Track Eraser??

First what is a Track Eraser?

I have a bunh of them appear in a yard. How do I erase them? tried various erasers but no luck....

They do appear to be track items.

That was Andi06's (RIP) term for invisible track. It doesn't "erase" the track in Surveyor but will do so in Driver.

This track is used for various things such as his station platforms where the erased track turns into regular track through the use-existing-track 1 tag in the config.txt. The track is also used for road crossings, swing bridges, and other assets that required a track so that the trains can continue across even though the asset is a scenery item.

I use the invisible track, well BNSF50's blue version for places where I have placed derails. A derail is nothing more than a switch lever that disappears when switched a particular way. Putting the invisible track on the when facing way, enables the derail and the AI won't travel that way. These are great for those places where there's an active road crossing and we don't want to continuously activate the crossing gates.

JCitron said:

That was Andi06's (RIP) term for invisible track. It doesn't "erase" the track in Surveyor but will do so in Driver.

Click to expand...

That threw me years ago too. Erasers that didn't erase anything.

I have a dozen or so invisible tracks of my own I use for various reasons. They are visible in Surveyor but invisible in Driver. The primary use I make of them is to carry ng trains on dual gauge track I used in the past. The sg is carried on the visible track that includes the 3 visible rails. I also use them as "derails" on dualgauge turnouts where only 1 gauge is switched but the other gauge has an open switch blade on the common rail.

But it's also used for boats and planes as paths that they have to travel on.

Invisible in Driver doesn't mean they are "erased" and not there. They are there and they work like regular track as far as the trains are concerned. They are sometimes used on fixed track and buildable assets (scenery with track) and if that's the case you can't delete the track - you have to delete the scenery with track asset that has attached track defined in the config.

Bob Pearson

I use it as an eraser when there is a fixed track item, such as a level crossing, with the wrong track type on it. If you attach the eraser track, it 'erases' the attached track so you can then attach your preferred track to the object.

A very useful tool and one that I find does exactly as it says on the tin.

Cheers,

PLP

PortLineParker said:

I use it as an eraser when there is a fixed track item, such as a level crossing, with the wrong track type on it. If you attach the eraser track, it 'erases' the attached track so you can then attach your preferred track to the object.

A very useful tool and one that I find does exactly as it says on the tin.

Cheers,

PLP

Click to expand...

I also use the track similarly to remove a track on a multi-track crossing to give the appearance that one or more of the tracks was yanked up and paved over even though the crossing indicates, as required here, the number of tracks being more than is what's in service.

The tracks disappear when you connect an invisible track anyway.
Cheers,
Mike

The andi06 track eraser isn't just 'invisible track', he has a 'spline eraser' as well. Specifically on his trackside kits - tunnels, stations and junctions, using the 'eraser' removes track (or a spline) attached to an object, it doesn't just replace is as 'invisible track' would. You can prove this be adding a second track after using the 'eraser' - you don't get a junction and a lever as you would if you'd used 'invisible' track: The original track (or spline) isn't replaced by the 'eraser' - it's removed. It came about because sometimes track - or splines - attached to a scenery object won't delete if they are inadvertently attached to the wrong node - attaching an 'eraser' removes the errant spline/track...

So difficult to explain - so easy to use once you get your head around the difference - took me a while too....

Yes the AJS Spline Eraser is very useful if for example I accidentally attach a wall spline where I wanted to attach a platform (for the AJS station assets, which I use frequently or tunnel portals etc).

Great info on this Thread for Invisible Track Eraser!

Dermmy said:

The andi06 track eraser isn't just 'invisible track', he has a 'spline eraser' as well. Specifically on his trackside kits - tunnels, stations and junctions, using the 'eraser' removes track (or a spline) attached to an object, it doesn't just replace is as 'invisible track' would. You can prove this be adding a second track after using the 'eraser' - you don't get a junction and a lever as you would if you'd used 'invisible' track: The original track (or spline) isn't replaced by the 'eraser' - it's removed. It came about because sometimes track - or splines - attached to a scenery object won't delete if they are inadvertently attached to the wrong node - attaching an 'eraser' removes the errant spline/track...

So difficult to explain - so easy to use once you get your head around the difference - took me a while too....

Click to expand...

This is really good analogy of how to best use this item, you gave some good examples here, which helps me a lot, especially having the situation of not being able to remove a Track Object and I ended up either using Copy and Paste function, or removing a whole Tile because I couldn't get it to delete any other way, and it was a Route. Layer thing either.

Thank you Sir for the informative Post, enjoy your weekend. :wave: