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| Just a couple of ideas... 16/02/2010 at 03:34 #723 | |
TRC666
135 posts |
Here are a couple of ideas I came up with. Trains breaking down in section or at stations requiring a Thunderbird to push or drag them to nearest siding/depot or final destination. Trains stopping at green / yellow signals and drivers reporting obstructions and/or trespassers on the line (but no collisions or derailments etc), with an option to make all trains in that area to come to a stop or proceed at caution. Would features like these be feasible in future sims? Log in to reply |
| Just a couple of ideas... 16/02/2010 at 03:34 #6741 | |
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TRC666
135 posts |
Here are a couple of ideas I came up with. Trains breaking down in section or at stations requiring a Thunderbird to push or drag them to nearest siding/depot or final destination. Trains stopping at green / yellow signals and drivers reporting obstructions and/or trespassers on the line (but no collisions or derailments etc), with an option to make all trains in that area to come to a stop or proceed at caution. Would features like these be feasible in future sims? Log in to reply |
| Just a couple of ideas... 16/02/2010 at 10:59 #6750 | |
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kbarber
1743 posts |
There certainly were discussions about mid-section failures on the old forum. As I recall, SimSig just doesn't have that facility, things like that can only happen at the designated locations the sim knows about (& then only as timetabled). The aftermath is likewise not provided for. The possibilities are legion. Sometimes (IRL) a following train can push out the failure; the sim would need to allow coupling at the failure location. Occasionally a loco could be commandeered from another train (certainly in 1980s scenarios) - there was an infamous occasion when HM was making a private journey from Sandringham to London (Royal Mk II attached to the rear of a service train) when her engine failed and the unfortunate passengers on a down Lynn were treated to a long wait while a fresh engine was provided for them! That would require ability to uncouple at whatever location the donor train was as well as coupling to the failure. Thunderbirds are the other obvious possibility, again requiring coupling at the failure location. All these would need significant reprogramming of SimSig if I recall the earlier responses correctly. Failure at a station would be much easier, could be initiated by a message/phone call. To get maximum realism even this would need some additional programming in the sim code - the timetable of the affected train would need to be automatically abandoned as part of the failure process (bit embarassing if your "failure" suddenly decides it's departure time & moves off). The amount of timetable fiddling needed (via F2) to push out, get hold of a donor loco or get a thunderbird on are most unrealistic - a signalman would never get involved in that sort of thing IRL. What would happen is that Control/MOM/supervisor/manager/driver(s) would decide what should happen (in accordance with the rules) and the bobby would receive various advices & have to give various instructions (again in accordance with the rules) to make it all happen. There's a 4th possibility in this scenario - that a given train is "a failure on arrival", that is it is to be taken out of service & run to nearest depot for attention; again auto-timetable abandon would be highly desirable (and perhaps auto-timetable assign with a pre-written "to depot" move) but the clever stuff wouldn't be necessary. Perhaps this is where one of my earlier ideas might become useful: the people who want to get involved writing sims & such might perhaps create modules that could be integrated with the present sim software to provide some of these facilities; that didn't seem to be rejected when I suggested it but I don't know whether it's progressed at all (& I'm not particularly asking, to me SimSig can be quite taxing enough as it is). Reporting lineside issues (you might add animals on the line, lineside fires, possibly other things I've forgotten) is probably achievable within present code (Geoff/Clive/Peter?) but there aren't that many places where you could immediately bring all trains to a stand. Normal procedure would be to put back controlled signals leading into the area and caution all subsequent trains, any in auto sections at the time of the report having to take their chances. Cautioning would continue until the incident had been attended and a phone call was received confirming line clear. A possible "enhancement" would be to simulate traincrew applying track circuit clips (track drops some time before phone message is received to say why, as opposed to present system message advising track failure at the same time it happens - that is not a realistic feature in my experience). But we're getting too close for comfort to the SPAD scenario that has - quite rightly in my view - been rejected for inclusion and personally I wouldn't want it in for that reason. Just my 2penn'orth, others may have other opinions and Geoff is the one to say what is & what isn't possible, either now or (speculatively) in the future. Log in to reply |
| Just a couple of ideas... 16/02/2010 at 11:34 #6754 | |
GeoffM
6376 posts |
The recovery of a failed train is complex and depends very much on the circumstances. I can't see an easy way of programming that realistically. In a multiplayer the host can provide much of that action so the signaller only does what he's supposed to do - he doesn't arrange a rescue loco himself, for example, as kbarber says. Track circuit failures can be, and are, detected the instant they happen these days IRL by a method called track sequencing checking. If a track occupies unexpectedly then an alarm is presented to the signaller. It's part of SPAD monitoring usually. Where there is an ARS involved then it should switch off the appropriate subareas to avoid ARS routing a train on or near the occupied track. I think all new installations have to have track sequence alarms (regardless of ARS) but unlikely to apply retrospectivaly to older installations. Lineside issues, yes, a definite possibility. SimSig Boss Log in to reply |