Laying Track: Problems and Solutions

[Holoperson]

Hi

I'm new to Trainz, but thought a wide-ranging topic like this would be useful. If it gets too crowded, it can be split into separate topics.

I'm learning by experimenting. No doubt others have been there before me, but this is one of the things I've found: a solution to straightening track.

Trainz straightens track at junctions in its own way. Sometimes it seems to make things worse, and trains jink violently from side to side when traversing the junction. The solution: Trainz seems to favour the green-arrow branch of the junction when straightening. Usually you want this to be the straight arm of the junction, not the curved one. If it is the curved one, Trainz will try to straighten it!

You can change the way the junction is pointing by using the three-arrow button at the bottom of the Track Objects window. Before straightening, point the green arrow so that a train would follow the straight arm of the junction. After straightening, you can point the green arrow back at the curve, if you want that to be the default when driving.

Now, a problem about chameleon track. What is chameleon track? Many track objects, for example the steam filling station, have funny looking track with wavy sleepers and strange shiny colours. But when you connect ordinary track to it, the chameleon track takes on the appearance of the ordinary track. This is very clever, and came as a pleasant surprise - hats off to the Trainz programmers.

When I laid my first bridge, I noticed that it had the same chameleon track. The double track stone bridge had light grey track, for example. However, when I connected ordinary track to it (standard bump track), the bridge track did not change. It stayed light grey. How do I get it to change?

Enough for now
cheers
Holo

 

[omber]

The turnouts can be easily fixed up with Straighten Track tool, I made a post about this not too long ago.

http://forums.auran.com/trainz/showthread.php?t=8197


There are some quality bridges that come with TRS (name starts with MB), but if its not enough for you, I just lay my own track over the bridge, just a little higher. The problem with bridge-track (the stuff thats found under bridge sub-category) is that you can not use Straighten Track tool on it, which tends to end with funky looking end-pieces if you make a curved bridge.

When building a cross-over between parallel tracks, if you have room, try to make a straight pieace between two curves (junction curves from the turnouts) that can hold one of the longest cars you anticipate using - this will prevent from the ends of cars from having out of track at extreemity (model railroaders are advised against using S curves for the same reason - it also cause derailments).

Can someone explain how the Apply-Gradient tool works ?

 

[aradlaw]

Here is an excellent tutorial for track laying.

Check out my site for a collection of surveyor toolz.

 

[Holoperson]

Thanks All,

I wasn't expecting such a response. I'm working through these ideas. I've already fixed a number of problems I had.

Cheers
Holo

 

[Holoperson]

Omber,

The gradient tool is used thus:

First type in a gradient in the box between the first and second icons. Gradients are in percent: 1% = 1 in 100; 2% = 2 in 100, or 1 in 50.
Let's say you type 1 (1%)

Second, click on the apply gradient icon to the right of the number you typed in.

Third, click on one side or the other of a track spline - let's say you click on the right side. The track will climb uphill to the right of the spline. I'f you'd clicked on the left, it would have gone uphill to the left of the spline.

For a long gradient, click to the right of each of the splines in your long piece of track, and you'll get a continuous gradient. Your track will rise up into the air! Use the Smooth Splines tool to create an embankment for the track.

That's it!

The icon to the left of the number is Get Gradient: click on this, then click near a spline to discover the gradient. In the long gradient example above, if you click to the right of a spline you'll see 1.00 appear in the input box. If you click to the left of a spline you'll see -1.00 - the gradient slopes downhill to the left of the splines.

The map also shows gradients. It's an option you can turn on or off. When making track changes, it's easy to change a gradient without realising it. The Get Gradient tool or the map are two ways of double checking your work, to make sure gradients are not too steep.

Cheers
Holo

 

[lewisner]

Holoperson, the "Chamaeleon Track" has the initial appearance of Auran standard.This has the advantage of being Low Poly but my advice to you would be be that before you get too heavily into route building you should have a look at the many different types of track on the DLS.Otherwise yo might end up like me and have to change countless miles of track later on!

 

[seeseeme]

Even though some of the idea behind this thread have been made before, it is always helpful for a few other similar threads with links to older one as well. I find that some "help" threads become so long and at times loaded with "kind-of" off topic questions it is hard to find the help I/you may need.

Now for my little tip on track laying and I always use this one.

I lay my track in a straight line to the next curve, with a suitable number of spline points, I then get out our trusty Ruler and lay it over the track from one "curve" spline point to another "curve" spline point and manually (by eye sight) straighten my track. I know we have other tools but many times we get different results then what we are after.

Another thing and I am not to sure about how true this is (especially in 2006) but there was once threads on this subject in the old forum. In some of those threads there was talk about not using double tracks but instead of layout single tracks and thus making them double. The idea behind this was the you lay each track in the direction you plan the Loco to run. For example, lay one track Nth to Sth, then the next one Sth to Nth. As I said there was a lot of talk about this and I am not sure if anyone actually came up with a 100% answer/result. A side note here, there is a tool on the download station to make sure the distance between double tracks is exactly correct.

Hope this helps some one with a few ideas.

Craig