just pick up some loaded hoppers from an interchange.
jadebullet brings up a great point, Interchange tracks
.I live by a three way interchange in Janesville WI. , UP, WSOR and IC&E all interchange with each other, the interchange tracks are right next to WSOR's roundhouse.(was originally the Milwaukee Road Roundhouse, and the interchange was originally for the Milwaukee Road & the CNW)
Has anyone tried my route in regards to operations end of things? I designed my route for operations. Can anyone who loves frieght operations of a short line discuss some feedback relative to operations?
Thanks!
Bill,
I'd like to look at your route. What is it and where is it?
David
Interchange Tracks
How are you implimenting interchange tracks on your route?
Here is a list of four different ways I have used to do it.
!. place cars on the interchange track for pick-up in Surveyor. In Driver, you pick them up and any cars you have for the interchange, you leave and they remain there through the end of session.
2.Bring cars onto the route at a scheduled time with a portal that will emit cars without an engine. This can provide multiple pick-ups and drop-offs during a session.
3. Using AI, bring the foriegn road train on to the route and have it drop-off/pick-up.
4. Use LARS interchange track.
I'm sure there are other methods. I'd love to hear about them.
David
How are you implimenting interchange tracks on your route?
Here is a list of four different ways I have used to do it.
!. place cars on the interchange track for pick-up in Surveyor. In Driver, you pick them up and any cars you have for the interchange, you leave and they remain there through the end of session.
2.Bring cars onto the route at a scheduled time with a portal that will emit cars without an engine. This can provide multiple pick-ups and drop-offs during a session.
3. Using AI, bring the foriegn road train on to the route and have it drop-off/pick-up.
4. Use LARS interchange track.
I'm sure there are other methods. I'd love to hear about them.
David
I was just about to create a thread on passenger vs industrial routes when I came across this one....I'm currently working on a custom route in TRS04 that features both passenger service & industrial runs(so far the focus has been more on passenger routes at the moment but my industrial routes will develop soon enough) & so far I've been getting a lot of enjoyment out of just testing the route to make certain that my consists are able to run smoothly through the course.
While having a lot of varied route responsibilities can be fun & more immersive it can also be a real challenge,of course my route is just a WIP right now & I havn't even begun to do any real landscaping yet.
Hey Bill,which version of trainz is required to run your route? I'm running both TRS04 & TRS06 so I hope it's compatible with either of these packs.
While having a lot of varied route responsibilities can be fun & more immersive it can also be a real challenge,of course my route is just a WIP right now & I havn't even begun to do any real landscaping yet.
Hey Bill,which version of trainz is required to run your route? I'm running both TRS04 & TRS06 so I hope it's compatible with either of these packs.
Using iPortals to generate and export trains
As any one considered using iPortals to generate interchange traffic.
My thought is that a seperate route with a fiddle yard could be used to sent or receive trains as desired to or from an ongoing object session.
This would avoid having to restart the object session from scratch for each days run, instead a saved session from a previous run could be continued.
I would like to highlight that iportals can be used between sessions of the same or different routes locally as will as via the internet. Also using an availible time of day rule would be handy to skip over-night hours if desired.
As any one considered using iPortals to generate interchange traffic.
My thought is that a seperate route with a fiddle yard could be used to sent or receive trains as desired to or from an ongoing object session.
This would avoid having to restart the object session from scratch for each days run, instead a saved session from a previous run could be continued.
I would like to highlight that iportals can be used between sessions of the same or different routes locally as will as via the internet. Also using an availible time of day rule would be handy to skip over-night hours if desired.
Can portals be used to connect totally different routes? Let's say I wanted to connect my central railway route(currently a WIP) with a new custom route but without having to merge the two routes in surveyor.....I would figure(and hope) that it would simply switch automatically from one route to another when your consist enters the first portal,I guess I'll have to try experimenting with this idea to see if it would work & post the results afterward.
This is an interesting thread, and the discussion gives me some ideas for my own very long route.
We know that railroads in the real world exist only because there's a need for them. When the services are no longer needed, or are no longer cost effective, the redundant track is ripped up as the route is abandoned.
I would like to add that I too have very few interactive industries other than a few power plants, and with these I have AI drivers serve them via portals. I find the scrambling for goods delivery too much like my old job where I was responsible for customer delivery and pickup of equipment! I'd rather sit back and watch the trains roll by, but with a purpose.
The majority of my trains on my route are long distance passenger and commuter trains. These are controlled 100% by the AI drivers, and when tweaked properly, will run for hours before any one of the drivers gets AI brains and does something stupid.
My freight operations are controlled mostly by me. I have a few AI-controlled freight trains whose sole purpose is to act as through frieght that run from portal A to portal B. and to deliver coal to the power plants, which are located at various locations on the route.
Since I am the main freight operator, while the AI are off running their passenger trains and coal, I handle the local switching. An AI-controlled through train, from one of the portals, will be commadeered by me and sent to a specific yard. I have a number of good-sized yards along the route for this purpose.
They are located at division points where a once competing line connected and crossed. The AI train is stopped at the yard. The AI driven engines are sent to the the engine terminal for servicing, and then I operate the local switcher there first to sort the cars, and second to make up a local to do the deliveries.
The local goes out to make deliveries and pick-up any other cars at the industries. The new cars are dropped off and the old cars are added to the local train. Now keep this in mind, I don't always have a local track to do the switching operations. In some cases my train is blocking the mainline so I need to work quickly otherwise I'll create a roadblock and mess up the operations for the road trains.
Once the local has made deliveries and picked-up the "empties", they are brought back to the yard where an AI driver is told to pull his engines on to a running track. I then couple the freight cars on to his locos, and drive my switcher over to the switcher hole to get out of the way so the AI driver can then continue his schedule to his exiting portal.
John
We know that railroads in the real world exist only because there's a need for them. When the services are no longer needed, or are no longer cost effective, the redundant track is ripped up as the route is abandoned.
I would like to add that I too have very few interactive industries other than a few power plants, and with these I have AI drivers serve them via portals. I find the scrambling for goods delivery too much like my old job where I was responsible for customer delivery and pickup of equipment! I'd rather sit back and watch the trains roll by, but with a purpose.
The majority of my trains on my route are long distance passenger and commuter trains. These are controlled 100% by the AI drivers, and when tweaked properly, will run for hours before any one of the drivers gets AI brains and does something stupid.
My freight operations are controlled mostly by me. I have a few AI-controlled freight trains whose sole purpose is to act as through frieght that run from portal A to portal B. and to deliver coal to the power plants, which are located at various locations on the route.
Since I am the main freight operator, while the AI are off running their passenger trains and coal, I handle the local switching. An AI-controlled through train, from one of the portals, will be commadeered by me and sent to a specific yard. I have a number of good-sized yards along the route for this purpose.
They are located at division points where a once competing line connected and crossed. The AI train is stopped at the yard. The AI driven engines are sent to the the engine terminal for servicing, and then I operate the local switcher there first to sort the cars, and second to make up a local to do the deliveries.
The local goes out to make deliveries and pick-up any other cars at the industries. The new cars are dropped off and the old cars are added to the local train. Now keep this in mind, I don't always have a local track to do the switching operations. In some cases my train is blocking the mainline so I need to work quickly otherwise I'll create a roadblock and mess up the operations for the road trains.
Once the local has made deliveries and picked-up the "empties", they are brought back to the yard where an AI driver is told to pull his engines on to a running track. I then couple the freight cars on to his locos, and drive my switcher over to the switcher hole to get out of the way so the AI driver can then continue his schedule to his exiting portal.
John
Mike;
No aoutmatic swithing of routes. After a train enters an Iportal configured to sent to yourself at another iportal name on the second route. locally on the same computer, you can save the first session and quit and then open a (saved) session on the second route to receive the train.
Try experimenting on the Tidewater North and South built in routes.
If you want to try an internet exchange, email me from the forum.
Sounds like my railroad.
Are all the industries you are servicing interactive or are some of them a passive building or collection of buildings?
How do you keep track of which cars go where?
David
So the train from the tidewater north route should appear via the portal in tidewater south when I switch between the two routes after the train enters the portal at the far end of TW North right?
Its built in '04. I know people who are running it in both. Hope you enjoy!
Sorry for double posting but your route seems to require a few objects from DLS,which I don't have full access to at the moment unless there's a way to get these items via the DLS for free.
Hi David,
Most of my industries are static with a siding. There are a few forest industries and a port to accept containers and other goods, and then there's the few power plants scattered in different parts of the layout. I found that when there are too many interactive industries, the whole simulation bogs down a bit. I think this has to do with the extra processor and memory resources needed to manage what's going on with them.
I keep track of what industries need by using a modified version the old-fashioned card system from my old model railroading days. I had looked at making something in BASIC once, but that became a pain. I'm sure I could have done it at the time, but I got bored with the project. As programs such as Excel and Access have become better, they are better suited for switch lists. At the moment I use Excel, and as I download more freight cars, I add them to my list. I print out my switch list before I start my sessions, and check off the deliveries. This probably isn't the most efficient method, but it works for me.
John
No problem.
None of the items are payware and are either on the DLS for free or on the pages of private websites as I outlined on my first page where the download link is. One exception is that I hear that a shed or two is no longer available on the DLS.
I don't pay for DLS either and any items I used you should be able to get immediately on the DLS (except for the shed).
Bill
No problem.
None of the items are payware and are either on the DLS for free or on the pages of private websites as I outlined on my first page where the download link is. One exception is that I hear that a shed or two is no longer available on the DLS.
I don't pay for DLS either and any items I used you should be able to get immediately on the DLS (except for the shed).
Bill
Thanks for the info,I entered in my registration codes for UTC,TRS04 & TRS06 & recieved 2 tickets good for 31 & 92 days respectively(havn't activated them yet however) & was wondering if,now that you mention it the route will still open despite the missing sheds?
As far as I understand - yes.
Could you please help me test out this theory so I can be sure? Give it a try. Be sure to download everything else that I listed on the first post of the thread.
I tried to only use DLS or free stuff as I built -- but over time, things have been de-listed from the DLS and are not available anymore - except on someone's hard drive.
Please let me know how it all goes.
Thanks a ton!
Bill
I have created a "car card" systen for trainz if you are interested. Like any car card system, it requires a lot of up-front detail work, but once that is done, it is pretty much automated. I call it the CMTM System - Car Movement & Traffic Management. There still needs to be some work done on it such as making the cars loaded or unloaded, and making the system save when saving a partially completed session, but what I have thus far seems to be robust and error free.
If you are interested, you can acces the user's manual at CMTM User's Manual 10-27-09 release . And if you want to adapt it to your route, I can make the necessary files available.
The nice thing about this system is that it does not require any industries to be interactive. And it will support at rather large route. I am currently testing a route with 72 industry tracks in 17 towns. I just completed testing an op session where I classified three inbound freights with a total of 81 cars. Of these cars, 31 were destined for local industries. Then I ran two way freight turns. the session starts at 6:50 and I quit at 16:05 with one more way freight turn to run. All the time there are through freights running an through and local passenger trains too.
David
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