Burton-Derby template Options

[dgionet]

Hi to all,

I have finally decided to back down from building a template for the Cannock Chase route for the time being. I have turned my attention instead to the UK’s Burton Derby V2 route because for those having the route CD, plenty of rolling stock is included with the route and greatly simplifies its selection . So for those who will be using the template, the only download required is the route CD available by purchase at UKTrainSim. And thanks to Moe Smith who suggested on the forum this great route, which I have ordered the CD version. It took only three days from the U.K. to get it here after notification it was sent by mail. It costs about 5£ or about $10 dollars.

I had started installing markers on the sidings, not being aware of exactly how many sidings were present, I knew that there were many. I actually thought the number to be around 400 or less. As work progressed, I was about to find out…

Well I have finished earlier today putting markers on the 765 sidings (yes, you did read 765!) of the route. A massive undertaking! And I had to stop there, I may have reached a limit in the number of loose consists because MSTS wouldn't load beyond that limit. I had to scrap about thirty markers to save it. It is estimated that Burton-Derby has about 850 sidings. Most of the remaining sidings are off the main line and I was able to link the last stretch of route undone as of today.

Yet this first step has been well planned and carefully monitored; lots of paperwork in order to keep track of about 20 regions and especially the consists numbers. This will be key to tackling the next step to assign regions (using letters of the alphabet, not numbers).

This will be a major task because of the many identical siding names present in the route and re-calculating the siding cars capacity as specified on the Steyning template topic. If everything goes as planned, I hope to have in this package 4 templates; EB, NB, SB and WB, each having from 5 to 10 paths each template and plenty of traffic since most of the tracks are double tracks.

I will be sending Steve a request to send me the TDB file taking into account the sidings car capacity based on 8 meters per car. Here's a map of the route to give you an idea of its complexity. This is one route I would like to have it reached completion. Much to go ahead!

Denis

[dgionet]

Hi to all,

Just a first update to the BD template. Steve has sent me the updated TDB file to have the car capacity based on 10 meters per car.and done the proper modifications to harmonise both ACT and TDB files. A perfect match in siding numbers before proceeding with the region naming.

However a problem occured last night with the AE. The loose consists as well as their numbers dissapeared on the screen, they do not reappear. Since I have put each region information on paper( consist numbers within each region, numbers of sidings for each region), this will help. Also I had to copy the consists number column from the SWLACT file into the TDB file, then sort theTDB file by consist number, thus regrouping the markers together by region. Once the regions named, I will remove the column. A bit risky but will help greatly in region naming.

In one region, you can have some duplicate siding names. I will have to add the area to the duplicate sidings to differentiate them . So far I have started working on the first two regions A & B. So far so good, but don't hold your breath, it will be a long process ahead before step three with path naming.

Will update the work as it progresses

Denis

[sgdavis]

Hi to all,

...
a problem occured last night with the AE. The loose consists as well as their numbers dissapeared on the screen, they do not reappear. .

Denis

Denis,

This is a known issue in the MSTS AE and can be fixed. There is some discussion about this on train-sim.com, see "Hit the wrong button somewhere."

There is more on this at Placing loose consist crashes activity editor

There was a file that fixed this called "aefixer1.zip" but it is now only available to those who have paid versions of Conbuilder. Still, if you do have this, you can get it there.

Thanks and good luck,



Steve