Changing platform without skipping station?

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Changing platform without skipping station? 12/11/2010 at 19:15 #2004
Quaxo76
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17 posts
Hello,
I'm using the latest version of Cambridge. I'm running a standard simulation, and I have strong delays because I had several track circuit failures. Now at Cambridge, I have platforms 1 and 4 occupied by trains that won't move very soon; one is occupied by a train that is scheduled to leave in 15 minutes, the other is occupied by a train that is waiting for a joining train (which is quite far away, having been delayed earlier).
I have a third train (1L04) that wants to stop at Cambridge. As platforms 1 and 4 are occupied, I thought I might make it stop at Platform 5 which is free, and then back it up and put it back in the main line. But it refuses to go there. When he phones me, I only have 3 options:
1) Wait 5' for the correct route to be set;
2) Abandon timetable;
3) Bypass Cambridge.
1) is impossible because I can't set the correct route. 2) and 3) are both more drastic, IMO, than just stopping at 5.
What am I supposed to do? Can't I make it stop at Cambridge without having to wait 15 minutes until Platform 1 clears? :(

Thanks in advance,
Cristian

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Changing platform without skipping station? 12/11/2010 at 19:15 #12439
Quaxo76
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17 posts
Hello,
I'm using the latest version of Cambridge. I'm running a standard simulation, and I have strong delays because I had several track circuit failures. Now at Cambridge, I have platforms 1 and 4 occupied by trains that won't move very soon; one is occupied by a train that is scheduled to leave in 15 minutes, the other is occupied by a train that is waiting for a joining train (which is quite far away, having been delayed earlier).
I have a third train (1L04) that wants to stop at Cambridge. As platforms 1 and 4 are occupied, I thought I might make it stop at Platform 5 which is free, and then back it up and put it back in the main line. But it refuses to go there. When he phones me, I only have 3 options:
1) Wait 5' for the correct route to be set;
2) Abandon timetable;
3) Bypass Cambridge.
1) is impossible because I can't set the correct route. 2) and 3) are both more drastic, IMO, than just stopping at 5.
What am I supposed to do? Can't I make it stop at Cambridge without having to wait 15 minutes until Platform 1 clears? :(

Thanks in advance,
Cristian

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Changing platform without skipping station? 13/11/2010 at 02:08 #12441
flymo
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135 posts
If this were me, what I would do would be to abandon the timetable of the train due to depart in 15' and shunt it out of the station somewhere, perhaps the carriage sidings or somewhere. This would free up one platform for the use of stoppers to clear the backlog. Nearer it's departure time or when the stoppers have passed I'd then shunt the train I'd moved back into the platform and re-assign its timetable. All of this would probably need some manual intervention to ensure the up/down direction is correct by reversing direction where necessary

Whether it's the right thing to do or not would be up for debate but that's my solution.

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Changing platform without skipping station? 13/11/2010 at 11:27 #12446
Quaxo76
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Hi, thank you for your reply.
I abandoned the timetable for the train 2C52 (the one that wouldn't leave for 15'and sent it forward to signal 148; then I set a route back to the reception lines from signal 647, and told the train to reverse direction. It did, but when it reached signal 647, instead of leaving the main line and going into the reception sidings, it stopped there, "waiting for correct route to be set". I don't get it. If it has abandoned the timetable, what does it expect? What would the "correct route" be? I tried making it "go non-stop through next station" but it says the train has no timetable.

Any insight? I'm quite lost now and have actually worsened the situation... I could go back to a previously saved state but that would feel like cheating! Is there something I'm doing wrong or could that be a bug in the software? :(

As the train is AC powered, I thought maybe the reception lines aren't electrified, but I checked in the manual and apparently they are (1 and 2 are electrified, and I'm sending it into 1).

Cristian

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Changing platform without skipping station? 13/11/2010 at 19:55 #12462
BarryM
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2158 posts
Quaxo76
You have to back the train to the Carriage Sidings. Passenger trains are not permitted on the Reception Lines.

I am surprised that Simers worry about cheating.. You are not going to be thrown out of Simsig! You use the saved game to learn how to go about the correct way of controlling a signal complex. Simsig is a real learning tool used by companies to train signal persons. If you are not railway orientated in safe working, it can be very difficult.
It is there for enjoyment.
Enjoy
Barry

Barry, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
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Changing platform without skipping station? 13/11/2010 at 22:07 #12468
postal
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5189 posts
And in real life would any of that happen anyway. The complexities of getting passengers off a train so it can be shunted, finding a driver and making sure that all involved know what is happening would probably take a lot longer than the 15 minute delay facing the signaller.
“In life, there is always someone out there, who won’t like you, for whatever reason, don’t let the insecurities in their lives affect yours.” – Rashida Rowe
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Changing platform without skipping station? 13/11/2010 at 23:05 #12470
Quaxo76
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Thanks again for all the replies. After a couple more tries it worked - when the driver phoned to complain about the wrong route, one of the options was "follow the incorrect route anyway" or something like that. Just why it would think the route was wrong, having abandoned the timetable, I don't know. But anyway, I was able to "fix" the situation with only minor added delays.

I understand your point of view about cheating in a simulation. But for me part of the enjoyment comes from pretending it's all real, and not doing things I couldn't do in real life. For example, when I fly with my flight simulator (another of my hobbies) and my wife calls me for dinner, I never just quit the program and go. I have to land at the nearest airport. And if there's no airport close enough, I just stop the engine pretending I had an engine failure, and try an emergency landing in a suitable meadow or similar! I realize I take simulators more seriously than most people, but "to each his own" as they say, right? ;)

@postal: I see your point. I assumed that the driver would already be in the train (for no logical reason I admit) and that the passengers wouldn't mind being shown the sidings, as the train would still be leaving at the scheduled time anyway, so... no need to offload them!

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Changing platform without skipping station? 14/11/2010 at 00:02 #12471
postal
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5189 posts
I'm not a railway professional so I can't speak from knowledge, but I've been turned off a couple of trains in the past while unscheduled shunt moves were undertaken, with the railway staff insisting that it was because of "insurance requirements". In this instance I would guess that you would have to turn them off (or invoke lots of signalling restrictions) while the train was shunted into the Carriage Sidings as these are presumably not signalled to passenger standards.

For the deeply interested, the regulations about allowing passenger trains onto goods lines are all in Section 11 of the module of the on-line rule book at this link.

“In life, there is always someone out there, who won’t like you, for whatever reason, don’t let the insecurities in their lives affect yours.” – Rashida Rowe
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Changing platform without skipping station? 14/11/2010 at 08:46 #12473
Peter Bennet
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5354 posts
postal said:
I'm not a railway professional so I can't speak from knowledge, but I've been turned off a couple of trains in the past while unscheduled shunt moves were undertaken, with the railway staff insisting that it was because of "insurance requirements". In this instance I would guess that you would have to turn them off (or invoke lots of signalling restrictions) while the train was shunted into the Carriage Sidings as these are presumably not signalled to passenger standards.
Gone are the days when you could hop on the stock for the shunt release and scratch an 08 for a mile or so now what was my High Mileage one....? Mind you they don't do shunt releases anymore anyway.

Peter

I identify as half man half biscuit - crumbs!
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Changing platform without skipping station? 14/11/2010 at 10:10 #12477
BarryM
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2158 posts
Quaxo76 said:
Just why it would think the route was wrong, having abandoned the timetable, I don't know.

Cristain,
Abandoning a timetable does not change the type of train. The train was a passenger and passenger trains are not permitted on the Reception Lines. That's why the driver rang you and questioned the road.

Barry

Barry, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
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Changing platform without skipping station? 14/11/2010 at 11:46 #12479
GoodbyeMrFish
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148 posts
what i would do is, before the late arrival arrives at cambridge either, edit timetable to join the next working out, depending on the trains length. or just route the train into one of the terminus platforms and cancel the train there, then make a new timetable to either send it to carriage sidings,

this side of the sim i find intriguing, i do not have the knowledge to know what the controllers would do in that situation like many others,

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Changing platform without skipping station? 14/11/2010 at 13:50 #12488
kbarber
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1708 posts
One of the things that might be done in real life is to depart the train waiting for the join, either terminating the joining train (abandon & get rid to sidings) or running as a special (assumes Control can rustle up a crew).
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Changing platform without skipping station? 14/11/2010 at 19:28 #12494
Quaxo76
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17 posts
Thank you all for the informative replies! :)
So, the train didn't want to go to those sidings because it was still a passenger train, but it asked me for a specific authorisation to go there... that makes sense! After all the situation was solved with minor problems, which suits me.
I don't know yet how to edit timetables, so I didn't even consider doing that.

Now, I'm progressing with that session. At about 14:00 I already had 7 or 8 track circuit failures and a signal lamp failure (I hope that's unrealistic!) and, after the rush hour, I managed to contain the delays. Now most trains are on time but a few are running 20-25 minutes late (but some are still entering my area already late). I'm currently at 60% performance, which sucks but I suppose I could have done worse...! :)

Cristian

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Changing platform without skipping station? 14/11/2010 at 20:12 #12495
BarryM
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2158 posts
GoodbyeMrFish said:
cancel the train there, then make a new timetable to either send it to carriage sidings,
If you are going to send the train to the carriage sidings, there is no need to write a timetable. Just abandon the timetable, make sure the train is pointing in the right direction and signal it to the sidings when a path (opportunity) is available.

Barry

Barry, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
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Changing platform without skipping station? 17/11/2010 at 19:03 #12542
ralphjwchadkirk
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275 posts
In most circumstances a passenger train should not, and will not, accept a (G)PL signal. There are exceptions though.
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