Do you get lost on your own layout/route?

This is something that happens to me all the time on my GER Norfolk layout. It's about 30-35 miles long, - which I would imagine seems tiny to some of the route builders on the forum, and mostly rural and partly coastal with small towns and farms and fields in a landscape that ranges from very flat out in the fen country to gently rolling up towards the Lincolnshire end.
Usually this happens when I'm doing scenic work of the kind where I'm looking over everything and doing small adjustments to fences and walls, placing trees and shrubs & etc. Suddenly I'll look up from what I'm doing and I'll realise that I'm not entirely sure where I am. Many of the roads on the layout now have signposts which helps a bit and eventually I do find my way to somewhere where's there's a familiar landmark and after that I'm fine.

And yes I do know I could look on the mini-map, but when I'm working on my little created world I like to be immersed in it and move about in almost a wandering fashion improving things to make it more the little world I want it to be.

Two screens: one showing the mini map and the other a worm's eye view might be handy.

Or you could add some name editable route markers that are Surveyor only.

In Surveyor you can mark 9 (or is it 10?) locations and jump between those by pressing 1, 2, 3... 9 (or even 0?).
Could that help you?

I use it to directly jump to the main towns or junctions on my route.

Not behind my PC right now, so can’t tell you detailed instructions on how you set it up right now.

pcas1986 said:

Two screens: one showing the mini map and the other a worm's eye view might be handy.

Or you could add some name editable route markers that are Surveyor only.

Click to expand...

In a way the signposts on my layout take that role, but I also use C+ track labels which only are visible in surveyor to mark various meandering lines of railway as well.

I have a double monitor bracket kit and spare monitors so the two screen solution is possible; - it's just gathering up the energy to do it that's the problem.

oknotsen said:

In Surveyor you can mark 9 (or is it 10?) locations and jump between those by pressing 1, 2, 3... 9 (or even 0?).
Could that help you?

I use it to directly jump to the main towns or junctions on my route.

Not behind my PC right now, so can’t tell you detailed instructions on how you set it up right now.

Click to expand...

Now that would be very useful and I would be very grateful if you could tell me how to do it when you have a spare moment.

From the manual (yeah, I know, who needs the manual), on the Tool Bar click on the "funnel" or the "Content Search Filter" and:

"Bookmarks are points manually placed onto your Route so that
you can return to that location at any time. Click on one of the
Bookmark buttons (right click is what the manual shows) then click Set Bookmark to save your current
compass location. The button remains highlighted to indicate that
a Bookmark is stored.
Click on any Bookmark to return to that location."

I had to make a list of the bookmark number (there are ten slots) and location as I couldn't remember which were which but it isn't that hard. Ha! I just clicked around on my Soda Ash Route while I was checking out the bookmarks and, geez, I was a busy boy at one time!

Take care,

Thank you very much Don. That bookmark tip is going to be very useful and is going to save me a lot of time.

The default keys (in surveyor) for bookmarks are:
CTRL-1 to CTRL-0 for setting one of the ten booksmarks
1 to 0 for moving the camera to the bookmark
The bookmarks are represented by the line of 10 squares in the filter dialog. Right clicking on one of the squares offers the option to set, delete or jump.

Peter

My problem is that 10 bookmarks are not enough. Of course you can assign any of them to a place so you can "fly" there as needed. But I have them set at strategic places covering as much as possible. Been using this since 04

I still manage with ten followed by scrolling to the area I am working on.
And at some point an area simply is finished and can that bookmark be re-used for a different location.

KotangaGirl said:

Now that would be very useful and I would be very grateful if you could tell me how to do it when you have a spare moment.

Click to expand...

I see others have beat me to it .

p-dehnert said:

The default keys (in surveyor) for bookmarks are:
CTRL-1 to CTRL-0 for setting one of the ten booksmarks
1 to 0 for moving the camera to the bookmark
The bookmarks are represented by the line of 10 squares in the filter dialog. Right clicking on one of the squares offers the option to set, delete or jump.

Peter

Click to expand...

You, of course, are correct, Peter. I forgot to include the short-cuts.

Thanks and take care,