Manually swinging and locking points
There may be times when you want to swing a set of points or to lock them, such as to prevent ARS from setting a route, for selecting a non-preferred route, or for engineering purposes.
Most point symbols are oriented so that 'normal' is the horizontal position and 'reverse' is the diagonal position. However, because of display constraints, some points are the other way around. Such points may be highlighted in the accompanying simulation information.
To lock points normal, left click on the points symbol. If the points are already in the normal position then a blue track line will appear, showing the points are now locked normal. If the points are reverse and are free to move normal, then the blue track line will flash until the points are detected in the normal position, whereupon they will be locked normal. If the points are locked reverse, then the points will stay showing the flashing blue bar and the points will not be (able to be) moved. The points must be unlocked and re-locked if they later become free to move and you still want them moved.
To lock points reverse, the same principle as above follows, except that the right mouse button should be used instead
To unlock points, use either the left or the right (it doesn't matter which) mouse button on the points symbol. The blue track will be replaced by the background of the surrounding track (normally black).
Once the points are locked in either position, a 'Reminder' collar may be also applied. This is a yellow surround to the points.
Note that on older sims the yellow surround (flashing if appropriate) rather than the blue track line was used to indicate locked points.
Points manually locked normal:
Points manually locked reverse:
Points manually locked normal with reminder collar:
See also examples of points locked by another route
