Post any questions arising from "First Steps with RR&Co"

glad it worked, it makes sense to me to keep all the things you want to do in one list.

i will be taking things very slowly when i set up my schedules 85 blocks to play with:lol:

i think realisticaly i am looking at January before i will be able to set up schedules on the layout. i have and still do play about within the sim but i think it will be easier once the layout is up and running.

Yep.  I saw that in John's tutorial, Pete.  My locos have accel/decel time in them and it's working for the last block in each schedule so far.  I think I'll put the markers in first and see how it goes.

Matt, it's all running well.  I put in another delay before the next Schedule and deleted the Successors.  Now the loco stops and the engine shuts down (except for turn around trips), and then there is a 10 second gap of quietness before the next Schedule kicks in.  The turnouts set up and the the motor starts; then there is a 10 second wait before it moves off.

It's a bit unnerving waiting for the next Schedule to start, but they always do.  It has been running for about 3 hours now so far and the odometers are over 3 km.

My thanks to you both for your patient help.  Don't go anywhere.  I'm reading up on the markers.  :Red Card

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

My thanks to you both for your patient help.  Don't go anywhere.  I'm reading up on the markers.  :Red Card

Does that mean i can't go on holiday to France next thursday Hilda won't be happy

I will have my laptop with me and my mobile dongle which is horrendously expensive to use when your abroad, but if i can get a signal at the campsite i will try to dip in and out. If not Matt its over to you..no pressure.

Whatever Max you won't be left needing. either that you can try weening yourself off TC there must be a clinic somewhere.

 

I am taking Max away for 6 days at the end of the month & if he talks TC to me while we are driving, I will tip him out.

But no doubt I will get Loksound instead

Good Luck Ron, when he starts to start shaking hit him over the head with a nice sturdy shovel

"Why are people so unkind?"  Kamahl

Oh, go on then.  Take some time off.  You've deserved it. 

By the time Max gets to page 350 in the manual he will be the TC Guru of Australia

If he brings the TC manual to read in the car ron you can hit him with that:lol::lol::lol::lol:

Brian

[user=450]wogga[/user] wrote:

Does that mean i can't go on holiday to France next thursday Hilda won't be happy

I will have my laptop with me and my mobile dongle which is horrendously expensive to use when your abroad, but if i can get a signal at the campsite i will try to dip in and out. If not Matt its over to you..no pressure.

Whatever Max you won't be left needing. either that you can try weening yourself off TC there must be a clinic somewhere.

 

No problems Pete………….have a great holiday:thumbs  We are finally wending our way south back to Vancouver and although we are only home for a week before heading out again we should have reasonable internet access for the next 3 weeks so I will try and help out with Matt while you are away although it sounds as though Max is away as well so traffic may be light!

Its astonishing how much has been covered in the last 4 weeks……over 10 pages! Its been quite frustrating for me because from time to time I have been able to catch up but have never felt confident enough about the internet to risk a reply plus I was reluctant to enter into a discussion not knowing when I would be able to post again and the forum crashing confused me somewhat

I loved the Red Baron : Blue Max line and am glad that all got resolved.

It sounds as though you have made great progress Max……congratulations ………..TC is like skiing steep and frustrating learning curve but very satisfying when you reach a new achievement plateau.

STOP MARKERS

I agree with all the comments made…….they really are an essential and integral part of TC…….no block should be without them

Apart from verifying the position where a train stops in a block at the end of a schedule you need them in all the intermediate blocks so if TC needs to stop a train because of a conflict….points, occupied block etc…..it can stop in the appropriate block……no stop marker……no emergency stop!

SPEED PROFILING

Agree totally with Petes comments…….has to be done

Have to go now……….Time and Tide wait for no man

Kind Regards from a Very Hot and Windless Pender Harbour

 

 
Edited from home to correct loads of typos:oops: 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hi John

Glad you're having a good holiday.  It's freezing here but it won't be long before we're hiding indoors in front of the air conditioner.

I'm certainly making some progress through the fog, although Dr Railroad is not happy with me.  I hope to progress to putting in stop markers soon.  It's all working just using the momentum in the decoders and I'm just enjoying watching them run for the time being.

I don't have stop markers in any blocks, but the emergency stop still seems to work OK.  Grabbing the loco works well on all systems I find. 

Enjoy you holiday.  Somenone has to do it.

I guess I'll have to bite the bullet and move on.  I have to investigate stop markers etc., and so far I haven't been able to work out how to do it.  I'm still reading, but getting nowhere at this stage.

What concerns me is having to programme my locos using TC.  I'm worried that the momentum settings I installed will clash with the ones I use in TC.  Do I have to uninstall my loco momentum settings?

Hi Max

i would say no, if you profile your loco with the settings TC will take into account those settings and adjust its actions to suite your decoder settings. i am not 100% on this, the big boys will be on soon.

Thanks, Matt.  I'm a bit loath to change things now I have it running well, but I'm not going to learn if I don't move on.  :shock:

max

TC will not change anything in your decoder, it adjusts its own settings based on your decoder. i can remember reading that you should set one CV setting to max but i can't remember what one it is:oops: pete should know:thumbs

Pete's away at the minute, Matt.  I've still got an open mind about it.  I guess the only way to know for sure is to try it, but it's so good watching those little fellers tootling up and down, I can't bring myself to do it yet.

I've got a visitor on Saturday, so I'll leave it until after then.  Even my pathetic early efforts are blowing my guests away.  :twisted:

Max I suggest you profile one loco……………it wont change any of your cv settings………………that will give you an idea of what happens…………….in addition to Pete's recent email there is a fairly detailed description in my tutorial

In simple terms (all I can understand!) TC measures the time your loco takes to run a fixed distance at each speed step converts this into a speed curve with 1000 virtual speed steps and stores it in the database…….every time you run the loco automatically it uses this curve in combination with the speeds and stop markers you have inserted in the block and point properties…….thats a bit of an oversimplification but hopefully you get the picture

Once this is done you can get your loco to stop at a specific location within .25 of an inch virtually (99%) every time………..depending on where you put the stop marker and the conditions you impose…………….its quite amazing 

One note of caution….If you have set a lowish maximum speed in the TC loco properties and not adjusted CV 5 to match that speed you will be prompted to do so by Dr Railroad……………you can ignore it if you wish……. it just means TC wont be using all the speed steps …

Let us know how you get on

Regards

 

 

Go on Max you can do it, like JD says, just profile one loco then have a go with the Brake and stop markers you'll love it

P.S. its too hot here in the Dordogne even too hot to build some cardboard walling! Don't know how the ex-pats do it as i get older i am less tolerant to the sun.

Enjoy your holiday Pete...........its pretty hot here 81o in the house!! Still managing to do a bit of viaduct painting though.......its becoming a bit like the Forth Bridge:sad:

Yep.  As soon as my visitor has gone on Saturday, I'll be making a start.  :cool:

Don't you just hate visitors! tell them you have got things to do and show them the door Max!

John i thought you were due to set sail again? i didn't have Vancouver down as a hot spot i imagined it to be akin the NW of England wet and miserable.

I have been thinking about speed profiling my DMU, whilst sweltering and unable to do anything other than ponder. Unlike my loco's which seemed to be straight forward, with the DMU i guess i must profile it as a complete 3 car unit due to there being pick ups at both ends?

Anybody any experience or thoughts with DMU's?

I didn't mind this one.  He came armed with 3 locos which had been "Lok-chipped" by a "professional" and a brand new Athearn Big Boy with an OE Tsunami.  It took 2 hours to sort them out.  Not much I could do with the Big Boy.  Those Tsunamis really do leave a lot to be desired in the way of sounds; but fiddling with CVs 2 - 6 made it run better.

Anyway, I digress.  Before I start programming locos, I have noticed that even if I save the Track Plan in My Documents, next time I open it, I have to reopen the train windows and reassign the trains to the blocks.  I hit - Railroad, Save before I closed it, but the operating options didn't save - only the Switchboard with the Track Plan on it, and the Switchboard with the Schedules were saved.

Is that normal, or am I missing something - again?

Now to start profiling.  I think I'll profile my SW 8 shunter - make a fresh start, so to speak.