I think it would be handy to have a Copy button at the bottom of the Answer call from train xxxx window, which when clicked copies the whole message received by me to the Windows Clipboard for pasting into a sticky note.

Although it is possible to do this manually now by highlighting and copying the text, unless you remember to do this, the message text is gone forever. It's all too easy to forget to save, click an acknowledgment and lose the message.

Doesn't it show up in your messages window?

Only my reply, which is only half the story. Or if any part of the message shows up, it's usually greatly abbreviated.

Maybe I should have been clearer in my original post. I was thinking of the situation where a driver phones in to say the train's developed a fault and is due to depart at a delayed time. What I'm most interested in is the delayed time of departure, but if I forget to copy it down somewhere, it seems there's no way to retrieve it afterwards.

As you say, no need to copy my answer - I know what I replied and it's also in the Messages window.

Added to developers "wish list".

Peter

maxand wrote:
Can't vouch for all sims, but on a lot of them the substance of that sort of incoming message is shown on the Incident Report (F7) - which leads to the curse - click - click scenario when you realise you have shut down the telephone message without taking in the content properly.

drop a sticky note next to it with "del: 14:25" or similar to remind you

I get it - del stands for "delayed".

Thanks, that's what I used to do (till I wrote a macro to copy it for me). Having a Copy button eliminates typing and typos. Personally, I hate typing colons.

The real-life equivalent would be something like an old-fashioned teleprinter. Do they use them in signal boxes? Air Traffic Control used to (and probably still do) to print out latest weather advisories, etc.

Another note on how this is handled in real life (and I've had this loads of times myself).

If a train is going to be delayed leaving a station then the driver/guard will tell the platform staff. He will then call the signaller and tell him he will be late leaving. This is simulated by you receiving the phone call you mentioned.

What the signaller SHOULD then do is ask the driver if he wants the signal ahead of him replaced to danger (assuming it is off), and then he should tell the driver to call him when the train is ready to depart. The signaller then attends to other matters until he gets the call from the driver to say the train is ready to go.

The way I usually deal with this in Simsig is to leave the train sat there and not worry about it until the driver calls me to let me know he's ready to go. I don't worry about sticky notes to remind me - it just sits in the back of my mind.

Also, I always replace the signal to danger if the option is given to me - some trains end up sat there for ages with a route set for them which requires cancelling later, earning you a penalty and a call from a bemused driver.

lazzer:Seems strange that the driver, not the signaller, is the one who is given the choice. What if the driver doesn't want the signal replaced but the signaller knows he can use the track ahead to set routes for other trains to bypass the stalled train if the signal is replaced?

maxand wrote: The driver is always given the choice, because the driver should always be told if a signal is going to be replaced ahead of him IF HE IS IN A POSITION TO BE TOLD.

If the signaller is giving the driver a choice, then it means that the signaller is prepared, and able, to work around the problem if the driver says he doesn't want the signal put back to danger. However, if the driver says that the train will be there for some considerable time, then the signaller will tell the driver that the signal is going back on him, whether he likes it or not. I suppose the only exception to this is when the track ahead of the signal in question is plain line, and it makes no operational difference.