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| Announcing myself 29/12/2011 at 09:47 #26379 | |
sorabain
72 posts |
Seasons greetings to all. I am a newcomer to this forum and application. I am a computer scientist currently working in the finance industry. I've always been somewhat interested in trains (i.e. trainspotter as a kid), and recently got back into the arena of modelling railways as time/money/space became available again. Coming back into modelling after a formal education in computer science made me notice how much computer science methods and terminology (particularly in the area of concurrent programming) were at least inspired and in some cases directly borrowed from railway operations, which increased my desired to dig deeper into how signalling really worked rather than just how i imagined it might work. I must say that I am very impressed with the software, documentation and forum discussions so far (particularly where it references real-world documentation) I made my way through Royston (excellent introduction), and am currently having a go at soloing Westbury since I am something of a freight fan. It's still early in the morning so am doing fine, not sure how i'll go when everyone starts waking up though (too scared to check the timetable to see how many trains to expect to have to concurrently route during rush hours) Hopefully once I feel reasonably comfortable with the basics and familiarize myself with a few more simulations I'll see some of you on multiplayer Peace, Sorabain Log in to reply The following user said thank you: delticfan |
| Re: Announcing myself 29/12/2011 at 10:06 #26382 | |
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ralphjwchadkirk
275 posts |
Welcome sorabrain, I hope you find it enjoyable!
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| Re: Announcing myself 29/12/2011 at 10:18 #26384 | |
Peter Bennet
5362 posts |
Welcome, Glad you are enjoying SimSig. Peter I identify as half man half biscuit - crumbs! Log in to reply |
| Re: Announcing myself 29/12/2011 at 12:11 #26387 | |
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TimB2010
77 posts |
Welcome and I hope you find all the help you may need in the forum. If you have any questions, do feel free to ask in the forum and I'm sure someone somewhere will be able to help you - we're a friendly bunch... If and when you get to the point of wanting to move on from Westbury, I can recommend the Bristol sim next if you want to stay in that neck of the woods - it is fairly easy compared to some on here, and has a nice mix of freight and passenger work. Regards, Tim Log in to reply |
| Re: Announcing myself 29/12/2011 at 12:31 #26390 | |
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birchy74
151 posts |
Welcome to the wonderfull world of SimSig, We are a friendly bunch on here well most of us anyway :lol: . Hope you enjoy yourself
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| Re: Announcing myself 29/12/2011 at 17:28 #26420 | |
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delticfan
476 posts |
Welcome Sorabain, as per previous posts there's a great source of help and chat on here.Only been at it myself for a few months and thanks to these guys it's all making sense and I'm hooked. Mal. Log in to reply |
| Re: Announcing myself 02/01/2012 at 09:01 #26620 | |
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sorabain
72 posts |
Thanks for the suggestion Tim. I'll give Bristol a go next. I've had a few runs over Westbury and I still keep making newbie mistakes such as setting a departing route too much ahead of the scheduled depature time and locking things up, or just thinking "oh well i'll set it now as there's nothing coming the other way and it's only 15mins so will set it now so i don't forget" only to have an express turn up on the edge (not sure what is "best" in this case, do I suck up holding up all trains for 20 mins as this is the safest thing to do [assuming the passengers don't force the doors and get out and walk]; or do I cancel the route and have an upset driver reporting to his controller?) I find myself doing similar with trains wanting a reversing move. It seems that early stone trains don't mind taking paths early, but when they need a reversing move around westbury to get into one of the yards they don't seem to want to leave the reversing point until the timetabled "reverse departure time". Had a bit of a nightmare when I locked up all traffic towards paddington with an early long stone train stuck in Westbury east reverse despite having phoned for permission to get the train into the upper yard  Editting the timetable to set the departure time felt a bit too much like cheating (and something i'd be unable to do in multiplayer if i wasn't the host?).Do fellow armchair controllers only use what SimSig provides you for reminders etc, or do you end up with your own notepad? I was half tempted to print out the timetable with train descriptor & desired route and ideal timetable as now and then i'd not think and set an express on the wrong route (the previous one skipped westbury so i set the next one to do the same only to have an irate driver telling me i'd given him the wrong route ). I sometimes wonder if i'll end up making/buying something resembling an air traffic control flightstrip holder... Log in to reply |
| Re: Announcing myself 02/01/2012 at 09:15 #26621 | |
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delticfan
476 posts |
Hi Sorabain, haven't tried Bristol yet, at the moment I'm engrossed in Exeter. Lots going on with having to remember to interpose and signal return workings on the branches. I tend to use sticky notes to remind me when these services are due away. In my early Simsig days I too was tempted to set departures too early but now only do this at stations without TRTS and when there's nothing due behind the relevant service. Hope the 'sticky' suggestion helps. Mal. Log in to reply |