Fingal Line Safeworking Project – Part 2

[pware]

Fingal Line Safeworking Project – Part 2

An updated package of assets has been released on the Trainz DLS that allows a player to add to their role as a shunter and safeworking officer (SWO) on Tasmania's Fingal line. Set in 1955, this extends the original layout from Avoca to the terminus at St Marys. The line now runs for its full length of 75km (about 46 miles) from Conara Junction and includes the working coal branch lines at Mt Nicholas and Cullenswood.

The original package (part 1) was released August 2014 and allowed players to control avatars (SWOs) that moved around a layout performing shunting, switching and ground frame signal duties. This updated package adds right-of-way miniature electric staffs, ordinary staffs and authority tickets, together with their associated mechanical and electrical equipment. Assets released for the earlier (part 1) package have been upgraded and re-issued to the DLS.

This has been a collaborative effort between Richard Hallett (ringarooma), Leigh Stokes (elstoko), and Peter Ware (pware). Material (meshes and completed assets) and permissions were generously supplied by other Trainz users.

As it is on the DLS, it is all freeware.

Compatibility

The Fingal Line Safeworking Project was created to run on Trainz TS12 SP1 HF4. It has been successfully run on T:ANE without any problems.

Fingal Line Safeworking Project - <kuid2:368725:200006:6>




This is a full manual for the project, “Fingal Line Safeworking Project”, that describes how the assets work and how they can be added to other layouts and sessions. It can be downloaded from the DLS. Instructions for extracting the manual from the asset are shown in its description. This manual will be automatically downloaded as a dependency when the TGR Fingal Line 1955 NG42 Safeworking Layout - <kuid2:45176:100029:2> is downloaded.

 

[pware]

SWO Controller Rule - <kuid2:96148:94051:21>

This is the session rule that must be added to a session to allow the operation of the SWOs and the safeworking equipment.



TGR Fingal Line 1955 NG42 Safeworking Layout - <kuid2:45176:100029:2>

This is a narrow gauge (3ft 6in, 1067mm) route containing most of the assets needed for the Fingal Line Safeworking Project. The remaining assets are part of the supplied sessions. The layout was created using data from Google Earth; original photographs, maps and track diagrams from the Australian Railway Historical Society; photographs and original drawings from the Australian Government Archives; and information provided by railway historians. These sources have made the route and session far more historically accurate that they would otherwise have been.



Two sessions using this route have been uploaded to the DLS, with more to follow. The package, together with the route and sessions, allows a player to simulate the operations of the Tasmanian Government Railways Fingal Line that ran from Conara Junction to St Marys on the Tasmanian east coast in the mid-1950s.

TGR Fingal Line 1955 Demonstration Session - <kuid2:45176:100032:3>

This is a short, 10 minutes of game time, introduction to most of the SWO tools and operations. The session contains a set of HTML instruction pages that fully describe, step-by-step, the tasks to be performed and how to perform them. The instructions are very detailed and will take some time to read through.



The session is based at Avoca station and yard where two freight trains are about to cross. Avoca is the junction point between two different safeworking systems that were used on the Fingal Line in the 1950s. The Ordinary Staff and Ticket system covered the three controlled sections between Avoca and St Marys. The Miniature Electric Staff system covered the controlled section between Avoca and Conara Junction.

The crossing of the two trains will involve the SWOs using both safeworking systems, moving around the station and yard, controlling signals, throwing junction switches and driving a train.

TGR Fingal Line 1955 Morning Operations Session - <kuid2:45176:100031:4>

This is a much longer (over 3 hours) and a more complex and demanding session involving multiple SWOs at all locations along the line controlling 5 different trains. This session uses the full set of available SWO tools and operations. Like the Demonstration Session, this session contains a set of HTML instruction pages that fully describe, step-by-step, the tasks to be performed and how to perform them.



The session is based on the working timetable for the Tasmanian Government Railways Fingal Line (1954) and uses locomotives and some of the rolling stock that were in use on the Fingal Line in the 1950s. It shows the operations on a typical weekday morning that start at St Marys and end, some three-and-a-half hours later, at Conara Junction.

More information, with details of the SWO tools, will follow in further posts

 

[gremlin1812]

G'day Peter, I have loaded the above assets into TANE and come up missing three items:-
<kuid2:368725:40002:1> for TGR Fingal Line 1955 NG42 Safeworking Layout

<kuid2:506568:100015:1>,<kuid2:506568:100020:3> for TGR Fingal Line 1955 Demonstration Session and TGR Fingal Line 1955 Morning Operations Session

The assets are on the DLS as lower versions:-

<kuid2:506568:100015:1> - <kuid:506568:100015> : TGR A Wagon - animated couplings and brake hoses - ACS - DLS
<kuid2:506568:100020:3> - <kuid2:506568:100020:1> : TGR E Wagon - animated couplings and brake hoses - ACS - DLS
<kuid2:368725:40002:1> - <kuid:368725:40002> : QR Level X-ing 2L 1T 135 42in - DLS
Are the higher versions needed and if so where can they be obtained or can I just download the lower versions and up version them without issues?
Regards
Barrie

 

[ElStoko]

Thanks for bringing these assets to our attention, Barrie.
<kuid2:368725:40002:1> QR Level X-ing 2L 1T 135 42in has just been uploaded for processing on the way to the DLS. As I recall I think the prior version of the asset has a warning sound effect that plays continuously when the crossing is configured as passive (i.e. does not have an aural warning system).
Peter will look at the impact of reverting to the prior versions of the A and E wagons and report here. I think the loads have been replaced for the version 1 A wagon, since we found some of the original loads would not fit on the wagon.

 

[pware]

--- snip ---

elstoko beat me to the answer

 

[gremlin1812]

Thank you both and will await the answer, probably best to wait for the improved assets.
Regards
Barrie

 

[pware]

I have just uploaded an updated "Demonstration Session" and its supporting HTML asset to the DLS. Hopefully both will be available within 24 hrs (??). The modifications that have been made were to remove the TGR A and E class wagons as I doubt that the necessary updates to them will be uploaded to the DLS "anytime soon". They have been replaced with other suitable rolling stock.

I am working on making changes to the "Morning Session" but that will be a bit more complicated. Will upload that when complete.

 

[pware]

One problem that I have just rediscovered is that the original "TGR A" and "TGR E" wagons that are available on the DLS have issues in Driver with the AJS Superscript. I now remember that this was the reason we had to get them upgraded to new versions. Unfortunately, it seems, that the new versions are not available on the DLS. As a temporary measure I will be removing them entirely from all the sessions and replacing them with other assets.

 

[pware]

Both sessions have now had the "TGR A" and "TGR E" wagons removed (both old and new versions) and the updated sessions have been uploaded to the DLS. They should be available within the next 24 hours.

 

[pware]

Safeworking Officer - <kuid2:368725:15000:10>

The Safeworking Officer (SWO) is an avatar asset that has the ability to move around a layout under the control of the player. The SWO manages the ground-based work required to keep trains moving safely within station yards and between different yards. They perform duties, always directly under player control, such as junction switching, ground-frame signal and point operations, and section token management. The tokens give train drivers the authority to enter the track sections along the line. They are also able to drive locomotives and perform coupling and uncoupling operations to assist in yard shunting.

The SWO is controlled through a panel (the SWO Control Panel) that appears at the bottom of the screen in front of the driver command list. The panel, which is added to a session by the SWO Controller Rule, is shown below.



The player can jump between SWOs in the session by clicking the “Go to an SWO” button and selecting the required SWO from a list. When you select an SWO, or when the session starts with the default SWO, you will see the scene as viewed through their eyes.

The SWO avatar moves on invisible tracks placed around a yard. This track has invisible junctions that the player can switch to control the path that the SWO will take. Below is a Surveyor screen shot of part of Conara Junction station and yard showing the SWO tracks (blue) that are invisible in Driver.



These tracks also take the SWOs inside station buildings to use the section token equipment. The Surveyor screen shot below shows the blue track on the platform at Cullenswood. The track has branches leading into the station building. The junction switches (3 white placard-like signs) that are invisible in Driver are shown.



All the safeworking equipment (switches, lever frames, token control devices) used in this project are activated by triggers placed in the invisible SWO tracks.

 

[pware]

Signals, Lever Frames and Junction Switches

The Driver screen shots below show an SWO avatar at Frame C, a location near the North Yard at Conara Junction.



Behind the SWO figure is a throw-over junction switch and in front is a two lever ground frame. Both are directly controlled by the SWO and appear as the two icons in the top left of the SWO control panel at the bottom of the two shots. These icons (called SWE buttons - for Safeworking Equipment) will appear and disappear as the SWO moves in and out of the range of the triggers assigned to each device.

The two ground frame levers control different signal arms – the upper signal arm in the dual semaphore signal post shown and other at a more distant location. The lower signal arm is controlled from another lever frame located near the station platform. This is the actual situation that existed at Conara Junction in the 1950s. The lever arms are colour coded to indicate their function – red indicating home or starter signals.

The control for the lever frame has been opened by the player and its control interface appears to the right of the panel. In the image on the right, the player has clicked the first of the two levers in that panel, pulling off the upper semaphore signal arm and moving the lever.

A second click on the same lever in the panel will reset both the lever and the semaphore signal arm to that shown in the image above left.

In the two screen shots below, the operation of the throw-over switch junction is shown.



The control for the junction has been opened by the player and its control interface appears to the right of the panel. In the image on the right, the player has clicked on the control interface and the junction has been switched to direct a train to the right. A second click will restore the junction to the left, as shown in the first image.

Signals and junctions controlled by SWOs cannot be altered by the Trainz AI while any SWO is active (under player control) in the same location. A signal that has been set to show Proceed will not be automatically reset to show Stop when passed by a train. The SWO must manually reset the lever arm at the ground frame to reset the signal. Where SWOs are present but not active at a location, then all signals and junctions at that location will respond as normal to AI control and to the passing of trains.

For example, while the player is controlling an SWO at Conara Junction, the AI will be locked out of all the SWO controlled signals and junctions at Conara Junction. However, the SWO controlled signals and junctions at Cullenswood, Avoca and other locations in the route will be free to respond to AI commands.

A “location” in this case is defined by the use of a common component in the names given to all SWO controlled assets in the same yard. This common component is different for each yard - refer to the Fingal Line Safeworking Project guide for the details. Signals and junctions that are not named using a common component will not be affected.

 

[pware]

Safeworking Tokens and Instruments

The image below shows the safeworking equipment located inside the station building at Avoca. Each is animated and, in the case of the bell unit and miniature electric staff instrument, comes with sound effects (actual recordings of the real instruments in operation).



The ordinary staff and ticket box (OST) can be opened and tickets (scanned images of the actual tickets) removed. The wooden staff (shown inserted into the right side of the box) can also be removed and inserted by the player. Collected tickets are “spiked” on the spike to the right of the box, just behind the staff handle. The staff and ticket boxes and their wooden staffs are colour coded for the sections they control.



The OST box has a control interface in the SWO control panel as shown in the image below.



Each icon represents a particular function:-

• removing the staff or a ticket (both actions are animated)
• inserting the staff or spiking a collected ticket (both actions are animated)
• telephone (not currently in use but may be implemented in a future version)

The bell unit is used by the player to send bell signals to the safeworking location at the other end of the section, and the answering bells will be heard.

The player is able to insert and remove staffs from the miniature electric staff instrument (MESI) and its dials and needles will move to show the correct settings.

The MESI and bell unit have a combined control interface in the SWO control panel as shown in the images below.



Each icon represents a particular function:-

• removing or inserting a staff (animated and sound effects)
• sending bell signals (animated and sound effects)
• using the telephone (animated with text messages)
• initiating and blocking the DC current that flows between the instruments at each end of the section to enable the instrument at one end to allow the removal of a staff from the instrument at the other end (animated)

The same rules for using the OST box, bell unit and MESI that applied on the Fingal Line in the 1950s are used in this simulation. The SWO Controller Rule will "play the part" of the SWO at the other end of the section to reply to your bell codes and set the line current on the miniature electric staff instrument to allow a staff to be removed or to lock the instrument to prevent its removal.

Tokens, a staff or ticket, are exchanged between the SWO and a loco driver at set locations in a station yard. These locations, known as staff transfer tracks, are defined in the layout by the placement of specially named trackmarks and a low visibility scenery asset on the track. Clicking on a staff transfer track control interface, as shown below, makes the exchange.




The SWO carries the tokens between the driver at a staff transfer track and the MESI or OST box located inside the safeworking office.

 

[ElStoko]

Feedback request

The sessions in the Fingal Line Safeworking package requires the use of a new player interface, the SWO Control Panel, to conduct the course of session activities.
We are keen to learn from player experiences with this new interface. Have we supplied sufficient instructions? Are players experiencing frustrations?

Please consider giving the sessions a go and positing your thoughts.