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| Are NX panels easier to use than IECC? 08/02/2014 at 13:01 #55217 | |
AndyG
1842 posts |
To a certain extent it's a bit like learning to drive a car. Firstly to have to practise and learn using (and coordinating!) the controls (ie clutch, accelerator, gears) so that it becomes second nature/sub-conscious, then you can concentrate more on actually moving the car, taking in to account external influences on what you can/can't/should do. After a while you aren't really aware of what you feet are doing on the pedals, just like your breathing. Similarly on SimSig (or the real railway for that matter). You need to practise setting routes etc so that the basic mousing/clicking is second nature, and then the speed comes with practice as you can concentrate of the decisions to be made. To start with it is a bit overwhelming, but once the basics are easy, the decision making then has more time, and becomes easier (and enjoyable) as well. I can only help one person a day. Today's not your day. Tomorrow doesn't look too good either. Log in to reply The following user said thank you: maxand |
| Are NX panels easier to use than IECC? 08/02/2014 at 14:12 #55221 | |
Guts
604 posts |
I work both and I've worked Willesden/Wembley Suburban NX and WestCAD. I prefer NX. In terms of relays and all that stuff, Signallers don't care about all that, we care about ease of use. You can easily help out a mate on and NX panel. reach across set a route while s/he is on the phone. You don't have that ease of aid or help on a WestCAD. I prefer NX, any time over WestCAD, simply for the ease of assistance. Log in to reply |
| Are NX panels easier to use than IECC? 08/02/2014 at 16:42 #55225 | |
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Firefly
521 posts |
Speaking purely as a tester I much prefer panels. If I'm testing a panel the chances are the block will cover the rest of that signallers panel and as a tester the signaller will normally just leave you to it and read the rule book! However on IECC, Westcad and MCS they tend to cover a larger area and therefore there's a high possibility that another part of their area will have trains. This means that 2 of us are trying to work on one work station, with one tracker ball which can make testing a whole lot more difficult. Also as testers we're doing a lot of setting and cancelling routes, and swinging points and that's much more fiddly and time consuming on a work station than it is on a panel. FF Log in to reply |
| Are NX panels easier to use than IECC? 08/02/2014 at 19:12 #55230 | |
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Stephen Fulcher
2078 posts |
Also from an S&T point of view, you can "see" what is happening a lot easier with a relay interlocking than you can with computer based interlockings.
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| Are NX panels easier to use than IECC? 08/02/2014 at 19:56 #55235 | |
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MrBitsy
121 posts |
" said:Remember, SimSig simplifies some areas of real life- for example, a phone call in SimSig can be dealt with in seconds, whereas the real life conversation takes longer.Agreed. Often you can be working the rush hour with degraded working, setting routes, talking on the phone, telephone ringing and someone else shouting at you. Working a whole area in SimSig is more manageable because so many other distractions are not happening. Dealing with real trains, real procedures, the possibility of being disciplined for late running or mistakes means you just can't control as much traffic as you can in SimSig. Not taking anything away from SimSig of course as you won't find as real a simulator available to the public. Reminds me when I learnt to fly. I had been using Microsoft flight simulator using online air traffic control plus many addons, including realistic satellite imagery, for many years. I thought my first landing therefore would be straight forward, but the added 'realism', weight on the controls, vastly different feel due to weather and the adrenalin made for a very scary first landing! TVSC Link 4 signaller - Temple Meads, Bath & Stoke Gifford Log in to reply The following user said thank you: maxand |
| Are NX panels easier to use than IECC? 08/02/2014 at 21:32 #55244 | |
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John
884 posts |
" said:After all this I think I'd better sit down and learn to edit/write a timetable to suit my level of ability. Not too many trains, a total time span of not more than two hours, say, with some gaps built in so that I can clear the area in case things get too hectic.Just keep plugging away, Maxand, it's the only way to learn. Figuring out how to use the editor and then writing a timetable seems a convoluted way of learning and ultimately counterproductive. As JamesN says, playing a dumbed-down TT is just setting the bar lower and you won't learn. Log in to reply The following user said thank you: maxand |
| Are NX panels easier to use than IECC? 08/02/2014 at 23:05 #55247 | |
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Airvan00
129 posts |
" said:" said:Agreed. If you have something you don't understand just stop, (click the time button) then read the manual. The suggestion of trying Worksop is a good one. But it does have some new elements, like the block working mentioned above, which will take a bit to master, also you manually have to lower crossings. There are plenty of Ground frames like the ones you discovered in Westbury. Also you will encounter stop boards. Take it slow the first time and very soon you will be running at standard time, dealing with multiple failures and rewriting the timetable on the run.After all this I think I'd better sit down and learn to edit/write a timetable to suit my level of ability. Not too many trains, a total time span of not more than two hours, say, with some gaps built in so that I can clear the area in case things get too hectic.Just keep plugging away, Maxand, it's the only way to learn. Log in to reply The following user said thank you: maxand |
| Are NX panels easier to use than IECC? 09/02/2014 at 15:19 #55290 | |
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kbarber
1742 posts |
I'd go with the advice to just keep at it, Max. We all had to start somewhere and AndyG's 'driving a car' analogy is not a bad one. But I'd take it to the next stage: having reached the point that making it go, stop, turn and avoid the other idiots has become second nature, you start to learn the signs to look for that tell you what's going on - things like where hedges & fences go that might indicate how sharp a corner is, where few wheels pass so there's a collection of gravel to slip on (particularly important on 2 wheels), how the road is cambered through a corner, what the tyres feel like on the road surface (especially on a bike as you crank over into a bend). Eventually that becomes second nature too, and driving/riding becomes smooth and fluid with little conscious effort or thought. But it takes time to build up that level of expertise. You also lose your 'edge' quite quickly - now I work at home and sometimes go a couple of months without using the bike, it usually takes me 10 miles or so to really get back into the groove; until then my riding feels jerky (sticky might be a better word) and sometimes positively nervous. I was lucky when it came to learning boxes; I cut my Absolute Block teeth in places like Leytonstone High Road (2 stop + 1 distant signal each way plus a crossover and 1 shunt disc), progressed to a bit of somewhat busier 'straight up & down' working (West Hampstead http://www.signalbox.org/diagrams.php?id=152 the crossovers were rarely used when I knew it) then on to Finchley Road where they finally made a real signalman of me, before I joined the company in 1978. Hackney Downs, a small(ish) but busy panel, came later; had I not known my way around the signalling basics I'd have struggled. Log in to reply The following user said thank you: maxand |
| Are NX panels easier to use than IECC? 09/02/2014 at 23:07 #55329 | |
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john_s
31 posts |
kbarber wrote a very interesting overview of different sorts of panels (Thank you Keith!). Although the NX obviously became the UK standard over the years, in fact OCS requires fewer operations (one rather than two) to set a route. OCS never quite died out, although all the recent examples I'm aware of are for fairly simple layouts. I can see why OCS might not be so nice if you have a dozen routes from one signal! If anyone is interested, here are some pictures of two recent OCS panels, at Dumfries (the newer - for Eastriggs - was obviously made to match the operation of the earlier panel): http://www.lymmobservatory.net/railways/misc/DSCF2112.JPG http://www.lymmobservatory.net/railways/misc/DSCF2122.JPG http://www.lymmobservatory.net/railways/misc/DSCF2126.JPG http://www.lymmobservatory.net/railways/misc/DSCF2140.JPG Log in to reply The following users said thank you: maxand, John |
| Are NX panels easier to use than IECC? 10/02/2014 at 06:13 #55340 | |
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maxand
1637 posts |
Quote:One Control Switch (OCS)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signalling_control I've added it to the Wiki Glossary Last edited: 10/02/2014 at 06:25 by maxand Log in to reply |
| Are NX panels easier to use than IECC? 10/02/2014 at 13:20 #55354 | |
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Guts
604 posts |
Why were my comments deleted? Were they not valid??
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