Is there such animal as 'Drive to SIGNAL' command for Trainz?

JonMyrlennBailey

Active member
I have an issue. I'm adding driveable semi trucks to my model Trainz layout. There are intersections, invisible RR junctions in actuality, some with stop signs as well. Invisible signals keep truck traffic from colliding at intersections. Trigger Multiple Signals Rule keeps trucks from colliding where the tracks do not actually form a junction but merely cross over or the two different truck routes on a narrow road overlap. The truck routes are formed by invisible track embedded in bare ground or in YARD road content.

At stop signs, my rule is the trucks (locos) have to stop there for 5 seconds whether there's cross traffic or not before proceeding.

The trucks also have to hold at certain intersections for cross traffic. At some intersections as T's, the traffic over the hat (main thoroughfare) of the T has priority and trucks approaching the intersection from the stem of the T (side road) must yield to the main traffic.

It seems redundant to have to use both a Trackmark and a signal at such T intersections since trucks approaching from the side road must always stop no matter what.

What if I could just command my driver to stop at the (specially-named) signal itself (for a specified amount of time) to eliminate the need for a Trackmark here?

Having both signal and a track-mark works, but rather sloppy. The truck will creep toward the signal, stop, throw the invisible lever, then hurry to the track mark a few feet ahead and abruptly stop at it.

It is tough to make road vehicle train-car content conform to the rules of MOTOR WAYS as opposed to railways. I have to set up my motor vehicles using RR rules in this game.

PS - colored-in-Surveyor invisible track must be embedded 0.30 m blow the road surface: traincar Kenworth tractors by willem2 and Amtrak MOW crane wrecker trucks by superlaku oddly ride with the contact patches of the vehicle tires 0.30 mm above such track. However, the wheel bands and horse hooves horse-drawn traincar content by johnwhelan and elvenor ride right on such track so no subtraction of 0.30 is needed at the spline points. I only subtract 0.28 m over YARN road surfaces so my trucks float ever so slightly above the road so the vehicle ground shadows don't flicker so badly. On flat bare ground as textured gravel roads, I subtract 0.29 at the track splines. YARN road is not perfectly flat. It has road crown curvature. It's thicker at the center and thinner at the shoulders. This adjusting track height at splines is the tedious labor of constructing routes for traincars disguised as road-going wheeled vehicles. It would look stupid for tires to float above the road or to sink below it. I embed invisible track into YARN road because I can precisely shape the curves of the tracks at intersections. Tractor-trailer trucks have to swing wide in corners, you know, so they need track laid at the corners formed into wide arcs.

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There is no such command that I am aware of. You are correct, it "seems redundant to have to use both a Trackmark and a signal", but that may be the only solution particularly since Trackmarks have a "trigger effect radius" while signals do not - which may be the reason why there may be no "Drive to Signal" command.
 
Someone has yet to invent track-side content that will behave both as a track-mark and a signal.

No problem, if the truck stops at the signal to throw the switch, I'll just pretend he had to stop because the
truck driver dropped his smartphone on the cab floor to pick it up.

Another oddity, sometimes the driver stops to throw a switch at a junction and other times he just throws the switch on the fly and rolls on through non stop.

Placing an invisible permissive signal just beyond the junction helps switch block crossings go smoother sometimes. This permissive signal
strategically placed can help iron out balky AI behavior in some cases. AI takes a lot of monkeying with to get it right.
 
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It maybe complex to setup, but it might be worth looking at Boat's (Mike's) ATLS system. He made this particular system for running trams and the trucks being trains are essentially trams. There are related US-type traffic signals that work with this system. He has improved the components extensively and there are now combination triggers/slaves and slave controllers which eliminates a number of components.

While the system is a bit complex, it is relatively easy to setup and his documentation is excellent both on his website and within the assets themselves.
 
Hi

I'm only aware of one signal related autodrive command which is "AutoDrivePastSignal" by author "pguy" and is on the DLS. It is unlikely to be of use to you because it is extremely difficult to get variable length vehicles to stop in the same place.

In TS12 days I used the SCS2013 rule for creating sessions and this had a wonderful Autopilot command which had a number of parameters that could be set to stop the train before or after a signal, junction, trigger or trackmark. It could also set the distance for the train to stop in front of or behind the object. Other settings were for maximum speed, acceleration rate and deceleration rate. All of this in one command which was incredibly useful in any session and it's a pity that there's nothing similar in the current set of driver command's (or even individual commands for each of the above).

Regards

Brian
 
Thanks, John:

The thing is, in my truck setup, truck (train) track joins intersecting roads with junctions. Trams (streetcars) would cross RR train tracks without joining them. Out on my rural logging road, there would be no traffic lights, but just road signs. The main focus of my route will still be RR trains. The trucks under AI control doing their own thing in the background probably won't be paid much mind. That the truck makes a stop near an intersection then pulls closer and stops again is not uncommon in real motor traffic scenarios anyway, come to think of it. When I drive my car to a stop sign I will stop for it then sometimes pull up a few feet to get a better look for any oncoming traffic before proceeding especially at a blind intersection. My AI driver is just very cautious, that's all!

He stops briefly at the signal back from the T a bit as if he is making a stop to be in legal compliance with the stop sign, throws the switch ahead then suddenly pulls forward a couple feet to the track-mark and stops abruptly for 5 seconds as if the driver is looking both ways for traffic before pulling out onto the main road to compete his turn. Yes, there is a logical reason to make double stop at an intersection sometimes now that I remember my own real-world driving experiences.
 
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When in surveyor move the TM so the red radius area is just before the lights. They should slow enough to stop as it touches the red radius area. Interlocking towers are also useful for road junctions..
 
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