Light Rail in Portland Oregon

[savadkhu]

Greetings,

I'm thinking of buying Trainz, or some other simulator. However, what I want to do is recreate the Portland, Oregon Light Rail system. Is this possible with this program? Can I recreate the ABS signal system and the ATS system they use, as well as the signals used to interface with auto traffic (Pre-Empt)

Thanks for any help with this

 

[Pencil42]

I don't know about the signalling - I haven't really used it in Trainz, and I don't know how what MAX uses works.
Depending on how prototypical you want to be, you may be in for a fair amount of work - while there are quite a few streetcars, catenarys, and other light rail parts available, they may not match MAX exactly. You can always build your own models, if you would like to do so. Trainz is very open-ended in that regard.
That being said, yes, you can recreate the entire MAX line; as well as parts of the Portland & Western, the downtown streetcar line, and anything else you'd like.

 

[finalanswer19]

Hey savadkhu, if you ever get that done, I would love to be able to have a copy of the route and MAX trains. I live in Portland too and ride the train every day. That would be so cool! Please let me know if you ever get it done.

Pencil42, I'll give you the very simple version of how the signals work. The main signals (what you would recognize as a regular train signal, e.g., not the orange and lunar (white) bars, but the green, yellow, and red signals) look normal, with green meaning clear for two (or more) blocks, yellow meaning clear for one block, and red meaning stop. There's also much more information about these kind of signals. I can give you a link if you want.

Now the other signals. On Burnside, in downtown Portland, and out on the Hillsboro end (are the three main places I know of for sure) there is another sort of signal. That consists of an orange horizontal bar, and a lunar (white) vertical bar. The orange horizontal bar means that the street traffic has the right-of-way. When a train hits a sensor, (hopefully) the orange bar will flash a few times and change to lunar. The vertical lunar bar means that the cross-traffic has a red light, and the train has the right-of-way.

That's the basic and easy explanation. Hope it helps.

Thanks,
Matt

 

[savadkhu]

Thanks for the assistance

Thanks for the information, I may end up purchasing this program, though of course I'd need to get a PC to run it on (I refuse to run windows on my mac)

I'm a trainer for the Max, and want to set up some form of simulation for my students, and this seems like an easy (relatively speaking) way to go about it, without spending several hundred thousand dollars. Of course TriMet won't purchase an actual simulator, but they would invest in this if I can get it to work right.

Thanks again.

 

[Pencil42]

Thanks for the information, Matt!
Savadkhu, it would be an inexpensive proposition (except for the PC), but may be fairly time consuming - everything in a route must be hand-placed. If you can find another individual or two that could help you (especially if you need custom models), that would make it go much faster.
Curtis

 

[finalanswer19]

Oh, one more thing, savadkhu. I don't think you would be able to have the station announcements without frustration. I say this because I'm trying to add station announcements to some of my routes right now, and it is a pain in the you know what. It's taking FOREVER. Also I don't think you would be able to have the "L" "R" "(cancel)" and "Call" buttons work properly along with having to set the route(s). I think that would be so much work, but please keep us updated.

I also have one question. Is it possible to get the exact announcements Tri-Met uses for MAX? They always ignore me when I email them asking that. If they won't allow you to get the announcements, can you get the name of the people who did them, please?

Thanks,
Matt

 

[Isaacg]

Do you guy's know Timothy Garling? He used to work for the Portland Tri-Met.... Now he's working as the CEO of my local transit system, the PSTA, or the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority.

 

[rjhowie]

You will find it a lot "easier" than say MTS - I found this. I have only recently finished buiding a tramway - trolley system for N. Americans (light rail to use the modern expression!) that once existed in my home city of Glasgow until 1962. A complete novice I have built 200 miles of street tram track and the scenery to go with it. My site will give you an idea. So go for it and even if you don't always find something exact you will get a good perception for I did and you can too!

 

[paulzmay]

Your best bet for signalling and interfacing with street traffic may be the ATLS system designed by 'BOAT'. At the moment it's mostly based on UK practice, but compatible Portland style components could be created to run on the same system.

Paul

 

[Tokkyu40]

The first step would be to make a DEM/HOG map of the system. I've done it with relief maps, but DEM is so much faster.
http://freepages.misc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~wewain/trainz/Surveyor/Baseboard/Topology/TerrainGeneration/Computer-generatedTerrain.htm
Here's the tutorial if you haven't done it yet. It's a lot easier than making Gmax assets.

Claude