NJCurmudgeon
New member
I'm adding a custom dock region to my layout and have been having a problem getting the AI rains to act as I want for it to work.
Specifically, there is a pier extending out into the water. Down the middle are two tracks with warehouses on either side. The tracks on the ocean side terminate. On the opposite end, they connect to perpendicular tracks (what I call the main tracks below) via curves.
All I'm doing is a simple boxcar exchange. One of the two tracks is empty and the other has a consist of boxcars. The train comes in on the empty track, decouples from its consist, moves to the other track, couples with that string and moves back out to a similar set-up at the other end in another part of the layout.
Of course, it's a little more complicated in practice. What I want to happen is the incoming train passes the dock until the back end clears the switch on the curve leading to the empty track. It should stop, reverse and back in until the boxcars are in place. Then the loco decouples, moves out beyond the switch again so it can back up onto he second track to couple with the other consist.
I have a track marker set on the main track where I want the loco to stop so the back end clears the switches on the curve into the dock. That works. The train comes to a stop and the switch is thrown correctly. So I know it's cleared the switch enough.
There is a second track mark on the empty rail on the dock where I want the loco to back up to. This would place the consist in line with the buildings and the last car would be far enough from the end of the tracks.
I have a driver command to navigate to that track mark on the dock after it stops on the main track. Instead of backing up immediately after stopping at the first track mark, it continues forward until it reaches the end of the main tracks (I'm still working on it, so the rails end a bit beyond where I'm building the docks). Only when it comes to the end does it stop and reverse.
So my first question would be if there is a command to reverse? I thought if I just told it to go to the second track mark, it would take the path of least resistance - backing up. I've been able to get locos to back up that way in the rail yard area to couple with their consists.
My second related question has to do with when it finally backs up to the track mark on the dock itself. It stopped well short of the mark and the loco decoupled when it was still half out on the main track. When a train is going in reverse, does it switch so that its the last car that stops at the track mark? In other words, that last boxcar became the "engine" as far as the game was concerned so it stopped that on the mark rather than the loco itself?
I don't know how clear this description is and I don't appear to be able to post pictures without a URL. If anyone wants to see what I'm doing in order to better understand what I'm asking, let me know and I can send images later via email.
Many thanks for any assistance and Happy New Year!
Specifically, there is a pier extending out into the water. Down the middle are two tracks with warehouses on either side. The tracks on the ocean side terminate. On the opposite end, they connect to perpendicular tracks (what I call the main tracks below) via curves.
All I'm doing is a simple boxcar exchange. One of the two tracks is empty and the other has a consist of boxcars. The train comes in on the empty track, decouples from its consist, moves to the other track, couples with that string and moves back out to a similar set-up at the other end in another part of the layout.
Of course, it's a little more complicated in practice. What I want to happen is the incoming train passes the dock until the back end clears the switch on the curve leading to the empty track. It should stop, reverse and back in until the boxcars are in place. Then the loco decouples, moves out beyond the switch again so it can back up onto he second track to couple with the other consist.
I have a track marker set on the main track where I want the loco to stop so the back end clears the switches on the curve into the dock. That works. The train comes to a stop and the switch is thrown correctly. So I know it's cleared the switch enough.
There is a second track mark on the empty rail on the dock where I want the loco to back up to. This would place the consist in line with the buildings and the last car would be far enough from the end of the tracks.
I have a driver command to navigate to that track mark on the dock after it stops on the main track. Instead of backing up immediately after stopping at the first track mark, it continues forward until it reaches the end of the main tracks (I'm still working on it, so the rails end a bit beyond where I'm building the docks). Only when it comes to the end does it stop and reverse.
So my first question would be if there is a command to reverse? I thought if I just told it to go to the second track mark, it would take the path of least resistance - backing up. I've been able to get locos to back up that way in the rail yard area to couple with their consists.
My second related question has to do with when it finally backs up to the track mark on the dock itself. It stopped well short of the mark and the loco decoupled when it was still half out on the main track. When a train is going in reverse, does it switch so that its the last car that stops at the track mark? In other words, that last boxcar became the "engine" as far as the game was concerned so it stopped that on the mark rather than the loco itself?
I don't know how clear this description is and I don't appear to be able to post pictures without a URL. If anyone wants to see what I'm doing in order to better understand what I'm asking, let me know and I can send images later via email.
Many thanks for any assistance and Happy New Year!
