[Laci1959]

vince, on 23 March 2021 - 03:17 PM, said:

No idea what 'pick' means. Maybe in the Manual?

As to setting switches use the Mouse: Place cursor on switch near points, Hold Alt key and left click.
Switch will change.
Some switches have faulty animation and points don't move. Use the F8 Indicator to see switch position ahead and behind.

I've found some switches can't be changed by the Mouse method so be aware of this possibility.
The switches at Lewistown on the PRR-East route at the engine house turntable come to mind.
They work fine with G/Shift-G but don't work with mouse.

regards,
vince

The difference may be in the type of switch. There are two types, automatic and manual. The latter has the character string "Mnl" in its name. "A1tPnt10dRgtMnl.s". If this type is set manually (G or Shift + G), it will remain in this position after the vehicle has passed, possibly stopping the AI train. There are switches that only have an "Mnl" version.

[atsf37l]

And regards the turntable/path issue, in order for the path to work across the turntable, as the software now stands, it must be a straight across maneuver. You can rotate the table and locomotive 180 degrees but it must come back around to the selected path index on the table. As a visual example lets look at Ridgway:

In Stall 1 we have No. 42. In Stall 2 we have No. 25. In Stall 3 we have No. 41, the player locomotive for this little exercise, which has started out on top of the reverse point as suggested above. All are 'nose in' facing north. 41 can cross the turntable and maintain the path which is heading for reverse point No. 2 at the south end of the engine terminal but that's another story. I can rotate the engine so that it is pointed south but I can only come off the table on the track that is in line with Stall 3, where the path begins.

I cannot set up a path for either 42 or 25 or Motor 5 for them to come out of the stalls as the path will end at the opposite end of the turntable. :bigboss:

[roeter]

Laci1959, on 23 March 2021 - 11:16 PM, said:

The difference may be in the type of switch. There are two types, automatic and manual. The latter has the character string "Mnl" in its name. "A1tPnt10dRgtMnl.s". If this type is set manually (G or Shift + G), it will remain in this position after the vehicle has passed, possibly stopping the AI train. There are switches that only have an "Mnl" version.

OR does not distinguish between 'manual' and automatic switches, all switches are handled in the same way.

Regards,
Rob Roeterdink

[roeter]

atsf37l, on 23 March 2021 - 11:24 PM, said:

And regards the turntable/path issue, in order for the path to work across the turntable, as the software now stands, it must be a straight across maneuver. You can rotate the table and locomotive 180 degrees but it must come back around to the selected path index on the table. As a visual example lets look at Ridgway:
Turntable Routing.jpg
In Stall 1 we have No. 42. In Stall 2 we have No. 25. In Stall 3 we have No. 41, the player locomotive for this little exercise, which has started out on top of the reverse point as suggested above. All are 'nose in' facing north. 41 can cross the turntable and maintain the path which is heading for reverse point No. 2 at the south end of the engine terminal but that's another story. I can rotate the engine so that it is pointed south but I can only come off the table on the track that is in line with Stall 3, where the path begins.

I cannot set up a path for either 42 or 25 or Motor 5 for them to come out of the stalls as the path will end at the opposite end of the turntable. :bigboss:

Yes, I know, this is :offtopic:

In timetable mode, turntables must be used in pools, this allows the pool path definitions to be used to move the engine on and off the turntable. The train is allocated its path as defined in the timetable only when it leaves the turntable. In reverse, the trains path ends when it moves onto the turntable, and again pool paths are used to move the engine to the required store location.
This not only allows engines to use non-aligned entries and exits of the turntable, it also allows AI trains to use the turntable.

Though it would perhaps be possible to set up something similar for activities, using paths defined per turntable, the problem would be how to define the starting location of the engine. The main bottleneck is that you cannot allocate multiple paths to a train, or make a player train a sequence of services.

Regards,
Rob Roeterdink

[Laci1959]

roeter, on 23 March 2021 - 11:28 PM, said:

OR does not distinguish between 'manual' and automatic switches, all switches are handled in the same way.

Regards,
Rob Roeterdink

Thanks. I did not know this.

[eric from trainsim]

atsf37l, on 23 March 2021 - 10:54 PM, said:

Weter, your example looks like it is in signal-free territory without interlocking. As such, for purposes of realism, you would normally stop before encountering the points of that second switch so that your head end 'trainman' can climb down, walk forward, unlock and line the switch (Alt-Left Click). You would then proceed into the side track and when your last car is in the side track your rear end 'trainman' would line and lock the switch back to normal, protecting the main line. :bigboss:

If we are going to play the "realism" card, then the entire concept of throwing switches from the cab needs to go away, since you'd never be able to do it in real life.......

[steved]

eolesen, on 24 March 2021 - 04:19 AM, said:

If we are going to play the "realism" card, then the entire concept of throwing switches from the cab needs to go away, since you'd never be able to do it in real life.......

This right here.
Put on your gloves, get down on the ground and throw the dang switch.
That's the way things get done.

See my profile pic.

Randy

[jonas]

Now it came to my attention that trailing switches cannot be set with ALT + left mouse on paths covered by signals. Even more, if I set a facing switch with ALT + mouse ahead the loco, then all following trailing switches are automatically set "correctly" according to the path (This reminds me of MSTS in a good way).
Then the trailing switches are locked in a way, at least as far as ALT + mouse is used.

EDIT: So the question arises why ALT + mouse doesn't work for trailing switches in this situation, but the G key does work?
So the question arises, why are the trailing switches correctly blocked for ALT + mouse, but the G key can throw them despite the blocking?

Maybe a helpful consideration in customizing the G key in the ORNYMG, Carlo? (see also post #39)

[vince]

All my comments on switching were in response to Weter's post: "So, I've meant AN EXPLORE MODE only, in exactly the same meaning:"

In this mode I was able to leave (via the '8' key) the cab and 'walk' around the yard at Lewistown, Pennsylvania and I was able to change ANY switch there using the Mouse/ALT-Shift method except the ones I mentioned at the engine house/turntable.

Those switches were only operable via the G/Shift-G method as the Mouse method of Alt-Left Click did not work.
Checked the switches in TSRE this morning and they are A1Pnt10dRgt and A1Pnt10dLft default MSTS switches so I'm stumped as to why this happens. Possibly the path I chose does run from the engine house to the TT but like I said these switches operate OK with the G key but not Alt-Shift Mouse.

I've not tested with anything in Activity Mode, only Explore Mode as reported in Weter's post..
The Turntable did not figure in any of the operations I was doing. as I only mentioned it to give the switch locations.
The Explore Mode Path I used was one included with the route with the engine IN the engine house (not the roundhouse) on the track leading to the Turntable.

regards,
vince

edit add info

[atsf37l]

roeter, on 23 March 2021 - 11:54 PM, said:

Yes, I know, this is :offtopic:

In timetable mode, turntables must be used in pools, this allows the pool path definitions to be used to move the engine on and off the turntable. The train is allocated its path as defined in the timetable only when it leaves the turntable. In reverse, the trains path ends when it moves onto the turntable, and again pool paths are used to move the engine to the required store location.
This not only allows engines to use non-aligned entries and exits of the turntable, it also allows AI trains to use the turntable.

Though it would perhaps be possible to set up something similar for activities, using paths defined per turntable, the problem would be how to define the starting location of the engine. The main bottleneck is that you cannot allocate multiple paths to a train, or make a player train a sequence of services.

Regards,
Rob Roeterdink

"Twould be nice." - and "Twould be nices" are just that - if the turntable could act like a multi leg switch that could be programmed when creating a path to "Take other exit." "Twould be nice." And now I will take this off-topic issue and go away. :bigboss: