ARS at Hullavington

You are here: Home > Forum > Simulations > Released > Swindon A and B > ARS at Hullavington

Page 1 of 1

ARS at Hullavington 14/03/2018 at 09:24 #106752
Chromatix
Avatar
190 posts
I've been noticing some odd behaviour at Hullavington with ARS turned on.

Most down trains have "BL/--/BL" in the Path/Plat/Line fields for Hullavington, whether passenger or freight workings. I interpret this to mean trains should stay on the main line instead of passing through the DGL. (Conversely, in some timetables many freight trains use the UGL.)

ARS, however, appears to interpret these fields as requesting the use of the DGL, even for passenger trains which should definitely *not* go there. If I manually route trains from signal 170 to 174 to keep them on the main line, ARS then complains that I've routed them off-path. I therefore have to work around it by setting both 170 and 174 up with auto routes.

ARS does however act appropriately with respect to up trains, though it has an annoying habit of signalling freights straight out of the loop again when they're due to stay there for almost an hour. That's generally because the overtaking express hasn't yet made its presence known, and the timetable is set up with arrival and pass times, rather than an explicit layover.

Can something be done about the down trains?

Log in to reply
ARS at Hullavington 14/03/2018 at 10:22 #106756
BarryM
Avatar
2158 posts
Difficulty in suppling an answer without details of the Timetable used and its Options!

Barry

Barry, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Log in to reply
ARS at Hullavington 14/03/2018 at 11:28 #106758
Chromatix
Avatar
190 posts
I think any of the default timetables will trigger this, and the options don't seem to matter either as long as ARS is enabled.

Right now I'm playing the "Summer Saturday 2014 plus STP", and there were several examples before 0200; one of the seed trains happens to spawn at 170 and immediately throws "entering area off route", but that one is missing the Path flag in its Hullavington timing.

Put a reminder on 172 (in the DGL), set the sim to fast forward, and wait for a train to phone in from a red at 170. You can then examine that train's timetable and ARS' response.

Log in to reply
ARS at Hullavington 14/03/2018 at 12:45 #106765
Steamer
Avatar
3913 posts
Chromatix in post 106758 said:

Right now I'm playing the "Summer Saturday 2014 plus STP", and there were several examples before 0200; one of the seed trains happens to spawn at 170 and immediately throws "entering area off route", but that one is missing the Path flag in its Hullavington timing.
What timetable is that? I wrote Summer Saturday 2014, but I don't know what the 'Plus STP' bit is about. I've checked the trains in the normal Summer Saturday timetable and all bar the seeded train are routed correctly.

"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)
Last edited: 14/03/2018 at 18:17 by Steamer
Reason: None given

Log in to reply
ARS at Hullavington 14/03/2018 at 18:16 #106776
jc92
Avatar
3626 posts
Freights will get routed out early if nothing conflicts that is currently in sim (trains yet to enter dont count) and this can be prototypical with ARS. Best practice is to pop a collar on the exit signal after the route into the loop has been set and remove it when its departure time. Remember ARS is an assistant not a replacement.

Not sure about the wrong routing tho.

"We don't stop camborne wednesdays"
Log in to reply
ARS at Hullavington 22/03/2018 at 14:59 #106941
clive
Avatar
2736 posts
Chromatix in post 106752 said:

Most down trains have "BL/--/BL" in the Path/Plat/Line fields for Hullavington, whether passenger or freight workings. I interpret this to mean trains should stay on the main line instead of passing through the DGL. (Conversely, in some timetables many freight trains use the UGL.)

ARS, however, appears to interpret these fields as requesting the use of the DGL, even for passenger trains which should definitely *not* go there. If I manually route trains from signal 170 to 174 to keep them on the main line, ARS then complains that I've routed them off-path.
Sounds like an error in the sim data. Raised as Mantis 19993.

Log in to reply
ARS at Hullavington 22/03/2018 at 16:23 #106946
Peter Bennet
Avatar
5355 posts
Online
Data looks OK, tested BL/--/BL and BL/GL/BL in down direction and both worked as expected.

Peter

I identify as half man half biscuit - crumbs!
Log in to reply
ARS at Hullavington 22/03/2018 at 23:02 #106953
Peter Bennet
Avatar
5355 posts
Online
Right investigations have thrown up a real oddity.

First the Sim coding appears correct.

As many will know you can open up the .wtt and .ssg files - just convert to .zip and open that to find an html file.

If we look an offending train in a save we find that the coding says.

<Trip>
<Location>HLVNGTN</Location>
<DepPassTime>5340</DepPassTime>
<Platform>GL</Platform>
<Line>BL</Line>
<Path>BL</Path>
<IsPassTime>-1</IsPassTime>
<DownDirection>-1</DownDirection>
<PrevPathEndDown>-1</PrevPathEndDown>
<NextPathStartDown>-1</NextPathStartDown>
</Trip>

What that is saying is that the train is booked through the loop - so it's doing what it should do - except that was never in the timetable in the first place.

So that appears to be how the event occurs - but not how or why the GL came to be there (and not to be shown in the timetable).

Going back to the html file - what would assist is when an event such as this occurs can you first check for the train in a .ssg file from just after the train entered the sim and also have a look and see if there is anything .ssg file from immediately before entry.

Peter

I identify as half man half biscuit - crumbs!
Log in to reply