Help with Trigger Settings for Trigger Rail Crossing (TRC)

[jordon412]

In case you haven't already found it, Trigger Rail Crossing, called TRC for short, is a simpler way to set up railroad crossings than the boat's ATLS system. However, I need help figuring out the settings for the trigger based on the speed of the train, specifically the settings for 'Front Radius of the Trigger in meters' and 'Rear Radius of the Trigger in meters'. I need something such as a document, pdf file, a spreadsheet, or something else that lists the speed and the corresponding settings for 'Front Radius of the Trigger in meters' and 'Rear Radius of the Trigger in meters', with the speed in Miles per Hour. If you want more info about the TRC system, here's a link to a thread an announcement thread for it on the freeware section on the Forums:
https://forums.auran.com/trainz/showthread.php?128866-Trigger-Rail-Crossing-a-new-version-now-available-!&highlight=trigger+rail+crossing

And here's an announcement thread for some recently released freeware railroad crossings that are designed to work with the TRC system:
https://forums.auran.com/trainz/showthread.php?145494-ReggiesTrainz-Freeware-Crossing-Signals&highlight=trigger+rail+crossing

And here's an announcement thread for some payware railroad crossings that are designed to work with the TRC system:
https://forums.auran.com/trainz/showthread.php?141766-reggiestrainz-WC-Style-Railroad-Crossings&highlight=trigger+rail+crossing

And here's a link to the website of TRC's creator that explains how TRC works, a version of this website is also available in French:
https://sites.google.com/site/trcv2english/

Note: The number of railroad crossings that are compatible with TRC is much less than those compatible with the ATLS system, and railroad crossings designed for use with the ATLS system is NOT compatible with the TRC system and vice versa.

 

[ctclark1]

There was something about a piece of code used in the ATLS compatible crossings which is property of Andi06, but I never figured out which piece that was. That being said, while I've done my fair share of programming outside of Trainz (mostly VB, but some very limited C++ as well), I've never done any code within the Trainz realm so I'm not entirely sure what language is used or the methods and properties, but I'd be willing to learn if someone could help me.

If the portion of "unavailable" code doesn't interfere, I'm wondering if there is a way to meld the TRC code into the "create an invisible train" portion of ATLS that could be used to create a new "slave" component. I'd be willing to try my hand at some of the legwork if I knew what was going on in the background of each, and again, as long as it doesn't impede on Andi's property. This would make kind of an "intermediate" level... TRC crossings are fairly easy, but limited in the amount of content options making it hard to match prototypical routes. ATLS crossings are decently complicated with their 2/4 trigger setups and although I've mastered them fairly well, the 99 channel limit as well as the complexity/extra parts (4 triggers, a slave, and a controller for each crossing, in addition to the actual crossing parts when done DIY style) can be a problem on more complicated routes (such as suburban areas where there are crossings every 100 feet... Trigger overlap makes it very difficult to keep track of which trigger is for which crossing, trust me...)... If I could have the single-trigger/no controller ability of TRC with an "adapter slave" that could take the proper commands from TRC and create the invisible train needed for wiring in DIY crossings (such as those by BNSF50) it would make this intermediate level much more appealing to both new and experienced users.

 

[Kennilworth]

Hi

I make extensive use of TRC crossings now because they are so simple to set up and just having one trigger for each track is far less confusing than ATLS. The trigger is placed approx 10 meters from the crossing and I add 20 meters onto the front variable e.g. front 320, rear 300. Just use trial and error to find the correct distance that you want the train to be from the crossing when the barrier gets down.

Not being US based I have no idea how many seconds the barrier should be down before the train arrives but I work on about 5 seconds which looks about right to me. Perhaps someone with more knowledge of this can correct me if I've got it wrong?

As a rough guide start with 550 and 530 for front and rear at 70 mph (max speed on the route I use) and adjust to your personal preference. It should be possible to work out other distances once you're happy with your distance for the fastest line speed.

I just watched a couple of videos on Youtube and read the instructions on Vincents website and I was up and running in less than an hour as the system is so simple to use.

Regards

Brian

 

[ctclark1]

Depending on the complexity of the crossing (and whether it is a higher speed line with varying limits for different types of trains or if they're all generally going the same speed) there's some variance, but in my analysis of crossings around me and hundreds of videos on Youtube that involve crossings, actually 25 to 30 seconds to have the gates fully down is more typical. Slower speed tracks may drop this to 15-20, but I don't think I've ever seen any in the US as short as 5. Part of the reason for the length is so train crews have a chance to react if the gates or lights fail, such as a more constant horn and attempting to slow the train before entering the crossing.

Smaller railroads, especially those running at speeds of 30 or under use a straight track block trigger, where the crossing is triggered when the train hits a specific point and goes back up at a specific point. This is approximately the only option available for Trainz, as I don't know of any speed sensitive triggering mechanism.

The larger Class I railroads tend to use speed-sensitive triggers, where the circuitry actually measures the speed of the train approaching and acts accordingly to hit this mark. This is less than ideal for Trainz so I usually take the average or middle speed and calculate my trigger distance based on that. (Sometimes the speeds are just Freight, sometimes Passenger and Freight, some railroads add a third limit in between for Intermodal trains)

 

[Kennilworth]

Hi

Thank you for the information. I'll make some adjustments to the timings.

If I remember correctly ATLS can use priority for triggers so it is possible to have a different trigger for each priority for a crossing and then allocate a different priority to the train depending on its speed. The problem with that is that there are even more triggers on the route then - 8 for each crossing on a bi-directional single track.

Regards

Brian

 

[ctclark1]

Right. Not exactly easy to work with when you already have 4 triggers for each of two bidirectional (CTC controlled) tracks in a suburban area with crossings every 500 feet or so. In addition to my curiosity about making an "interface" slave I also wonder if ATLS couldn't be somewhat simplified if BOAT modified it to make use of his directional triggers instead.