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| Needs attention / next event list 08/01/2025 at 16:48 #159860 | |
M'vy
2 posts |
Good afternoon, and happy new year. So I've been slowly working my way around the Exeter sim, and one thing that I don't seem to be finding is a list that would help in spot in things that requires attention. Currently, I rely on looking at the whole simulation, and having the train list sorted by status, so at least the stopped/waiting for right of way trains are on the bottom. Is there any way to have some list of upcoming "things that will need to be done" somewhere? Or is this just not a feature? Things like "Manual Level Crossing is lowered", "Train X approaching red signal / no route set for train X", "Scheduled departure at station X platform N", "Train schedule to enter from sidings". I assume this is meant to be a realistic simulation of a signalling box, and maybe that is not something that is really done (which would kind of surprised me, given how critical a task this is, to not have sets of alerts). Thanks! Last edited: 08/01/2025 at 16:51 by M'vy Reason: More example Log in to reply |
| Needs attention / next event list 08/01/2025 at 17:36 #159861 | |
Steamer
4006 posts 
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If you take a look at the 'Messages' tab in F3, you can find a list of the available simulation messages which you can assign various colours/pop-ups or sounds to: https://www.SimSig.co.uk/Wiki/Show?page=usertrack:ssrun:func:f3:optionsmessages 'Crossing clear' is available, as are messages for trains entering the simulation. TRTS (Train Ready to Start) is provided at some stations (usually the larger ones)- see the simulation manual for specifics. The simulation is indeed intended to be realistic, so you won't get notifications of trains approaching red signals, only when they've stopped and contacted you. Indeed some of the messages you can get in SimSig are an aid to playability and aren't available in real life boxes. "Don't stress/ relax/ let life roll off your backs./ Except for death and paying taxes/ everything in life.../ is only for now." (Avenue Q) Last edited: 08/01/2025 at 17:37 by Steamer Reason: None given Log in to reply |
| Needs attention / next event list Yesterday at 03:40 #159863 | |
flabberdacks
655 posts |
There's no comprehensive list of things that need to be done because of the number of variables involved in arriving at such a decision. Even extensive levels of automation can get it wrong, in real life systems. Human experience is invaluable for the safe and effective running of a railway. Part of the skill of signalling is learning how the area works, monitoring it, learning how to identify that something needs to be done and when is best to do it. Developing this skill set takes quite some time! Your situational awareness will improve as your familiarity with the simulation and timetable improve. If you keep playing, noticing the patterns, making mistakes and learning from them, you'll look back at this post in 12 months time and smile. Last edited: Yesterday at 03:40 by flabberdacks Reason: None given Log in to reply The following user said thank you: DonRiver |
| Needs attention / next event list Yesterday at 09:16 #159868 | |
kbarber
1767 posts |
Absolutely agree with the replies. I know sims tend to cover areas much larger than one person would normally work and I can understand wanting some kind of alert to compensate for that. But real-life signallers don't have such things; as flabberdacks says learning to be aware of what needs doing and when is part of the skillset. When I was signalman at Marylebone (the 1967 box, not the present IECC) we had no reminders at all, not even a TRTS. We simply pulled off for departing trains a couple of minutes or so before booked departure (in the peak usually just pulled off in order of movements without waiting time) and waited for the train to move (or not). Same thing was done at Enfield Town and at Chingford until the present West Anglia IECC abolished them. You just need your wits about you, a good knowledge of the working and the traffic, and a reasonable sense of time passing. Log in to reply |
| Needs attention / next event list Yesterday at 09:43 #159869 | |
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0D07
92 posts |
Marylbone Didn't get TRTS fitted till 2006, it got CD & RA indicators in 1990 but why it didn't get TRTS at the same time is beyond me. Delta Zero Seven Log in to reply |
| Needs attention / next event list Yesterday at 23:03 #159873 | |
DonRiver
168 posts |
I'm playing Exeter sim right now, the early 80s summer 5-day timetable, as it happens, using the following: - lots of monitor space. I'm using one 2560x1440 monitor but two smaller monitors would work well too - Line Ups for key locations - for Exeter I've picked Newton Abbot, Exeter St Davids, and Taunton. I've customised the XML and CSS for the Line Ups to my tastes and will probably upload my config shortly - Pop-Up Timetable (also with CSS customised to my tastes) with the "multiple pop-ups" setting turned off, so it stays static. I just click on a headcode and the window updates to show that train's timetable. - Customised Messages - I forget exactly, but some message types I've turned off, and I've added sounds for a couple - TRTS, train entering, general message, phone message I think - an expectation that I'll forget about the occasional train, and that they'll phone me when they need me! So the Line Ups serve as a "what's next" of a sort, showing the departure sequence. I usually show the train's timetable before setting any signals for it and try to avoid making mistakes like clearing a signal for a train that's not due to move for twenty minutes... I only need to see the train list when something weird's happened or I've sent a train into a siding without a train describer berth and I've forgotten its headcode. I'm constantly scanning the whole panel looking for trouble. (This is also the first time I've played Exeter with TORR turned off and I'm actually preferring it - like when a shunting loco has vanished into a headshunt, I know it's still there because the signal stem leading into the headshunt is flashing away. I can cancel that signal and immediately set the route to leave the headshunt and carry on scrolling past.) That said... it's only 5am in the timetable - let's see how well I cope when the daytime traffic starts, especially with Platform 4 blocked!  Post has attachments. Log in to view them. (named for the one in Tasmania, not in Russia) Log in to reply |
| Needs attention / next event list Today at 06:48 #159875 | |
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Stephen Fulcher
2096 posts
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0D07 in post 159869 said:Marylbone Didn't get TRTS fitted till 2006, it got CD & RA indicators in 1990 but why it didn't get TRTS at the same time is beyond me.It may be it wasn’t thought to be busy enough when it was initially commissioned. Only had four platforms in use up until 2006 and the service was probably only about half of what it is now. I suspect the designers deemed the ARS suitable to just let them go in the right order. Log in to reply |
| Needs attention / next event list Today at 10:33 #159878 | |
jc92
3705 posts |
I'd agree with the previous comments regarding it being a learning curve to learn the area and the traffic and gauge things. Something you could do that I used to do, is make notes of key times on a bit of paper as a sort of checklist. for example if you look at 09:50 and see that the next departure at Paignton is 10:01 and the next move after that is a 10:03 arrival, you could make a note to check and look at lowering the barriers at 10:00, leaving you free to work elsewhere. after a while you won't need to do that. Even now when working a real box on busy days, sometimes a humble pen and pad is still incredibly useful for making notes of alterations, changes of priority/platform, extra moves, diagram swaps etc Another really powerful tool is the line up tool accessed via its button on the top bar or F9. This will give you the expected trains passing a given location in chronological order and a variant of it is used in real boxes for this purpose as well. "We don't stop camborne wednesdays" Log in to reply |
| Needs attention / next event list Today at 12:52 #159880 | |
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slatteryc
273 posts |
So do you as a real life signaller get to know every regular headcode through your patch ? or is it consult the book , I presume most stuff is scheduled and timetabled, and then you just get specials. Hows this done in the modern age ? for a manchester example that 1k16 is piccadilly-Hull but 2k16 isnt the stopper to Hull but in fact is Piccadilly-Stoke-on-trent ( well it is on my timetable i'm running ) This thread has trigged a "how on earth are you supposed to remember that" painful memory from way back of being bit badly by this. Log in to reply |
| Needs attention / next event list Today at 13:19 #159881 | |
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flabberdacks
655 posts |
In my experience I don't even try to remember every headcode for a 1000-trains-a-day box. You remember the patterns, recognise headcode formats and number ranges, perhaps a quick glance at the timetable to confirm you're right. Remembering the specific full headcode is usually reserved for rare unusual routing or some sort of potential trap like that Log in to reply |