Need help with yard

Forester1 said:
Thanks JCitron. There are a lot of good suggestions, so I will give some of them a try. I tried another way, by putting down the first and then the last track, and pushing the ends of all the other tracks down aways. Then after I had those two junctions, I tried using Move Track to pull the spline points down from the other tracks and join them into the cross track. Worked great, except it is not creating any actual junctions for some reason. I just can't seem to please it... (screenshot below)
{pic removed}
Click to expand...

Try adding spline points where you want to connect the track to. After you do that, your track splines will connect.

Here's a hint for your switches. Use two spline points close to each other. One is for attaching the track and creating the switch, while the other is to create a short straight track, which allows you to straight your switches by clicking on that segment with the straighten track tool that's located under the advanced options drop down. When your track is straightened, you'll notice that your switches are smooth. Without that extra spline point, the switches don't always diverge smoothly at the points.

Outside of your connection issue, your yard will look really, really nice.

blueodessey said:
Evening John, found the CS Template on DLS, that is another handy Tool I can add to my arsenal of Tools for unwieldy Track issues!
Click to expand...

It is an awesome tool. I found that ages ago and I've used it a few times now. Unlike some temples that you attach the track to, this one is a simple guide that gets deleted when all is done. The other good thing about it is it has low impact. I used to use an old fixed-track 6-lane yard as a template, which used to be built-in in TRS2004, and that would cause major pauses until it was deleted.
 
Still trying JCitron. I clicked on insert spline points but nothing happens when I click at a junction. Nothing gets added that I can see. When I try to use +track and add a short piece it will do all kinds of wild and wacky things except for what I am obviously trying to do. I can't imagine the algorithm behind forming a junctions in this program. It seems absolutely crazy.
 
See: https://www.google.com/search?q=cas...#imgdii=ZtSguMMnI7gn8M:&imgrc=oj-tVyDpb3RB9M:

Get accustomed to zooming in, and applying a spline point, by placing a temporary track, exactly where you want a precision spline point to be located at.
By by placing a temporary track, exactly where you want it, you can create a super fine tuned spline point location ... then you delete the temporary track, which leaves a spline point circle behind.

The small football shaped slightly overlapping figure 8 (one tie apart) should be straightened inside the football shaped area

A switch always has a straight section of track right before it

Screen_003-15.jpg


A straight edge piece of track, laid superimposing over top of the yard ladder, makes lining up the switchs with extreme accuracy

See the spline point in front of the blue loco ... It needs to be slid down towards the switch points, so as to make the curved diverging track proper

By looking straight down from directly above, and zoomed in, your tracks can be absolutely straight

Screen_001-43.jpg
 
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Forester1 said:
Still trying JCitron. I clicked on insert spline points but nothing happens when I click at a junction. Nothing gets added that I can see. When I try to use +track and add a short piece it will do all kinds of wild and wacky things except for what I am obviously trying to do. I can't imagine the algorithm behind forming a junctions in this program. It seems absolutely crazy.
Click to expand...

You must be pressing the shift key while dragging, which will prevent the track from connecting.
 
Two tricks.

Drive a train along your new section of track, in driver view and DCC mode (so you don't have to worry about controlling anything other then speed) and zoomed right in. It will show you kinks and bumps that are impossible to spot from an above view. Particularly good for looking for short sections that need to be straightened. Choose a loco that has an open forward view.

To make tiny adjustments to a spline point, do this: In 'Objects - Move spline' or 'Tracks - Move track' mode (depending on your spline type) view your spline point from directly above, well zoomed in. Place your mouse pointer where you think the spline should move to, and left click. Don't move the mouse. The spline point will jump to the mouse position. If the point hasn't moved like you expected, select Undo using the keyboard (Ctrl+Z), adjust the mouse position according to what was wring with the previous movement, and click again. Repeat until you get the exact movement you want. This only works for very small movements - if nothing happens when you click then you are trying to make an adjustment that's too big - do the adjustment in the normal way until it is nearly correct, then fine-tune it with this trick. This is one way to get very short sections of straight track (eg, next to a turnout) properly aligned with the adjacent section. Many people are wary of using Undo repeatedly, so always Save before starting this. However, I think the undo problem only arises when adding or deleting, not with moving.
 
Thanks guys, I have really learned a lot from this thread. With a lot of intense, close-up work I finally got all the junctions set and working. It wasn't perfectly smooth, but it looked OK and it worked. Then, as I was trying different ballast paints to fill in, I realized that the US Mainline track I had used was way too neat and clean for this yard. Moreover, I got to looking at yards in Google earth view, like the Bailey yard in North Platte (Pasco, Washington and Winnipeg had some interesting three-way "fan" type junctions), and universally, they appeared to use about 10 degrees for the ladder track. No wonder I had trouble, I had used 30 degrees! I had three times the angle! So, it is all coming out and I am going to find some good yard track and redo at 10 degrees. LOL! Maybe I'll post something if I get it looking like I want, but it may be a while. Yard and other outdoor work awaits! Thanks again, I will use a lot of these tips I have learned!!!!
 
On very difficult yards I use a fixed track turnout to get the diverging angle correct, (I think it is an FFR or #8), I will gladly tutor anyone via PM, or Skype IM, on how to lay turnouts, curves, and gradients

Skype IM: cascaderailroad
 
There's some nice procedural track which looks really nice.

Look for LRW track and choose the rusty and/or the no ballast as the first two choices.

Then there's some Protrack NSWGR series which looks good too.

You can actually change the ballast texture in this track. You need to clone the track and the track mesh library so you can "make" your own track.
 
Hi Cascade Railroad. I have been working on the yard and waned to see how the FFR switches would do. I have downloaded some of them, and they say they installed, they are showing up in Content Manager, but I can't find them in the surveyor. They do not show up either as track, nor as trackside items. Do they go into some other category? Thanks again for all of your help!
 
Thanks Bill69. So there's my problem, I guess. I don't see any subtabs in T:ANE? I get the track tab with buttons for add, move, delete, etc., plus advanced with spline point insert and delete, etc., but I don't see subtabs anywhere?
 
Forester1 said:
Thanks Oknotsen. I did see that for "trackside items", but I did not find the switches there either....
Click to expand...

Look for switch stand, switch lever, or specifically by rail company such as NS, CSX, etc. Some good ones are CNR mainline switch stand xx, where xx equals some number. There are yard versions too. Some of these are built-in, but there are many more right on the DLS.
 
Forester1 said:
Hi Cascade Railroad. I have been working on the yard and waned to see how the FFR switches would do. I have downloaded some of them, and they say they installed, they are showing up in Content Manager, but I can't find them in the surveyor. They do not show up either as track, nor as trackside items. Do they go into some other category? Thanks again for all of your help!
Click to expand...

Fixed turnouts should be listed in the Objects (i.e. buildings) tab, rather than in any of the track categories.
 
BINGO! Thanks, TheMouse! It looks like applying them is not straightforward though. There must be instructions for this stuff I am missing somewhere? I tried applying a switch over a straight piece of track, but got no indication it was a take. Then I tried cutting out a piece of track and laying it in the gap. That looked better (although I am guessing the red arrows indicate that it is still not hooked up, so how is that done?), but there is no actual switch designated? Do you then have to go manually install the switch like JCitron indicated? Maybe I'll just stay with my sloppy auto-generated switches, bent tracks or no. This is definitely not intuitive for a newbie like myself.... It is great to have so many of you guys helping out though! I feel lucky to have so many patient people.....
 
FT track and turnouts only work well on flat baseboards, and will not work well on a DEM, unless you flatten an area ... they should click together, without track ... You can hook track up to them ... I oftentimes use the 10m FT straights to get the right yard track spacing correct
 
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Thanks Cascaderailroad. I will give it anther try. I am on a flat baseboard, starting out with the yard. I am sure the DEM stuff will be a challenge when I get to it, as well.
 
Well, I guess I am just not cut out for the nuances. I tried laying down a turnout junction, moving track up to join it. Still had the red arrows, so I am thinking it probably still wasn't a take. And there was no switch indicator, so I added a switch lever. That got me two red arrows instead of a red and a green. One of these days I am going to have to take you up on your offer of a Skype or something, Cascaderailroad. I just don't seem to have the smarts for this. But it sure seems they could make this more intuitive...
 
Forester1 said:
Maybe I'll just stay with my sloppy auto-generated switches, bent tracks or no. This is definitely not intuitive for a newbie like myself.... It is great to have so many of you guys helping out though! I feel lucky to have so many patient people.....
Click to expand...

Most fixed turnouts require configuration, usually with invisible track to join up the pieces, and often with separate components that need to be correctly aligned. Each content creator has adopted a slightly different approach, and some just simply don't work at all in modern versions of Trainz. Instructions are sometimes available on the www, but take some hunting down. They can be extremely complex, and are definitely not recommended if you are having troubles with standard track and switches. They can be useful as templates, however, provided you are careful about what spline junction your are connecting to.

If standard track pieces refuse to join you can often fix the problem by moving one of the splines well out of the way and running a new length of track to make the connection. Then delete the original spline point and the track will snap back. Sometime you have to run a track in a particular direction to make it join. For instance if you have inserted a spline point into an existing track section, it will be much easier to run a new piece of track up to that point than to run the track from that point. This is particularly so for any fixed track.

Two red arrows tell you that the switch is not associated with a junction - it is too far away, or what looks like a junction isn't really a junction at all. Delete the switch and check the track spline. If you can move one of the spline points on its own then it never was connected to the other.
 
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