Grades and Xing signals.

Koryclarke1991

New member
I have two issues, first, how do I make decent grades or hills for trains? My hills usually look like Tyco cliff hangers race tracks, I've seen them in the Montana Rail Link route and the Mojave sub route. I'm modifying one of the routes in my game and I have all flat terrain. Can anyone give me pointers on how to make decent hills/grades for trains to ascend or descend? Second, how to I get some of the Xing signals to work, the ones that are not connected with an actual crossing. Some have that blue stripe that says BNSF50 right under the crossing mechanism, others have a red wire type thing either going thru it or underneath it. Please tell me how I can get these to function.

Thanks

Steven C. Jensen

South Milwaukee, WI U.S.A.
 
To add to what has been said...

Create a bump or hill.
Place one end of the road spline up on the top of the hill, or up the slope somewhere.
Place the other on the lower part.
Flatten the terrain under the road by using the smooth terrain button in the splines.

This will create a slope based on the profile you have made with the spline.
Move the spline over and repeat, or alternatively like I do place multiple splines and do a multiple smooth terrain functions by clicking each one.

Now about TransDEM.

TransDEM is not free, though it is relatively inexpensive. For about $33 or less, depending upon the Euro versus the Dollar at the time, you get one of the best terrain management programs out there. With TransDEM for example, you can import DEM height information files from the National Geologic Survey National Map Server along with place-able maps and orthographic satellite or even historic or current topographic maps. Once the images are converted, they can be placed in the exact position right on the terrain, even lining up on hills and rivers. Railroad lines are right on, or pretty close to where they should be and everything is ready for route building when the route is exported to Trainz format. You can even go as far as trimming down the route to a few baseboards on each side, and or even place track that is ready for smoothing.

There's a bit of a learning curve, but once you go this route, no pun intended, you will never, ever go back to hand sculpting terrain again, except is a few locations or if needed.


Now regarding the crossings...(which I forgot to include before).

There are two kinds. One has the gates and workings already connected. The blue-stripes are the track which you connect the track to and the other going perpendicular to the tracks is the road crossings. Then there are those with NRC and use ATLS by Boat... These are separate items which can be used to build custom crossings. You'll need to look for ATLS as it's more difficult to explain and place here in this forum post. Once you set one up, they're pretty easy to use and open a whole new world of railroad crossings.


John
 
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Thank you John, So then I can use ATLS with RxR Xing signals as well as stop lights I take it? Does ATLS work with railroad block and interlocking signals as well? Let's suppose I want to tie a train down by a set of XOvers, the signal will usually be green, is there any way I can make the signal (I use the jointed rail smart color light signals on my route) stay on red and then control it to the correct indication as needed?
 
Thank you John, So then I can use ATLS with RxR Xing signals as well as stop lights I take it? Does ATLS work with railroad block and interlocking signals as well? Let's suppose I want to tie a train down by a set of XOvers, the signal will usually be green, is there any way I can make the signal (I use the jointed rail smart color light signals on my route) stay on red and then control it to the correct indication as needed?

No, ATLS works with crossings and traffic lights if you want to do that too. Sorry I missed that in my post.

Take a look at the signals here: www.jointedrail.com You need to create an account, to access the website content, but this is their free stuff. They also have awesome payware locos and routes too if you want that.

Anyhow, there signals are very prototypical and take very little to setup. You use mostly type 04 absolute signals, type 06 diverging signals, or advanced depending upon how they're setup, and type 05 permissive signals. The placement is easy and they appear under trackside objects like the switch stands and speed signs do.

There are many, many other signals available on the DLS and built-in, but I prefer these over the others not only for their excellent operation, but also for their looks.

John
 
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