Show Timetable to display Train List data

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Show Timetable to display Train List data 17/11/2011 at 12:48 #23139
maxand
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1637 posts
The Show Timetable window for a particular train is a great feature of SimSig. What I particularly like is the way left-clicking another train does not open an extra Show Timetable window but simply updates the data in the current window, avoiding the need to close multiple windows.

A bit of a chore, however, is to have to keep both Train List and Show Timetable windows open if I need to see a train's speed or location.

I would like to see the train's Direction, Status and Curr/Prev Location displayed in the Show Timetable window. That way, when I click a train, I immediately know all I need instead of having to scroll up/down the Train List to find it. The sort order in the Train List which seems to be last change made makes it more difficult for me to hunt for a train than if the sort order were by TD.

This seems to me such an obvious design improvement that there must be some good reason for not implementing it by now. Why do I get the sinking feeling that the reason will turn out to be that it's not the way it's done in real life, so it can't be done here? :whistle:

Maybe if such an improved Show Timetable window were renamed Train Details, that might be more acceptable to all. Then I would need to refer to the Train List much less frequently. It's only a paradigm shift, really.

Last edited: 17/11/2011 at 12:53 by maxand
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Re: Show Timetable to display Train List data 17/11/2011 at 13:55 #23141
alvinhochun
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249 posts
I think you actually can't see the train list in real life, so the train list as an extra feature, any information related should not be mixed with those you can see in real life.

However, in the view of a player, that is quite a good idea, perhaps this can be presented in the options dialog.

_ _ _ _,_ _ _ _! (censored by the Hong Kong national security law)
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Re: Show Timetable to display Train List data 17/11/2011 at 13:59 #23142
Noisynoel
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989 posts
If i had the facility to press F2 and see how fast trains were going at work,my life would be soooo much easier!
Noisynoel
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Re: Show Timetable to display Train List data 17/11/2011 at 14:06 #23143
AndyG
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1835 posts
Strictly speaking, the F2 Trainlist is primarily for a host to resolve running problems in mplay, normally a lot of the information there wouldn't be seen by a signaller in real life.

Obviously in solo play you have to use it yourself, but use of the information is not necessary to do the signaller's correctly; look on it as a bonus.

I can only help one person a day. Today's not your day. Tomorrow doesn't look too good either.
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Re: Show Timetable to display Train List data 17/11/2011 at 15:34 #23149
Forest Pines
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525 posts
" said:

I would like to see the train's Direction, Status and Curr/Prev Location displayed in the Show Timetable window. That way, when I click a train, I immediately know all I need instead of having to scroll up/down the Train List to find it. The sort order in the Train List which seems to be last change made makes it more difficult for me to hunt for a train than if the sort order were by TD.
I thought the train list was sorted by TD by default?

The Timetable window does show the *next* location, highlighted with bold text.

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Re: Show Timetable to display Train List data 17/11/2011 at 17:25 #23152
kbarber
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1712 posts
" said:
there must be some good reason for not implementing it by now. Why do I get the sinking feeling that the reason will turn out to be that it's not the way it's done in real life, so it can't be done here? :whistle:

Not this time... I don't know what's available in an IECC but, in any other box, the equivalent of "Show Timetable" is getting out the Working TimeTable and looking up the train you're interested in. In fact it used to be (don't know how it is now) that you might need to look at both the Mandatory (mostly passenger) and Conditional (mainly freight) books, particularly if you were comparing running times & allowances to see if you could let a train run on to the next regulating point. Oh, and you needed to be sure you'd checked for any special notices too, not only in case your train was a special but in case some other special had led to yours being retimed.

Of course some places might have a simplifier, either an official one (some of the larger powerboxes, I think) or something written up by the resident signalmen for their own use/convenience. But that wouldn't give you a lot of timetable information, just the bare bones you needed for your own particular job. (At Marylebone I used a blank train register book to create a "minute-by-minute" book with trains colour-coded according to platform and (IIRC) the next/previous workings shown.)

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Re: Show Timetable to display Train List data 18/11/2011 at 12:40 #23221
clive
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2738 posts
" said:
The Show Timetable window for a particular train is a great feature of SimSig. What I particularly like is the way left-clicking another train does not open an extra Show Timetable window but simply updates the data in the current window, avoiding the need to close multiple windows.

A bit of a chore, however, is to have to keep both Train List and Show Timetable windows open if I need to see a train's speed or location.

I would like to see the train's Direction, Status and Curr/Prev Location displayed in the Show Timetable window.
The Show Timetable window simulates looking up the train in the working timetable or the simplifier. Yes, it starts at the current location of the train rather than its origin, but that's as much as anything to stop the list being unwieldy (on early sims this wasn't a popup, the list appeared in the message box, and IIRC that's still an option in F3).

The Train List window is, as others have said, more a Control feature. It's primarily for (a) debugging and (b) carrying out actions that in real life would involve phoning the driver and telling him. On multiplayer games only the server can see it; the other players have to ask Control to carry out actions for them.

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