Is there a reason that a trackmarker can be rotated? I know that when you first put it down it points in the direction the track was layer. Thanks funnnyfarm
I assume that the trackmarker, and a direction marker, should be pointing and rotated for the intended direction of travel.
Myself ... I always use single track, and do not used multitrack splines, and I always lay track in the direction of travel (although some say this not needed, and is an urban legend).
Trackmarks have a 'front' and a 'back'. For some commands like Navigate To/Via or Drive To/Via the direction of the TM is irrelevant. For other commands though like 'Couple To Vehicle Facing TrackMark' the target vehicle must be on the 'blunt' side of the TM, hence their 'rotate-ability'...
Trackmarks go back to the very first version of Trainz. In versions up to UTC, you could not place rolling stock in Surveyor. Instead you placed trackmarks at locations around your layout where you wanted to be able to place rolling stock in the Driver module. The direction of the trackmark indicated the direction the rolling stock would be facing when placed.
In the setup screen for Driver, you could pick a layout and all the trackmark locations would be displayed on a mini map of the route. You then used a list of rolling stock to build consists which were placed at the bottom of the screen in a scrollable numbered list. You scrolled through the list to display the consist you wanted to place on the layout and then clicked on the trackmark where you wanted the consist to appear when you entered Driver. By double clicking on a trackmark in the mini map you could change the direction of the trackmark and the consist would change heading. Once you were through placing consists, you saved your work as a preset which allowed you to quickly pull up the route again with all your consists already in place ready to drive.
The change of the interface in TRS2004 meant that trackmarks became just invisible markers on the route which driver commands could reference but clever script writers made use of the direction function as Ed points out above.
