Portal Emitted Trains vs Surveyor placed trains

[Dap]

Has anyone noticed that trains emitted form a portal DO NOT follow driver commands while trains that are placed in Surveyor DO follow driver commands?

I was having a problem getting emitted trains to do what I wanted on my 25 mile (so far) layout. So, I created a single square test map . The track is a straight stretch beginning with portal 1, trailing point stub siding, a passing siding and ending with portal 2. I placed a train on the stud siding and programmed portal 1 to emit a train after one minute. I gave identical driver instructions to both the train on the stub siding and to the train to be emitted by portal 1. Both trains travel the track in the same direction. Their instructions are to drive to trackmark 1 (between the stub siding switch and the passing siding) wait 10 seconds, drive to track mark 2 (which is on the passing siding), wait ten seconds, drive to track mark 3 (on the main line past the passing siding), wait 10 seconds then drive to portal 2.

When runnung in driver mode, the surveyor placed train starts first and runs the route as expected, stopping at all the track marks.

The Portal emitted train appears after one minute of operations and does not follow any of the driver commands, simply driving from portal 1(where it was emitted) to portal 2. It does stop before it gets to the stub siding switch because it is thrown against it. After it stops, the switch aligns and the train goes on its way.

Is there something I have done wrong or is this just the way portal trains work?

Dap

 

[stagecoach]

How have you set up the commands for the portal train?

 

[JCitron]

Also make sure there is plenty of distance from the portal before the drivers need to follow any commands. I found out the hard way that the drivers need at least a baseboard to finally aclimate to the route. They will come bombing out of the portal at 40 mph, and ignore everything, including junctions and signals, until they settle down. Once they are completely out of the portal, and adjusted to the route, then they will follow track marks and everything else like any other driver.

John

 

[Dap]

How have you set up the commands for the portal train?

In Surveyor, I click on the portal and add the train per the pop-up screen. I am using a short consist of 5 freight cars and an engine. I add a driver and then the driver commands. Is there any other way to do it?

Dap

 

[Dap]

Also make sure there is plenty of distance from the portal before the drivers need to follow any commands. I found out the hard way that the drivers need at least a baseboard to finally aclimate to the route. They will come bombing out of the portal at 40 mph, and ignore everything, including junctions and signals, until they settle down. Once they are completely out of the portal, and adjusted to the route, then they will follow track marks and everything else like any other driver.

John

Well, the train is short and well out of the portal before it encounters a junction thrown against it. It stops there, the junction changes and it goes on it's way, so it is not ignoring junctions . When I click on the engine so that I can link the camera to it, nothing happens.

Dap

 

[omber]

Never had that happen before..

No wait.. lies it did and I dont remember what caused it but I fixed it later on...

 

[JCitron]

Never had that happen before..

No wait.. lies it did and I dont remember what caused it but I fixed it later on...

Neither did I!

I wonder if the session is corrupt, and needs to be recreated. I've had weird things happen with sessions before, and the only way to resolve it was to recreate them.

The other thing too is I've had regular AI drivers ignore commands. The only way to fix that problem was to delete the driver from the consist, and put him back in. I think they may need a day off once in awhile

John

 

[DeRiCo]

I have a small route that produces trains from portals all the time with no problems with commands.

There are 16 portals on the route. Each producing portal has enough room for the train to completely exit the portal before encountering any points or signals, usually the length of the train plus a few extra truck lengths.

The only problem is that occasionally a train will be created that cannot be selected that seems to do its own thing till it enters a portal somewhere. Unable to select it means you have no controil over it.

Have not figured out why that happens though.

Dennis

 

[omber]

Yes this is key - there must be more then enough room for train to fully stop from exit speed before any points / signals otherwise what you said will happen.

 

[Dap]

OK, I have done some extensive testing and here is what I have discovered. When I switched from Surveyor to Driver, the emitted train does not work correctly - it is a zombie train - unable to be selected and does not follow driver commands. I then exit Driver back to Surveyor. Without making any other changes, I go back to Driver and the emitted train works correctly every time. If any changes are made in Surveyor - any at all, going to Driver to test will result in a zombie train. I did not try saving, quiting Surveyor, then starting Driver.

I also found that it makes no difference how far away the portal is. I started with in on the far side of a second square. It worked fine. I moved it closer and closer with success every time as long as I did the start Driver, stop and go back to Surveyor and then back to Driver to get it to work. I got the portal as close as 500 ft from the first junction without a zombie train. The train was short enough (5 cars and an SW7) that it could get up speed as it exited the portal.

In the process of doing all this testing and watching the train beng placed on the track, I found I could predict if it would work. If the engine travels at least 3-1/2 grids before the next car appears, it will be a successful emitted train. If the engine moves less than 2 grids before the next car appears, it will be a zombie train.

I also tried the short portal, but could not make it work successfully that close.

Hope this makes some kind of sense and is helpful. I will be changing the portal on my layout from a short to a basic. and then save twice or whatever. I'll let you know how it works.

Dap

 

[stagecoach]

You might also try to emit the train a bit later than one minute as this may also have an impact on the creation of the first train. Trainz has launched but is still building information for the route in the first instance.