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

Enjoy, Dave.  :cheers

I can't help the feeling that this Schedule is different from the others, just like when I had to start using the Switches.  The Flagman turns to red as the loco enters Block 9, but that's the end of it.  The loco icon never leaves Block 11 (the Start Block).

So, assuming that after two days I haven't lucked on to the right combination of triggers, the Fact that the loco is leaving the Start Block and going straight into the End Block, which is right next to it, may be the cause.  The End Block is occupied as well.

I'm pretty sure that that scenario hasn't happened before in the Plan, either; so I can't just copy it.

Anyway, good luck and thanks.

Hi Max,
I can emphasis with your frustration -  I am now replicating exactly what you are seeing. 

Not able to work out why as yet and its almost my bedtime. However, isn't schedule 23 similar to schedule 13 in that they both leave block 11 and travel through the points and then stop - albeit in different blocks ?

In schedule 23 the switch is being triggered as soon as the schedule starts which is weird as the loco is further into the starting block than it is in the schedule 13 and yet the same settings  work for that schedule.

I'll have another look at it tomorrow (friday) night
:cheers

 

Hi Dave

I've only just got back after watching Crownies.  I'll have to fire it up again and have a look at Schedule 13 again tomorrow night.  I've managed to get it all OK up to Schedule 23 - albeit lots of repetitions, but this one stumped me.

I'm pretty confident I had right (at least at one point), but there is still something I'm not seeing.  Hopefully 2 pairs of eyes will winkle it out.

It's a good suggestion to compare it with Schedule 13.  :thumbs

Thanks

Just had a thought Max,

Perhaps RR&CO is responding to the switch being triggered at the beginning of schedule 23 whilst the loco still has to run the length of block 11 - 
The schedule triggers the switch which triggers the flagman and the block is then triggered as occupied.  Maybe the software sees this and then stops the loco from moving out of block 11 but the schedule keeps running as it is waiting for block 9 to clear to allows the loco to move out of block 11.  This at least would explain what we are seeing.

I haven't had time to test this theory but the solution may be to change the schedule start settings so that there is a delay in setting the switch - the delay being change to the  time it takes for the loco to run out of the block.





See if this works :hmm

What I did, Dave was to make a thread for John to go in his tutorial, while I could remember what I had done.

http://yourmodelrailway.net/view_topic.php?id=8828&forum_id=151

Then I kept referring to it as I worked my way up to Schedule 23.  The Switch goes into the Start List in the ON position as the last command in the list and in the OFF position as the last command in the End List.

We may know more tomorrow.  :cool:

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

What I did, Dave was to make a thread for John to go in his tutorial, while I could remember what I had done.

http://yourmodelrailway.net/view_topic.php?id=8828&forum_id=151

Then I kept referring to it as I worked my way up to Schedule 23.  The Switch goes into the Start List in the ON position as the last command in the list and in the OFF position as the last command in the End List.

We may know more tomorrow.  :cool:

Max,

I read your post as part of the  learning exercise and I now understand what John and yourself are doing with the use of flagmen and switches - its a neat solution which you appear to have applied consistently.   I am quietly confident that its failure to operate successfully in schedule 23 is related to the timing of when the switch goes on - as set  by the schedule.

Sorry I didn't get around to testing this theory last night by running it in simulation but I knew that once I went down that path I could be up to well past midnight as , I would need to use trail and error in arriving at a suitable time delay. 

I will give it a go tonight and post my results  -  is there any chance  you can let me know the time it takes the physical loco to run the length of block 11?

 

 

Not to worry, Dave.  I have to wait until tonight to have a go as well.

Block 11 is 45 cm long.  The loco starts about halfway along it.  I'd have to use a stopwatch, but I reckon its only a few seconds.

When I run it again tonight, I'll see if I can get a more accurate time for you.

Cheers

I'm back, Dave.  One penny which has dropped.  I don't need both a VC and a Flagman.  One or the other, and the Flagman is what I need for Schedules of two Blocks.

Schedule 13 has no VC and works OK, so I think I'm right with that one.

Now, it's clear that the Switch 23 and the Flagman Boxcars 23 aren't switching OFF.  I thought the Timer on the Flagman might be set too long at 30 seconds, so I set it at 3 seconds.  No difference.

Another thing I learnt was that if I delete the Switch and install a fresh one, it drops off the Start and End Lists in the Schedule, and needs to be put back.  How did I learn that??  :oops:

What I haven't learned is how to get the ruddy thing to switch OFF.   :twisted:

I can't see any difference between the way I have set up Schedule 13 and the way I'm setting up Schedule 23.

The new series of Silent Witness is on tonight.  Maybe Emilia Fox will inspire me.  :shock:

Still no breakthrough.  What I'll do this arvo, is rewrite the earlier Schedules and uncouple the boxcar in Block 8.  That will give me a three Block sequence, for Schedule 23.   We'll see if the Switch goes to OFF and the Flagman goes black again.

At least that might point me in the direction of where the problem is.

Hi Max,

Sorry for not replying to your posts earlier.I think I have solved the mystery - and it had nothing to do with my theory so lucky I didn't have a wager

I see that you have discovered the unnecessary VC in Block 9 which may have been part of the reason for the schedule not running correctly. I removed it  and also the command to turn the switch off at the end of the schedule ( as schedule 23 is, for this file the last schedule - it can be added when you create schedule 24). This stops the flag returning to off and I think this may have been confusing RR&CO.


Running from schedule 22 I can now get the loco to stop at the flagman stop marker in Block 9.  The only thing that worries me is that the the move from block 11 to block 9 in the simulation mode is almost instantaneous - hopefully this is a quirk in the software due to the short run in.

I appreciate I am running the simulation without the boxcars so fingers crossed

I'm not sure that it will do it, Dave.  My problem is not the Flagman returning to OFF, but that the Flagman stays ON - as does the switch.  :???:

The other Schedules using the Switch all have the OFF command in the End List without there being a problem.  I have allocated all afternoon to working on this, so hopefully between us we will get it sorted.

Thanks.

Good luck - 
I will be out from 5.30 to about 7.30 - I'll log in then to see how you're going

I've tried everything I can think of.  Still no good.  I'm rewriting Schedlues 20 on, using Block 12.  I've given up.

OK.  I've re-written the Schedules so that Schedule 23 is stopping in Block 12 - exactly the same as Schedule 13.

Schedule 13 stops.  Schedule 23 does not.  I've duplicated every bit of Schedule 13 into Schedule 23 - even the Brake and Stop Markers are the same value.

I'm stumped.  :???:

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

OK.  I've re-written the Schedules so that Schedule 23 is stopping in Block 12 - exactly the same as Schedule 13.

Schedule 13 stops.  Schedule 23 does not.  I've duplicated every bit of Schedule 13 into Schedule 23 - even the Brake and Stop Markers are the same value.

I'm stumped.  :???:

Max,

Looking at the file now. I take it my file didn't work.
My first thoughts are if the schedules are the same then it must be either something to do with the starting block or the following schedule -  have you tried switching the schedule names around and running the train from schedule 12 but with the schedule 23 ( renamed 13 ) next and then schedule 14 - if that runs Ok it would demonstrate that schedule 13 ( & 23) only run correctly when schedule 12 and 14 operate on either side

Yes.  There was some kind of blocker on it, Dave.  I kept getting an error message saying I didn't have access to some special software to open the zipped file..  Not to worry, I tried to replicate your suggestion.

Schedule 13 operated correctly before Schedule 14 was written.  That's how I build up the sequence.  The loco stopped in Block 12 when I first ran Schedule 13.  Schedule 23 fails to obey the Stop Marker and there is no Schedule 24 written as yet.

The Flagman in Block 11 was redundant and the loco stopped using the VC alone.

It's mystery.  I'll just have to wait until John comes back from his holiday.  Thanks for trying anyway.

Max,
I'll send the RR&Co file to your email address as I still have it.

Your last file is a puzzler -  -almost midnight so I'll pull stumps and look at it again in the morning

:cheers

Max i will try to have a go, can you upload the dcc boxcar file again or tell me the start positions of the locos and boxcars  for sched 1.

Just one thing i spotted when i opened your boxcars file switch 13 is in the off in the switchboard, switch 23 was showing on.

Thanks, Dave.

Pete.  What I'll do is move everything back to the start (Block > Assign Train), and save it.   Then I'll attach it again.  It will save a lot of work.

Switch 23 is ON because I had just run the program and that's where it ended up.

I don't know if I can switch it (and the Flagman), back to OFF manually.  What I'll have to do is reload the Switch, the Flagman and the Brake and Stop Markers.  That's what I have done so far.

Sunday morning is when I do my books for the week, so I'll be back in an hour or two.

I'll tell you what, I'm getting very fast at rewriting this stuff.  All I need is accuracy now. 

OK.  I've rewritten Shedule 23, including deleting the Switch and re-installing it in the OFF position.

I've moved everything back to the start position, but I haven't run it so the Switch will be OFF when you open it.

Time for some brekky.   :cool:

Morning Max,

Determined to solve the mystery of why of the two schedules 13 & 23, which are now identical, 13 works and 23 doesn't.

I will run schedule 12 through to 14 as the benchmark and then amend the finish list in schedule 12 so that its starts schedule 23 instead of 13. I will also amend the finish list on schedule 23 to start schedule 14.
back soon with the results …:hmm