Why Does A Signal Show xxxx Color

For me it is not always obvious why a signal shows a certain color. Is there some way to determine WHY that color is being shown?

There are as many answers to that question as there are different types of signals in use

The obvious colours, Red and Green (or their equivalents) don't always have obvious reasons. Red for example can mean that the signal is operating under manual control and has to be released before it can show green, even if the track ahead is clear. The Set Signal rule can simulate this.

Distant signals often do not show red at all even when passed by a train. They show green and yellow only to indicate the state of the next signal.

...and so on.

PS: In Driver move the mouse pointer onto the signal and it will show an explanation message (which may or may not make any sense).

boleyd said:

For me it is not always obvious why a signal shows a certain color. Is there some way to determine WHY that color is being shown?

Click to expand...

There's a pretty comprehensive overview in the April 2017 Model Railroader, p 66: "A Signal System To Fit Any Railroad." Should give you a leg up.

:B~)

llebrez said:

"PS: In Driver move the mouse pointer onto the signal and it will show an explanation message (which may or may not make any sense)."​

​

Not always. Upon request I can supply KUID's of signals that when you hover the cursor, show nothing. Most do, but not all of them, and sometimes, a train stops on a red, and upon inquiring why is red, it says that the line is free of traffic for one block. Go figure...​

Click to expand...

This is EXACTLY why I asked the question. Only one train on the entire system. Yet a signal shows yellow or a signal shows red as that train approaches a signal. It is a mess. There is no reliable logic to signals. A jumble of signals have emerged over the years designed to emulate a variety of signal cultures but not one of them works properly in all cases. That latter statement is a challenge to show me a signal system that will perform to basic logic all the time. We have no standard. Each is claimed to represent some odd circumstance that existed in 1920 or at the collective whims of the staff of a railroad. Right now I see them as a decoration offering no reliable, nor understandable, definition of their purpose.

I would like N3V to certify a system that works logically, all the time, on all of their routes. That Gold Standard can then be tailored to emulate eras, specials, different regions and countries, etc. But any circumstance where that adjusted system fails a set of basic objectives would need an explanation or a correction. In the meantime customers can speculate why a train stops, or slows, for no apparent reason and still believe it is a representative of reality.

I understand what you are saying and why.

I select the signals that (a) best represent the era and region I am modelling, and (b) work correctly for the situations I am modelling. It is a rare occasion when I find a signal that is an exact duplicate of the "real thing" for the region and era. On the only occasion (so far) that that has happened the signal was later removed from the DLS because of a copyright violation, so I had to find substitutes.

On my TGR Fingal Line layout, the signals (all two position semaphore arms) work perfectly in all 13 sessions I created. In one session, a night session, I deliberately locked (using the Set Signal Extended Rule) all the signals to show Proceed because that was the actual practice on that line after sunset when all the station/signal staff had clocked off for the night.

A signal logic (i.e. the script) may work perfectly for the situations it was designed for but not for other situations created by users who have downloaded it. For that reason session creators are well advised to look at the various rules that are available to control the operation of signals, junctions, etc to better simulate the operations they are modelling.