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Avoiding level crossing penalties

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Re: Avoiding level crossing penalties 17/01/2012 at 18:18 #27563
Hooverman
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Peter I do that for Keymer CCTV on the Brighton sim, as a way I can keep an eye on it until I get my multi monitor setup back up and running.
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Re: Avoiding level crossing penalties 17/01/2012 at 23:51 #27595
maxand
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AndyG wrote in post #4:
Quote:
Unless there are other reasons (eg station stops) a good starting point is to make sure the train sees greens all the way. Try lowering barriers when the train has just the one green, you have a good chance of clearing the crossing in time for the train's next cautionary to step up to green before it reaches it (Edit: ARS usually aims to keep 2 greens).
A good suggestion, but does this depend on running SimSig with F3 > Display > Panel signals unchecked?

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Re: Avoiding level crossing penalties 18/01/2012 at 00:00 #27597
jc92
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" said:
AndyG wrote in post #4:
Quote:
Unless there are other reasons (eg station stops) a good starting point is to make sure the train sees greens all the way. Try lowering barriers when the train has just the one green, you have a good chance of clearing the crossing in time for the train's next cautionary to step up to green before it reaches it (Edit: ARS usually aims to keep 2 greens).
A good suggestion, but does this depend on running SimSig with F3 > Display > Panel signals unchecked?
i run the sim a couple of times to "route learn" the signal aspects. now i always operate with panel signals checked as i find it easier, but i know when to drop the barriers for each crossing, as i know what each signal is actually showing

"We don't stop camborne wednesdays"
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Re: Avoiding level crossing penalties 18/01/2012 at 00:06 #27598
maxand
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Quote:
i run the sim a couple of times to "route learn" the signal aspects. now i always operate with panel signals checked as i find it easier, but i know when to drop the barriers for each crossing, as i know what each signal is actually showing
Do you mean, when you "route learn" the signal aspects, you do this with panel signals unchecked? Makes sense (grey automatic signals show their true aspects).

Last edited: 18/01/2012 at 00:07 by maxand
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Re: Avoiding level crossing penalties 18/01/2012 at 00:14 #27599
jc92
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i run the panel with all signals (including autos) running showing their actual aspect. yes
"We don't stop camborne wednesdays"
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Re: Avoiding level crossing penalties 18/01/2012 at 16:59 #27687
Steamer
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" said:
A good suggestion, but does this depend on running SimSig with F3 > Display > Panel signals unchecked?
You can work out the aspect by working back and seeing how many signals are between the train and the red signal, however to make it easier, I'd suggest running with Panel Signals unchecked (to see all aspects for signals, not just red/green), and 'Display Automatic Signal Aspects' ticked (to see the aspects of Automaric signals, instead of just grey). That's what I do, anyway.

"Don't stress/ relax/ let life roll off your backs./ Except for death and paying taxes/ everything in life.../ is only for now." (Avenue Q)
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Re: Avoiding level crossing penalties 18/01/2012 at 18:56 #27707
Lardybiker
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Now I can't speak for other sims BUT this debate on crossings is interesting. I've had several along these lines several times with my testers group regarding South Humberside. This is a bit of long-winded but bear with me as I will get to the point eventually.....

As many will know, South Humberside in reality is a mix of semaphore signalling and mutli-aspect signalling. As SimSig is an IECC simulator, it doesn't support AB signalling specifically and so you have several sims where different devs have approached dealing with AB from different angles (the MacSims and Worksop being the other examples). My personal view (and that isn't necessarily shared by all other developers) is that South Humbersude is a view of "what if" the area was covered by an IECC system? SimSig is an IECC simulater after all and to me, that's what I should be aiming for. This is relatively easy to imagine with NX panels. It's a lot more difficult when semaphore signaling and absolute block are involved. Why??

Well....If the South Humberside area was ever converted to an IECC, a lot of it would be resignalled. As as I am not a signal engineer, it is difficult for me to work out the "what if" scenario. Where would all the signals and TCs breaks go? It would be speculation and not what SimSig is about. Instead, I compromised and went half way in that I removed all the box to box controls but simulate the signalling that is there as it was in '08, give or take.

So what has this got do with crossings you ask?

Well.....The question remains so you've dealt with the signalling and the track but what about the crossings? What happens to them in this scenario? Here is where this discussion becomes relevant.

There are, I think (I don't have the sim or the sim data in front of me so I am doing this from memory), eight CCTV crossings that are actually CCTV in real life: the five around Grimsby, Western Entrance, Beckingham and Haxey off the top of my head. There are also a couple of AHB's and one or two other that are specific crossing types. The vast majority though have either a dedicated crossing box or are controlled from a block post.

Given the area of the sim is being simulated as an IECC, what would happen to those crossings during the resignalling? Would they leave the boxes so that they retain their local control and thus the signaler has little influence? Would they make them all AHB or convert them all to CCTV? In addition, I also considered usability. South Humberside is a relatively large sim. It is possible to run it on your own but the crossings make it or break it as a one person sim.

My group debated the whole crossings issue several times totaling several hours of discussion. We went backwards and forwards until we settled on what we have now (it happened several times for various features and we ended called up calling the process SimSig by Democracy...It seems to work quite well).

In the end the decision was that we should give the user the choice. So, we first made them CCTV crossings. We then added an option for multi-player games to disable the auto-raise so that signaler responsible for a crossings has to manually lower and raise the gates so in affect acts as the crossing keeper. For solo games we decided that some may not want to deal with all the crossings as there is a lot of other stuff to do so we included an auto-lower feature to take the crossings out of the equation as much as possible and simulate them as locally managed crossing instead (I'd also have liked to removed "Clr" button in this mode so the crossings are entirely automatic but so far I've been unable to achieve that whilst still retaining the button for multi-player).

I know there have been some issues with the auto-lower not working as it should but other than that I guess the question is, did we get it right or not?

Before anyone responds, just remember that any comments aren't likely to result in changes to South Humberside but it may affect decisions on future sim I do down the road.....

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Re: Avoiding level crossing penalties 18/01/2012 at 20:06 #27722
Firefly
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Quote:
Well....If the South Humberside area was ever converted to an IECC, a lot of it would be resignalled. As as I am not a signal engineer, it is difficult for me to work out the "what if" scenario. Where would all the signals and TCs breaks go? It would be speculation and not what SimSig is about. Instead, I compromised and went half way in that I removed all the box to box controls but simulate the signalling that is there as it was in '08, give or take.
Believe it or not must current schemes are re-control schemes rather than resignalling. Take Salisbury to Exeter as an example. Most signal positions are the same, track circuit breaks are the same and only the block sections are getting new axle counters since they were previously non track circuited.

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Re: Avoiding level crossing penalties 18/01/2012 at 21:50 #27732
Firefly
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Quote:
I know there have been some issues with the auto-lower not working as it should but other than that I guess the question is, did we get it right or not?
I think you probably did. In reality when this lot gets transferred to a ROC you will end up with a CCTV crossing work station controlling all of the crossings in a particular area. They have a similar thing in Upminster IECC. In which case all the signalling work station will have is a "barriers down" indication and the rest will be taken care of by the signaller on the crossings work station.

I guess by your comments about the auto-lower not working you are aware of the following issues, but just in case:-

1)Auto Lower is commencing very late with trains getting checked down by a yellow aspect prior to the barriers lowering. (trains should only see greens aspects)
2)You cannot prevent the barriers from Auto Lowering. There could really do with being an Auto roundel (button) for Lowering as well as Raising giving you total control over when you allow the barriers to Auto Lower.
3)The barriers should not auto lower if the route is not set across the crossing or if there is a route unset between the strike in point and the crossing.


Quote:
I'd also have liked to removed "Clr" button

I would think it should stay, after all you get a message and alarm when the barriers are down which is enough to bring your attention to the xing clr button.

FF

Last edited: 18/01/2012 at 21:51 by Firefly
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Re: Avoiding level crossing penalties 19/01/2012 at 08:11 #27747
Stephen Fulcher
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Removing the Crossing Clear button would have the effect of removing the requirement for a Signalman to visually check for himself that the crossing is clear, and is extremely dangerous.

I watch with interest the new scheme where some sort of radar does the job for him, but in the majority of cases the Signalman is responsible, whether the crossing is lowered automatically or not.

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Re: Avoiding level crossing penalties 19/01/2012 at 10:27 #27751
Firefly
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Quote:
Removing the Crossing Clear button would have the effect of removing the requirement for a Signalman to visually check for himself that the crossing is clear, and is extremely dangerous.
I'm certain he was only talking in SimSig terms!

Quote:
I watch with interest the new scheme where some sort of radar does the job for him, but in the majority of cases the Signalman is responsible, whether the crossing is lowered automatically or not.
I too am very interested in then MCD-OD

They can be used with any number of lines at speeds up to 125mph and the only restriction is that you cannot use them in places with a high number of pedestrians. The Obstacle Detectors will even prevent the Exit barrier from being lowered on 4 barrier crossings and will pass the crossing clear command to the interlocking once all 4 barriers are down and it's confirmed the crossing is clear.

I guess the success of these crossings will very much depend on the reliability of the OD units. There is no requirement to have CCTV in the controlling signal box so if the OD units fail you have to get a person out to the crossing in order to press a local crossing clear button. Since you can't lower the exit barrier with the OD failed I guess everything comes to a stand until you can get someone out there.

FF

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Re: Avoiding level crossing penalties 19/01/2012 at 11:52 #27753
maxand
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Peter Bennet said in post #25:
Quote:
Also, and I've said this already recently, with scrolly you can open a second+ view and shrink it down to keep an eye on any crossings.

I tried out your suggestion, thanks, but it seems that only the RH and bottom borders can be moved. In other words, with the View window at its smallest, all one sees is its top LH corner. It doesn't seem possible (in the Exeter sim, anyway) to shrink it down so that it only shows a level crossing near the bottom of the screen (e.g., Paignton). Is there a way to do this?

Last edited: 19/01/2012 at 12:11 by maxand
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Re: Avoiding level crossing penalties 19/01/2012 at 12:44 #27756
Peter Bennet
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You have to fiddle with the scoll bars a bit- and select "save on top" (or whatever the phrase is) before you fiddle otherwise it may recentre itself- that's been reported as a bug.

Peter

I identify as half man half biscuit - crumbs!
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Re: Avoiding level crossing penalties 19/01/2012 at 21:39 #27770
Lardybiker
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" said:
Quote:
Well....If the South Humberside area was ever converted to an IECC, a lot of it would be resignalled. As as I am not a signal engineer, it is difficult for me to work out the "what if" scenario. Where would all the signals and TCs breaks go? It would be speculation and not what SimSig is about. Instead, I compromised and went half way in that I removed all the box to box controls but simulate the signalling that is there as it was in '08, give or take.
Believe it or not must current schemes are re-control schemes rather than resignalling. Take Salisbury to Exeter as an example. Most signal positions are the same, track circuit breaks are the same and only the block sections are getting new axle counters since they were previously non track circuited.
Interesting. In SH's case there is non-TC'd track too which, for the sake of the sim, has to be TC'd. Some of it in relatively long stretches too. Do they simply use 3-aspects for the signals then?

" said:
Removing the Crossing Clear button would have the effect of removing the requirement for a Signalman to visually check for himself that the crossing is clear, and is extremely dangerous.
You may have taken it out of context and missed my intent. We are talking about the sim here not the real situation but the fact the signaler doesn't need to check its clear is exactly what I wanted. To make the sim easier for for single player, I wanted to make all the crossings appear to be controlled by a "local crossing attendant" not the signaler. The attendant would lower and raise the barriers autonomously and also check the crossings clear without signaler interference. All the signaler sees would be a lowered or raised indicator.

Last edited: 19/01/2012 at 21:41 by Lardybiker
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Re: Avoiding level crossing penalties 19/01/2012 at 22:37 #27774
Late Turn
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" said:
" said:

Believe it or not must current schemes are re-control schemes rather than resignalling. Take Salisbury to Exeter as an example. Most signal positions are the same, track circuit breaks are the same and only the block sections are getting new axle counters since they were previously non track circuited.
Interesting. In SH's case there is non-TC'd track too which, for the sake of the sim, has to be TC'd. Some of it in relatively long stretches too. Do they simply use 3-aspects for the signals then?

In the case of much of South Humberside, the only answer would be complete resignalling - as per your earlier post Chris, you'd need to relocate signals (and no doubt lose a few!) to provide the required braking distance, which of course isn't achieved between semaphore stop signals within station limits. The non-TC'd AB sections would have to be track-circuited (or axle counters) throughout, since the option of physically observing tail lamps would no longer exist!

It's the likes of Brocklesby and Pasture Street that could be recontrolled, since they're already multiple-aspect signalling on TCB lines (ok, Brocklesby is AB over the Up Main - only - from Barnetby, but that's about the only thing that'd need to change).

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Re: Avoiding level crossing penalties 19/01/2012 at 23:08 #27778
maxand
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Peter Bennet wrote:
Quote:
You have to fiddle with the scroll bars a bit- and select "save on top" (or whatever the phrase is) before you fiddle otherwise it may recentre itself- that's been reported as a bug.
You're right, thanks. Silly of me not to have thought of that.

Steps:
1) From the Control window (the one with the main menu) select Show > New View.
2) R-click in it and select Stay on top.
3) Reduce its size by dragging the bottom/RH borders up/left respectively, keeping the level crossing (or whatever else you want to keep an eye on) onscreen. If it goes offscreen, scroll down or right to keep it in view.

Done. When finished with it, close it.


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Re: Avoiding level crossing penalties 20/01/2012 at 09:31 #27792
Firefly
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Quote:
In the case of much of South Humberside, the only answer would be complete resignalling - as per your earlier post Chris, you'd need to relocate signals (and no doubt lose a few!) to provide the required braking distance, which of course isn't achieved between semaphore stop signals within station limits. The non-TC'd AB sections would have to be track-circuited (or axle counters) throughout, since the option of physically observing tail lamps would no longer exist!

It's the likes of Brocklesby and Pasture Street that could be recontrolled, since they're already multiple-aspect signalling on TCB lines (ok, Brocklesby is AB over the Up Main - only - from Barnetby, but that's about the only thing that'd need to change).
Yep sorry, I wasn't familiar with the South Humberside area. LateTurn is correct, you can't re-control semaphores (well you could but you wouldn't!). If it's currently semaphore it would be completely resignalled.

FF

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Re: Avoiding level crossing penalties 20/01/2012 at 16:16 #27815
Stephen Fulcher
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" said:
Quote:
In the case of much of South Humberside, the only answer would be complete resignalling - as per your earlier post Chris, you'd need to relocate signals (and no doubt lose a few!) to provide the required braking distance, which of course isn't achieved between semaphore stop signals within station limits. The non-TC'd AB sections would have to be track-circuited (or axle counters) throughout, since the option of physically observing tail lamps would no longer exist!

It's the likes of Brocklesby and Pasture Street that could be recontrolled, since they're already multiple-aspect signalling on TCB lines (ok, Brocklesby is AB over the Up Main - only - from Barnetby, but that's about the only thing that'd need to change).
Yep sorry, I wasn't familiar with the South Humberside area. LateTurn is correct, you can't re-control semaphores (well you could but you wouldn't!). If it's currently semaphore it would be completely resignalled.

FF
I still think there should have been a case for the new signals at Moor Street to have been motor-operated lower quadrant semaphores to fit in with the newly restored station!

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Re: Avoiding level crossing penalties 03/02/2012 at 10:16 #28694
AndyG
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" said:
" said:
" said:
At Exeter Red Cow, dropping the barriers the minute before a train is due to TRTS works well for me.

From what I remember at Exeter they used to press the TRTS up to two minutes before the train was due to depart.

Surely that's one of the main purposes of TRTS - to avoid the need to drop the barriers (etc.) before you know that it's going to be ready to depart promptly? If you need to lower the barriers before TRTS, that suggests to me that TRTS isn't being given early enough - for example, so that you can determine whether you've got time to sneak a conflicting move across first.
Looks like they TRTS before the train is actually ready, or the signaller gives the route regardless anyway.
Last week at ESD P5, the barriers were down and a G shown while the doors were still open a full minute before due departure time.

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: Avoiding level crossing penalties 03/02/2012 at 11:38 #28703
Late Turn
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" said:
" said:
" said:
" said:
At Exeter Red Cow, dropping the barriers the minute before a train is due to TRTS works well for me.

From what I remember at Exeter they used to press the TRTS up to two minutes before the train was due to depart.

Surely that's one of the main purposes of TRTS - to avoid the need to drop the barriers (etc.) before you know that it's going to be ready to depart promptly? If you need to lower the barriers before TRTS, that suggests to me that TRTS isn't being given early enough - for example, so that you can determine whether you've got time to sneak a conflicting move across first.
Looks like they TRTS before the train is actually ready, or the signaller gives the route regardless anyway.
Last week at ESD P5, the barriers were down and a G shown while the doors were still open a full minute before due departure time.

Exactly what I've been saying - TRTS doesn't mean that the train is ready to depart the moment the signal clears and has all the doors closed etc. (that'd be next to useless for regulating conflicting moves or lowering barriers), it means that it's "ready" in that they're just waiting for station duties to complete (and not waiting for traincrew, a connection or anything like that!). You need to know (from the absence of TRTS) if the train won't be ready in the next couple of minutes, to allow you to get that move across in front, or just to avoid lowering the barriers unnecessarily.

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Re: Avoiding level crossing penalties 03/02/2012 at 13:04 #28726
headshot119
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Surely if TRTS is provided you have to use it before the doors are closed. As the rulebook says you can't give the first tip if the platform starter is red.

Certainly at New Street I've watched the platform staff give the TRTS before the train has even stopped in the platform.

"Passengers for New Lane, should be seated in the rear coach of the train " - Opinions are my own and not those of my employer
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Re: Avoiding level crossing penalties 03/02/2012 at 13:31 #28729
Late Turn
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Correct. If you did wait until the doors were closed and locked (which, as you say, wouldn't be permitted anyway!), you'd then delay the departure waiting for the barriers to be lowered and/or that shunt move to get clear.
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