OK  I think I've figured it out.  Try this:-

 

That did it Max - 4 files.

I have just had a play around with the Track Plan Brian sent me, viz., "Boxcars mods by Brianpr1."

It had a Train Set made up in Block 2 and when I ran it, the loco stopped in Block 6.  So I deleted the train set and assigned the loco to Block 2 and the boxcar to Block 4.

This time when I ran it, the loco went through both Schedules and ended up in Block 4 AND it connected it up to the boxcar and made it into a Train Set.  Exactly what I wanted.

The only problem is that the loco is physically sitting on the double slip and not in the Block, so it can't pull the boxcar away in the next Schedule.

TC shows both the loco and the boxcar in Block 4, but it hasn't actually entered the Block.

Although it's still not right, it's a major improvement.  Well done, Brian.  :thumbs

I'll attach it in it's amended form.

Max, that's exactly what I hoped to get.  Sorry about the wrong starting point:  The way you set it up in block 2 was what I intended.

The rest is easy.  In edit mode, left then right click on the virtual contact block 4. Go to the reference tab.  In the bottom half of the panel are three white blocks.  The middle one is labelled distance and shows 25.6ins.  Change that dstance until the loco stops exactly where you want it.

While you are in edit mode you may want to give the loco a longer braking ramp than I put in.  Go to the block editor for block 4.  The rectangle with the VC in it has a stop marker at 4ins. and a brake marker at 3.9ins.  Adjust these to whatever you are happy with.  Any increase in the stop marker distance should be deducted from the VC ref. distance, and it would be better to adjust the B and S markers before changing the ref. distance so that when you are testing on the layout you just have the ref. dist. to play with.

Excellent, Brian.  Thanks.  :thumbs  I'll just keep it moving forward until it stops where I want it to.  I've made a copy in case I stuff it up, but I should be OK.

I'll let you know how I get on.

[user=269]MaxSouthOz[/user] wrote:

Right-o Dave.  You didn't mean this weekend, did you?  :shock:

As it turns out the laughs on me - I've just been volunteered to spend all this weekend helping my son redecorate his apartment. 

:chickenmethinks a "wood duck" would be more appropriate

Me too, Dave.  I'm still building the chook house.  :shock:

Mind you, thanks to Brian's latest I reckon I'll have it sorted tomorrow night.  I've just got to figure out what all of the brake and stop markers do. 

Well it looks athough you have cracked it Max…………..well done guys.

Perhaps you could let me know the date of your next big challenge Max and I can plan another trip Nothing like going away away with an unsolved problem and coming back and reading thru 4 new pages of messages to find it is all sorted.

Anyone who read the threads that Geoff researched will now be able to relate to the difficulties I had trying to get this to work through just the RR&Co Forum.:twisted:

I really appreciate what you have done Brian because I had got it fixed in my mind that there couldnt be any points between the block with the reference point  and the block with the VC……..you have saved me a ton of money because I am just about to wire up the the bays in Granby and I was planning on two blocks each with a CI per platform face…..now it looks as though I can get by with one block, one CI and a VC referenced to the throat block…….I think I owe you a pint…….anyway I will give it a go!

Home for a bit now, so Max…… I am eagerly looking forward to the next phase.

ps What is a chook house? 

[user=422]Geoff R[/user] wrote:

.yrr is the main layout file

.bak is a backup of the layout file

.yrs is the status file - storing the status of all turnouts, loco positions, signal states, etc when the application was last closed

.yrw is the window file - keeping a memory of how you had the screen laid out when you last closed the application


Incidentally, I believe that the reason opening zipped files we share appear to have info missing, is because we are only zipping up the .yrr file. If we included the .yrs and .yrw files as well, I think we would see things exactly as they were with the originator.

Cheers Geoff top stuff.

Welcome back John and good luck Max everything crossed and well done Brian very analytical.

Regards

from "he who was as much use as a chocolate fire guard"

Welcome back, John.  I'll deal with the most important point first.  Chooks are fowls, chickens, et al.  Ergo, a chook house is a residence for chooks.  Building to SWMBO's design specifications is resulting in an edifice which I expect will become known as the "Taj Ma-fowl."

I'm not sure I completely understand what Brian has done, so I'm going to try to replicate it on my own Track Plan.  I'm hoping that the light will come on as I go through the process.

  One thing I have noticed is that my copy is metric, while Brian's is imperial.  I doubt that that is the reason I've been having trouble, but I will be keeping an eye out for any other subtle differences as I go through the process.

I lucked on to one when I went to open Dave's version and I found that my version was out of date.  That solved a few issues once I went back to open yours and, subsequently, Brian's.

All good fun.  :thumbs

[user=269]MaxSouthOz[/user] wrote:

  One thing I have noticed is that my copy is metric, while Brian's is imperial. 

In the VIEW drop down menu, Metric Units can be switched on for metric or off for imperial - fifth line down in the menu.

 

How does he know all of this stuff?  :oops:

[user=422]Geoff R[/user] wrote:

[user=269]MaxSouthOz[/user] wrote:

  One thing I have noticed is that my copy is metric, while Brian's is imperial. 

In the VIEW drop down menu, Metric Units can be switched on for metric or off for imperial - fifth line down in the menu.

But be careful:  If you put in a stop marker shifted by one inch, then change to metric, it comes up as 3cm.  Then change back and you get 1.2ins. Over an uncoupler that could make a difference. It doesn't build up, but it shouldn't happen.

The reason I use imperial is that I can put markers in to the nearest tenth of an inch.  In metric it has to be the nearest cm.  jumps of 2.5mm. against 10mm. in metric.

I may not need the extra accuracy, but it doesn't cost anything and it may be useful one day.

Max's file came up in imperial on my PC, so it seems that the units are set when the TC program is loaded, not when the yrr file is opened, so my refs to inches will be meaningless when Max reloaded the file on his system.

We once worked out that our children's toys cost about 10p per hour of play:  How many more hours do I need to play with TC?

[user=449]brianpr1[/user] wrote:

Max's file came up in imperial on my PC, so it seems that the units are set when the TC program is loaded, not when the yrr file is opened, so my refs to inches will be meaningless when Max reloaded the file on his system.

Yes, there is a RAILROAD.INI file in the RR&Co directory within Program Files (at least that is the case with XP, might be different in Windows 7). That .INI file contains a number of parameters, metric units being one of them. It appears to keep a total number for accessory decoders, a record of the connected Digital Systems (that will be the reason that it always ask if you want to change systems when starting up someone else's .yrr perhaps?), as well as the list of recent files.

 

I'm afraid I'm back in the dark, Brian.

Block 4 has three stop markers and brake markers.  It is divided into two sub-blocks.  One has the Contact Indicator symbol and the other one has the Virtual Marker symbol in it.  How did you do that?

Secondly, there is a box open which has Block 4 attached to a Train Window for the loco.  What is that for?

I don't think I'm going to be able to adjust anything while I have no idea what it all is.  I want to be able to replicate it many times over, but I need to understand how it works.

I am trying to learn this with you Max, so perhaps I can try to answer your questions and Brian will correct me where I get it wrong?

Even after you have assigned a contact indicator to block 4, you can then assign the virtual contact as well. I tried it in block 6, by firstly setting another virtual contact with the editor, alongside the block, then going into the block editor for block 6 and assigning another CI - the available Virtual Contact was listed. When assigned, the block splits showing both indicators.

As for the stop markers, I note that one is just for the Boxcars 2 schedule and only affects the loco. I am not sure why there are two more, but their properties say that they are turned off by the virtual contact.

The box open next to the Train Window is a Traffic Control Window. (One of the WINDOW options) If you put it against a train window it shows you what that train is doing and what block it is in.

Thanks, Geoff.  I assigned a Virtual Contact to Block 4, but it didn't split the Block in half.  I remember when I was trying to work with the Blocks early days, they used to split in half.  I have no idea why they do that, nor how to unsplit them.

There are three stop/brake marker pairs in Block 4.  The first pair is marked Block 2.  The next pair is marked Block 4-2 and the last pair is marked Block 4-3.  I'm guessing that the last pair is the pair that turns the Virtual Maker on.  Logically this pair doesn't need a Brake Marker.  The first pair is where the loco should stop.  Why is there a middle pair?

I did get a Flash of the words Traffic Control as the box opened, so that makes sense.  :thumbs  I can safely delete that Window and the Simulator doesn't relate to me as I have the layout to play on.

Max,  the modified file is basically your boxcars file with bits added.  Block 4 came with two stop markers and one brake marker, those are yours and I left them in:  I assume the left B & S are for parking the train when it arrived.

The extra box, of train window and traffic control docked together, was to help me see what was happening as I ran the sim.  The traffic control box moves blocks with the engine so when the engine enters a block, that window shows the block and tells me when the brake and stop come on.  Once everything is set up and working I would close it.

Going back to block 4, the stop marker at the right was on by the time the traffic control window changed.  To see what was happening I moved it a bit to the left and put in a brake marker to go with it to slow the train rather than screech it to a stop. That's the four in the original contact indicator rectangle.

I've just now seen Geoff's reply and he has dealt with most of this too.  He has dealt with putting the virtual contact into the block.  In the explanation I put on the discussion thread (post 1077) there is a pic showing the menu items to put the virtual contact rectangle into the block - that may help.

Once that virtual contact is in the block the rectangle for it turns pink when the VC switches on.  That is the trigger to start the timers on the brake and stop marker within the VC rectangle, so they come on when the engine has run the set distance after the VC switched on.  The VC has its own reference distance - the one I mentioned in an earlier post about moving the loco beyond the slip - and that runs the engine beyond the entry to block 6 by that ref. distance.

Sooooo….  the loco enters block 6.  The timer for the VC ref. dist. starts - when the engine has covered that distance the VC comes on - that starts the timer for the stop marker in the VC rectangle - the loco carries on for the shifted stop distance and, finally, stops.  From entering block 6 it has travelled the VC ref. distance plus the VC's stop marker distance.  That is why I said that if you increase the stop marker distance you need to take the same amount off the VC ref distance to stop in the same place.  If you put in an unshifted stop marker the engine stops abruptly, you need to make room for a brake marker and a ramped stop.

The VC rectangle must be in block 4 so that the software tracks the engine in and can set up the join into a train set.

I hope this helps rather than adds to the chaos!

Aha!  The middle one was mine.  That makes a bit more sense.  Thanks, Brian.  :thumbs

I'll go back and read it all again.  That's the trouble with being a dren (a backward nerd).  :oops:

OK.  I've taken screen shots of all of the relevant posts and then printed them off.  It's only about 20 pages, but I hope to make a kind of narrative to follow when I start programming in earnest.  It's the way I tackled the Shunting Puzzle.

By the time I've actually done a dozen or so Schedules I might be beginning to grasp it.  Cheers ladz.