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

No, John.  That's next now I have the profiling worked out.  We only got back from the conference yesterday and I wanted to finish that off first.  I hope to have a crack at it tonight. 

I thought I did my Dr Railroad screen shot.  I'll do another one tonight as well.

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

I thought I did my Dr Railroad screen shot.  I'll do another one tonight as well.

You did one but it was before Matt explained howto clear the list

If you open Dr Railroad……..press the little Red X that will nuke everything including all the repeats (I think it prints the error messages every time you boot up)

Now open it again and it will show what Dr Railroad thinks are current errors………….your first post had some nasties and some you can ignore………….I wanted to look at the current list to make sure the nasties had gone 

Regards

 

You're right, John.  I found the X when I made it a tabbed document.  I'll run another sequence and shoot it again.  :oops:

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

I'm going to ask some questions later about my cabooses, which will be in the switching puzzle.  They have decoders in them which operate the lights.  It will be nice if lights on and off can become part of the sequence.

It's all good fun.  :cheers

I look forward to that Max, i guess you have fitted function decoders? therefore they will have a decoder address?

My first thought is that you simply create a new car in Train/Train Set/ Create Car -  put in its function decoder address then add its functions just like an engine. Then how to put them in a schedule along with the engine i dunno yet but you have got my undivided attention Max when you get to it.


It must be possible because i have videos of German carriages where the b****y doors open at the station:wow

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

 

My first thought is that you simply create a new car in Train/Train Set/ Create Car -  put in its function decoder address then add its functions just like an engine. .

Thats correct

Then how to put them in a schedule along with the engine i dunno yet but you have got my undivided attention Max when you get to it

You can either create a train set ……….Train/TrainSet/Change Train Set………………..select the car and then select the engine……make sure the engine is facing the correct way! You can remove the car/loco using this menu

or you can do it by physical operation

Assign the car  to a block [Siding]

Back the loco from another block into [Siding] set the stop marker so they auto couple and as an operation at the end of the schedule : JOIN

Note to do this you have to adjust the rules for the coupling schedule

If you start a schedule from the siding block the entire train will be tracked by TC

Uncoupling and separating the car is the reverse just add SEPARATE LOCO ………..when you start the next schedule the loco will depart leaving the car in the block……and TC will reflect this  

There are some more precise alternatives to SEPARATE LOCO which are worth looking at

HTH

 

 

I thought it would be something like that.

I didn't get anything done last night, as I was doing the thread on the NMRA convention.   :pedal

The cabooses have motion decoders in them so the marker lights go from front to back with the forward/reverse button.  I'm still a long way from that, but I thought it might create a bit of interest.

I'm hoping to have a go at the markers tonight.  :cool wink

on reflection, it might be better to use function only decoders.

Max have a look at page 233 in the manual;-) for functions in cars and just prior to that is seperating and joining trainsets. Guess what Max you can only do it with TC Gold (says Pete still trying to justify £400)

OK.  Here is the last message board from Dr Railroad.  The messages about the loco speeds will be dealt with in the profiling.




The stop markers are coming.  The rest I don't understand.

Now, I have put a brake marker and a stop marker in block 3.




It doesn't look quite like the one in the tutorial.  I ended up with several partitions in the block and the dot has disappeared.  How do I test if it works?  Do I need to make up a schedule and hit Start?

Hi Max

Dr Railroad

You can ignore the loco max speed messages………you can highlight them and then select the 7th icon at the top "Suppress Selected Messages" and you wont see them again……there will just be line at the bottom saying 7 messages suppressed…..you can resurrect them by clicking the next icon

All blocks should have stop markers and you are correcting that

You seem to have given the contact indicators (maybe by default) the same address in each block…………I dont think that is a good idea. I am surprised you havent had problems…………….I would amend the contact indicator properties to give each one a unique address………….typically I give the contact indicator the number of the block it is associated with

I will answer the stop marker query in a second post…….I am thinking of ways of making these posts esaier to access and reference

 

The stop markers are coming.  The rest I don't understand.

Now, I have put a brake marker and a stop marker in block 3.




It doesn't look quite like the one in the tutorial.  I ended up with several partitions in the block and the dot has disappeared.  How do I test if it works?  Do I need to make up a schedule and hit Start?

It looks fine to me……I have never quite understood the partitions. The dot is the contact indicator…..if you highlight the block it should then be surrounded by a blue line…..now double click and you should see the properties for the contact indicator

The sum of the distance and ramp of the brake marker should equal the stop marker distance so in this example if you want a braking ramp of 25 then the distance before the brake is activated should be 15 ie 25+15 = 40 the brake mark distance

How do I test if it works?  Do I need to make up a schedule and hit Start?

 

Yes…………..make a simple two block schedule and check how it works………….try playing with head of train or tail of train

To access the properties of a stop marker highlight the icon and double click……its worth having a nose around eventually for your shunting routine you will have multi stop markers in a block activated by conditions or specific schedules

Have Fun

ps I am away again (for the last time) on Friday………but I will try and check in before I leave

Kind Regards

 

 

 

 

 

My little tuppence worth Max in support of JD,

Here is my block settings for platform one a terminus platform. In the block, loco's come in loco first, stop do a kadee shuffle over my uncoupling ramp to uncouple my coach, i then back a loco in from the TT to couple to the coach to depart. The arriving loco then backs out to the TT ready for the next loco. The actual length of the isolated track i.e. the block is 92cm.




Right here we go then, the lefthand most stop marker is set to 87cm, this allows for the loco to stop before the buffers do the kadee shuffle and then move clear of the coach and stop before the buffers. its brake marker is 37 so that gives me 37cm of braking distance which starts after the loco has been in the block for 50cm. As JD says these add up to the distance of the stop marker 87cm.  The stop marker at 26cm into the block is for loco to back in and connect to the coach it has a brake length of 16cm after the loco has been in the block for 10cm again these add up to the total legth to their associated stop marker.

I guess Max you can have any number of stop and brake markers in a block depending on your operations or train lengths you link each set of stop and brake markers to particular schedule, thats how the arriving train ignores the first set of markers. You can also have sets of stop and brake for trains operating in the other direction ideal for island platforms and the like where the block is operated in both directions.

To associate a set of markers to a particular schedule just double click on the marker (stop and then the brake) and a familiar properties window appears where in the operations tab you can select the schedule you want them to work on. Or in typical TC whatever else you want to happen when the loco hits the stop marker because its the massive list of usual operations e.g. sound whistles, operate points or signals, get the burgers on etc. you know the drill by now Max with these property boxes.

 



Here endeth the lesson.

Pete

Happy sailing John, you can leave Max in good hands, i was surprised he didn't get injured by Sol on their trip, he must of behaved himself or what does that say about Ron? i bet they are as bad as eachother:lol::lol: no wonder the show was booked the same weekend as their trip;-)

Thanks, guyz.  I'm reading this at 6.30 a.m., so I'll look more closely tonight.  Enjoy your trip, John.

Thanks for the good wishes guys

Great summary Pete…………..a picture is indeed worth a thousand words………………

The problem is this is now buried in this huge thread and a month (or less) from now will be difficult to find. I think you and Matt were musing about this in the summer. I have some ideas and I thought I would try and shape them into a coherent proposal for discussion when I return from this trip

Kind Regards

 

 

. . . if you mean, "TC For Dummies," count me in. 

[user=434]John Dew[/user] wrote:

Thanks for the good wishes guys

Great summary Pete…………..a picture is indeed worth a thousand words………………

The problem is this is now buried in this huge thread and a month (or less) from now will be difficult to find. I think you and Matt were musing about this in the summer. I have some ideas and I thought I would try and shape them into a coherent proposal for discussion when I return from this trip

Kind Regards

 

 

Count me in JD, we should ask the mods for a section then have new threads (chapterS) for the various sections e.g. Blocks, contact indicators, speed profiling etc. That should make it easier for newbies and oldies alike to refer to.

Can you cut and paste from JD's tute?

I had a mad thought while i was running through the show threads, perhaps we should of been there with a TC demo

Pete, send a PM to Jeff ( Gwent Rail) as he can create sections as required.

Will do Ron as soon as we decide how to lay it out, i think it will add value to those who want to have a look and a dabble, congratulations on your restraint with Max...was it diazipan?