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Hunting down a train's parent WTT

You are here: Home > Forum > General > General questions, comments, and issues > Hunting down a train's parent WTT

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Hunting down a train's parent WTT 08/02/2012 at 09:23 #29066
maxand
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1637 posts
Time and again this catches me out. After a train joins, divides or simply changes its WTT and thus its description, I can't find any easy way of tracing back from the newly created train to its parent WTT (Working TimeTable), and am willing to bet you guys find this a problem too.

If I accidentally interpose a description not in the current timetable, there is no immediate warning message. Sure, at some stage later on I discover this when clicking the berth and seeing a popup telling me there is no TT for this train. But it's often not necessary to check Show Timetable immediately after interposing the new description, since the parent train's TT will display time of departure and I simply note that on a sticky. It might be good practice to click the berth to reassure myself that a TT exists for the new description, but it wastes time if I'm in a hurry, and even then this could be false reassurance if I accidentally interposed a wrong, but actual, description.

The bottom line is that I'm stuck with a description which is either spurious or uncertain, and need to find the train's parent description in a hurry.

Why not use the Simplifier? In practice this is fairly disappointing, since I must go back in time at least as far as the approximate time when the parent entered the area. And how would I know this if I don't know the ancestor's ID? The longer the child train lingers at the platform before departing, the worse the problem becomes. Beside, the current Simplifier behaves illogically. If I set the time back to whenever, then click Refresh, the Time field immediately jumps back to the present, so I don't know for sure what the Simplifier table represents. Even then it only displays two hours in advance.

That leaves me with only the Timetable editor, since I can't backtrack through either Show Timetable or Train List. Again I'm no better off than with the Simplifier, since it all boils down to making a guess about when the parent entered the area.

Now, if the Show Timetable window included a field displaying the parent of the current train, that would be very helpful (hint).

Why not post the parent's description in a sticky note? How often can one anticipate one will need this info? Waste of time doing it for every train.

Unless someone can suggest a nice easy method I've overlooked, the only way I can do it now is to go to the Control window, select Timetable > Export/Import and use the built-in ConvData feature to export the WTT as a text file. Then open it in an editor and search for the first instance of "N:[child train]".

What a kludge.

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Re: Hunting down a train's parent WTT 08/02/2012 at 09:33 #29069
Laryk
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56 posts
If I find a train that has been interposed wrongly, I'll look at it's location - eg if it's between Fairwood Jn and Clink Road Jn (Westbury Sim) heading towards Cogload Jn then i know it's location will be "Fairwood Jn" in the train list. So a scan for that location would give you the correct train.

Of course, this is a bit of a pain and takes a few seconds - but it's an incentive not to mess it up in the first place ;D

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Re: Hunting down a train's parent WTT 08/02/2012 at 09:54 #29075
jc92
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lesson learnt: do it right the first time! :)

more often or not though i remember what the incoming workings headcode is, interpose the new one, check it works, then move on. if it doesnt work then i input the original headcode (brainpower required here) and start again

"We don't stop camborne wednesdays"
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Re: Hunting down a train's parent WTT 08/02/2012 at 10:04 #29079
postal
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" said:
What a kludge.
But what would happen in real life if a signaller manually put the wrong TD into a berth? He/she wouldn't have any of the get-out-of-jail-free cards you would want to build in. In fact in SimSig we already have one more information source than the real person because at least we have the F2 screen to list by correct description all of the trains on the panel. Back to the old games play/reality argument again.

“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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Re: Hunting down a train's parent WTT 08/02/2012 at 10:35 #29083
lazzer
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605 posts
I sat at the exit of Old Oak Common for half an hour once because the shunter had forgotten to interpose my headcode into the panel, so the signaller had no idea which train I was. It was only ME telling him that got the train moving!
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Re: Hunting down a train's parent WTT 08/02/2012 at 10:41 #29086
GeoffM
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6284 posts
The issue appears to be that you've interposed the wrong next train. Yet the "solution" requires the ancestor's ID to be shown in the timetable window... of the wrong train? I can't see how your logic has flowed there.

"Referenced by" in the timetable editor trains tab might be what you're after. It's even in the Wiki.

SimSig Boss
Last edited: 08/02/2012 at 10:42 by GeoffM
Reason: Broken link

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The following users said thank you: welshdragon, maxand, Sam Tugwell
Re: Hunting down a train's parent WTT 08/02/2012 at 12:10 #29094
maxand
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1637 posts
Geoff Mayo:
Quote:
"Referenced by" in the timetable editor trains tab might be what you're after. It's even in the Wiki.

Exactly what I was looking for! Thank you.

Quote:
The issue appears to be that you've interposed the wrong next train. Yet the "solution" requires the ancestor's ID to be shown in the timetable window... of the wrong train? I can't see how your logic has flowed there.

True. I really intended to say that the correct ID for the train at a particular berth is found in the Train List, but from there it's not easy to jump to its parent, though now you've pointed out the "Referenced by" button that should improve matters greatly.

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Re: Hunting down a train's parent WTT 08/02/2012 at 14:10 #29118
AndyG
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1834 posts
If the incorrect TD has been interposed at a location with TRTS, just wait for it to TRTS. The headcode is shown in the message window in the TRTS message (which is more than the real bobby gets too!).

As an aside, I've got into the habit when working busy stations eg KX or Sheffield, of quickly checking it against what I've interposed before giving it the road.

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: Hunting down a train's parent WTT 08/02/2012 at 15:28 #29133
alan_s
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152 posts
If you really can't find out what TD an incorrect entry actually should be, just pull a route in front of him and you'll get his true TD when he complains! ;-)
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Re: Hunting down a train's parent WTT 08/02/2012 at 19:28 #29151
Stephen Fulcher
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2026 posts
The proper real life way of doing this would be to bring the train safely to a stand at the next available signal, without causing any adverse changes of aspect, and then wait for the driver to phone in.

Signallers certainly wouldn't deliberately cause an ACOA on a train.

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The following users said thank you: maxand, Sam Tugwell